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This week’s reading begins with G-d telling Aaron that when he lights the Menorah in the Tabernacle the wicks are to be pointing inward so no one will say its purpose is to give light! (see end of Rashi 8:2).
This is, at first glance, very strange.
What is so bad about it giving light? Isn’t that the purpose of a Menorah?
Not only that but the Menorah was located inside a tent where only Cohanim (priests) were allowed to go, and it only burned during the day (just one candle remained the entire night). Who could make a mistake and say it was there for giving light?

To understand this here are two stories.

The first happened to me many years ago. We were trying to sell our apartment in Bnei Brak in order to move to Kfar Chabad where I had just got a teaching job in a Yeshiva.
A lot of very interesting people came to see the house but one stood out.
He was a Sephardic Jew who lived in a small fourth floor apartment with his growing family of six children and wanted desperately to move out. He came to see my place several times and we got to know one another. He showed a real interest and finally told me that he had a buyer for his apartment and soon would close the deal!
But it never happened. His buyer backed out at the last minute and without money he was stuck. I felt so bad for him that I went and paid him a visit.
He really needed a bigger place, but his despite his apartment being small (three bedrooms for he, his wife and six children) and children climbing all over everything it was a happy place.
We sat, made a L’Chiam, his wife introduced herself saying she heard I was a Chabadnik (a follower of the Lubavitcher Rebbe) and urged her husband to tell me about their miracle.
“You know I’m not a Chabadnik.” He said smiling. “In fact, I have some complaints about Chabad like everyone else in Bne Brak,” he said with a wink of his eye. “But I have to admit that without the Rebbe we wouldn’t be sitting in this apartment now.”
He cleared his throat, glanced as his wife and continued. “Years ago, when we just got married, we lived in a tiny rented place; even smaller than this one but we had absolutely no means of buying a place of our own.
Then someone told me that I was eligible for a loan from the Israeli housing commission. So my wife and I went to their offices, excitedly filled out the applications and was told that in a few weeks they would get back to us by mail.
But they didn’t
I went down there several times, called countless times, even got all my friends family and acquaintances to pull strings and make phone calls but no luck.
About a year later, they sent a letter of appology that they couldn’t find my application and I should re-apply.
“So my wife, in desperation, wrote a letter about the situation to the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Like I said, we aren’t Chabad, but she was told it makes no difference, so she wrote and he replied! He answered that I should check my Tefillin.
“But I had just bought a new pair of very expensive Tefillin that were kosher beyond a doubt so I ignored the Rebbe’s letter and just wrote another application to the Housing Commission and delivered it in person. They promised to contact us immediately.
But it didn’t happen; no letter or no phone call, nothing! We called and visited them, and they kept promising until before we knew it another exasperating year passed and they suggested we apply again. It seems the papers had been lost again.
“By that time we had two children and my wife was really getting mad. Now, not only was the house too small but my wife was screaming all the time; “You didn’t even do the very minimum! You couldn’t go check your Tefillin? What, you don’t have the time?? It’s all your fault!! Etc etc.”
“So I took the Tefillin, ran to the Sofer (Scribe) who sold them to me and asked him to please check them. ‘But they are brand new!’ he protested. ‘I wrote them myself. Why waste your money? Wait a few years. Why do you want to check them now?’ etc. etc.
“Anyway, I told him my wife insisted and I wanted to calm her down. So he opened them, took out the parchments, spread the first one on the table and we both almost fell off our seats.”
“Here! Look I can show you! I keep them in the house to remember the miracle.”
He walked over to a chest, opened a drawer, fished around and came back with a small rolled up piece of parchment.
“See! Here, take a look!” He unrolled the parchment and pointed to a word in the very first paragraph. “See there’s a big hole in first letter of the word ‘Baitecha’ (your house). The Tefillin were unfit for use!! The Sofer kept apologizing, scratching his head and looking at that hole from every possible angle; he couldn’t believe his eyes and he put in new parchments on the spot.
“Straight from that Sofer I went to the nearest Bait Kenesset (Synagogue) put on the Tefillin and prayed like never before.
“The next day I got a call from the housing board; the money was waiting! They even said that if we don’t come get it they will give it to someone else. And that’s how we bought this house over five years ago. But now it’s also too small so we need another miracle.”

