Behaalotcha 5772

Rabbi David Cohen-Henríquez
Kol Shearith Congregation, Panama

Parashat Behaalotcah (when the flames of the menorah are kindled) is made up of several themes, all of them somehow related to each other:

• The lighting of the menorah
• The purification of the Levites and the age restrictions concerning their service
• Final preparations before the departure from Sinai

• The second Pesach
• Ritual observance in the wilderness
• The pillar of cloud and fire that would accompany the people

• The manufacturing of the horns
• The journey from Sinai to Transjordan

An exercise we can do every week, during the service of the reading of the Torah, is to juxtapose the parashah with its corresponding haftarah.  This clash of texts generates ideas, sometimes complementary and others completely opposite, which help us to better understand the message that the sages wanted to transmit.

This week’s Haftarah reading corresponds to Zechariah 2:14 to 4:7.

The prophet Zechariah began his prophetic career in the year 520 BCE, at the same time as the prophet Haggai.  In Zechariah we find great passion for the reconstruction of the Temple.  Many scholars believe that Zechariah’s interest in its reconstruction was part of a Messianic movement within a geopolitical effort.  This would occur through a series of political events that supported the reconstruction, and both Zechariah and Haggai recognized in these events a divine plan.

Both texts, the parashah and the haftarah, deal with the subject of ritual participants in a holy space and the importance of their physical purity, emphasizing as well the purpose of the Levites.  In the haftarah, there is a clear parallelism with the purification and divine investiture of the priest Joshua.

But without a doubt, the menorah constitutes the central element that connects parashah and haftarah.  God commands the lighting of the menorah in the mishkan, the tabernacle, during the journey through the wilderness and at their first settlements.  In the haftarah, we find the menorah in Zechariah’s vision, when he imagines the Temple of the future and its leaders.

The sacred space, the pure service and the menorah with its flaming light bind the sanctuary of ancient times with the temple of the future.

We still wonder whether the lighting of the menorah is part of the process of ritual purification or if it is the culmination of the efforts to prepare for the arrival of God’s presence.

Back to our parashah, Ramban (Nachmanides) brings us two commentaries on the Midrash Yelamdeinu and Midrash Rabba.  It would seem that Aaron was a little bit disappointed, since Levi’s tribe had not been included in the list of the princes bringing their offerings for the tabernacle dedication (see previous parashah). So, God says to Moses: Tell your brother Aaron not to worry, for he has been destined for greater things. Offerings will be brought just during the Beit haMikdash’s existence, but the lights shall illumine the menorah forever.

However, the temple was destroyed and therefore, neither the offerings nor the menorah can be lighted.  Why, then, did God tell Aaron that the menorah would shine forever more?  The conclusion derived from these midrashim is that they refer to the lighting of the Chanukah menorah, when the altar was renewed and rededicated by the kohanim of the Hasmonean dynasty, which continues to be kindled every year even though the temple no longer exists.

It is worth recalling that the passages of Zechariah’s haftarah read this week are the same ones that are read on the first Shabbat of Chanukah.

The menorah continues to shine, as an eternal symbol of the Jewish people.  From every synagogue, and even on the coat of arms of the State of Israel, the menorah, with its lights, emanates rays of hope for each and every Jew all over the world, inspiring us to achieve a world more and more forged upon the ideal of the prophetic visions:  a world without wars, a peaceful and harmonious life, and a humanity that reaches it maximum potential at its fullness.

May this Shabbat be a day of inspiration.  May the  lights of Shabbat remind us of the light emanating since ancient times and which continues to shine and illumine our paths towards the future.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabino David Cohen-Henríquez