The next story happened to my wife. She ran an advertising agency near Tel Aviv and one day a prospective client, upon hearing she was a follower of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, told her the following story.
“When my daughter was fifteen years old she was a very talented and promising dancer; ballet jazz you name it. Although she had doubts about going professional, she loved to dance and spent hours each day practicing.
Then one morning, unexplainably, she couldn’t get out of bed. She cried out and we ran to her room and then frantically called an ambulance and the paramedics discovered she was paralyzed from the waist down!
A month and tens of experts later it was official; there was no hope. The only thing the doctors could guess was that maybe she had contracted some sort of rare nerve disease but whatever it was the nerves were destroyed and there was no cure.
“With no alternative we brought her home and a pall of sadness and depression replaced the music and joy that once filled the house.
“Then, one day, a Chabad Chassid that I knew well, and that I regularly donated to, came to my business and when he saw how worried I was he asked if anything happened and if he could help. So I told him the whole story.
“The fellow listened and as soon as I finished, he piped up with a solution.’ Listen, the Rebbe says you should check Mezuzas. Did you check your Mezuzahs? You have Mezuzas on the doors of your office and your house, right? Remember? I sold them to you and we put them up together! Well, you have to have them checked! What do you care? I’ll do all the work and I won’t charge anything.”
So I agreed and late the next day he was back with an excited look on his face.
“Look! I went to your house yesterday, took off the mezuzahs from the doors and, have a look! The one on your daughter’s door had a letter (lamed) of the word “U’v’lecht’cha” (and when you walk) partially worn away. Here I bought a new one and I’m on my way your house to put it on now.”
“Well, about a week later my daughter wakes up screaming. Her legs were tingling! we rushed her to the hospital they made tests and announced that definitely things were changing. The next day she moved her foot and a few weeks later she was already trying to stand up! They all wanted to know what Professor was treating her but they refused to believe the Mezuzah story, in fact no one really enjoys hearing it. That’s why I was happy when you called.
“That was over five years ago! Today she is walking like everyone else, thank G-d it was a real miracle!!”

These stories help to answer our question about the Menorah not being for light.
The Menorah represents the Jewish people, especially the Tzadikim (and all Jews are potentially Tzadikim).
And the Torah is telling us here that the purpose of the Jews is not just to illuminate the world but to make the world ITSELF shine with the awareness of the Creator. To inspire mankind to serve the Creator on their own!
As we see from the above miracle stories. They weren’t just to ‘shine’ and show how great G_d is but to activate those who experienced it.
All true miracles come from the power of the Torah. But the purpose of the Torah is to reveal the SOURCE of all light within us; that the GIVER of the Torah is also our Creator; infinitely CLOSE to each of us and to each of His creations.

As we say thrice daily in the end of the Alenu prayer; “In the heavens above (Spiritual worlds) and the earth below there is NOTHING else (but HaShem).”
Similarly, Maimonides writes that Moses brought the ten plagues, split the sea brought Manna from heaven not to reveal spiritual powers but rather only to free people to serve the Creator on their own.  In other words, to make the world ITSELF shine the truth.
And that is why we so desperately need Moshiach.
Moshiach will be a man like Moses and Aaron who will truly light the ‘Menorah’ of every Jew and then of the entire world, permanently!  As Maimonides writes at the end of his masterpiece; Then the world will be filled with the awareness Oneness of G-d like water fills the sea.
And not much is lacking. We are standing on the merits of thousands of years of Jewish self-sacrifice. Now it could be that just one more good deed, word or even thought can bring
Moshiach NOW!!!

Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel

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