Kindling lamps and the unity of souls

בהעלותך את הנרות אל מול פני המנורה כו'.

"When you kindle the lamps, toward the face of the menorah..." (Bamidbar 8:2).

The Sefas Emes opens on the mitzvah of the menorah, noting the language of "raising up" (beha'aloscha) the lamps and the phrase "toward the face of the menorah."

במד' כי אתה תאיר נרי כו'.

In the Midrash: "For You light my lamp..." (Tehillim 18:29).

The Midrash connects the kindling of the menorah to the verse "You light my lamp" — Hashem Himself is the true source of the light.

כי באמת הכל שלו וגם כח המצוה הוא רק לעורר שורש המצוה למעלה ע"י הכנה של המצוה למטה.

For in truth everything is His, and even the power of the mitzvah is only to awaken the root of the mitzvah above, by means of the preparation of the mitzvah below.

A person never "creates" holiness; everything already belongs to Hashem. The act of a mitzvah below merely arouses its corresponding root above, drawing down the light that is already there.

וזה בפרט כל מצוה הנק' נר כמ"ש נר מצוה.

And this applies in particular to every mitzvah, which is called a "lamp," as it is written: "For a mitzvah is a lamp" (Mishlei 6:23).

Every mitzvah is a "ner" (lamp) — the vessel that holds the flame — as the verse states, "ner mitzvah."

והאור הוא מהשי"ת.

And the light is from Hashem.

The mitzvah is only the lamp; the actual light that fills it comes entirely from Hashem.

וע"ז נאמר תאיר נרי.

And concerning this it is said: "You light my lamp."

Hence "You light my lamp" — the person provides the vessel of the mitzvah, and Hashem kindles it with His light.

הפנימיות של המצוה.

The penimiyus (inner dimension) of the mitzvah.

This divine light is the penimiyus, the inner core of the mitzvah, beyond its external performance.

וכן בכלל ישראל בהיותם אחת שורה עליהם ברכת השי"ת.

And so too with Klal Yisrael: when they are one, the blessing of Hashem rests upon them.

The same principle applies to the nation: when Bnei Yisrael are unified as one, they become a fitting vessel upon which Hashem's blessing and light can rest.

וזה ענין השבת שכל ימי המעשה יש לבטלם ולהעלותם ע"י השבת שהוא דמיון בטילת ששה הנרות לאמצעי והשבת שהוא נר האמצעי אעפ"כ עיקר ההארה ע"י שבו מתאחדין ברזא דאחד יש להם עלי' אל השורש שהוא אור שבעת הימים למעלה מכל השבעה.

And this is the matter of Shabbos: all the weekdays must be nullified and elevated by means of Shabbos — analogous to the nullification of the six lamps toward the central one. And Shabbos, which is the central lamp, even so the essential illumination comes through their being unified in the "secret of oneness" (raza d'echad), so that they have an ascent to the Root, which is the light of the seven days, above all seven.

Just as the six outer lamps of the menorah turn toward the central lamp, the six weekdays are nullified and raised up toward Shabbos. Yet even Shabbos, the central lamp, is not the final goal: when all seven are unified in the raza d'echad (mystery of oneness), they ascend together to their Root — the supernal light that transcends and contains all seven days.

והוא נק' מול פני המנורה.

And this is called "toward the face of the menorah."

That higher Root, toward which all the lamps are directed, is the meaning of "toward the face of the menorah" — the point above all seven to which they all turn.

ועל ב' המדריגות נאמר.

And concerning the two levels it is said —

The Sefas Emes now identifies two distinct rungs reflected in the verse from Tehillim.

תאיר נרי על יום השבת.

"You light my lamp" — referring to Shabbos.

"You light my lamp" speaks of Shabbos, the day on which Hashem's light shines openly.

יגי' חשכי על ימי המעשה.

"He illuminates my darkness" — referring to the weekdays.

"He illuminates my darkness" speaks of the weekdays, where Hashem helps a person bring light even into the more obscured days of mundane work.

שהשי"ת מסייע גם בזה להטות ימי המעשה אל השבת.

For Hashem assists also in this — to incline the weekdays toward Shabbos.

Even the labor of turning the dark weekdays toward Shabbos is not done by human strength alone; Hashem provides the siyata diShmaya to accomplish it.

וכן פרשנו ענין הבינה בשמים מעלותיו.

And so we explained the matter of "He builds His upper chambers in the heavens" (Amos 9:6).

The Sefas Emes recalls his explanation of this verse, which speaks of Hashem building His "upper chambers" in the heavens.

וכתב במדרש כשאגודתו על ארץ יסדה.

And the Midrash writes on the continuation: "and His bundle (agudaso) He has founded upon the earth" (Amos 9:6).

The same verse continues that Hashem founds His "bundle" upon the earth — which the Midrash reads as referring to the binding together of Bnei Yisrael below.

שהוא ג"כ כנ"ל שכפי האגודה למטה בימי המעשה לבטלם אל השבת שהוא השורש שנאמר עליו בונה בשמים.

Which is also as stated above: that according to the "bundling" below during the weekdays — to nullify them toward Shabbos, which is the Root of which it is said "He builds in the heavens."

The measure of "His chambers in the heavens" (the upper revelation) depends on the "bundle on earth" — how well a person binds and nullifies the scattered weekdays toward Shabbos, their root. The higher light above is unlocked by the unity forged below.

וכבר פרשנו במ"א כי מדריגת מרע"ה הי' למעלה מן הטבע רק שבנ"י נפלו ממדריגתם הוצרכו לבחי' זו ואגודתו על ארץ לכן נאמר אספה לי שבעים איש.

And we already explained elsewhere that the level of Moshe Rabbeinu was above nature; only that since Bnei Yisrael fell from their level, they required this aspect — "His bundle upon the earth" — therefore it is said: "Gather to Me seventy men" (Bamidbar 11:16).

Moshe's own rung was supernatural, beyond the need for such "bundling." But once Bnei Yisrael fell from their level, they needed the lower structure of unity on earth; hence Hashem instructed Moshe to gather seventy elders to form a bound collective that could hold the Shechinah.

ובאמת נראה שהמסעות גרמו זאת.

And in truth it appears that the journeys (masa'os) brought this about.

The Sefas Emes suggests that the wilderness journeys themselves caused this need for the "bundle" of unity.

כי בודאי הלכו בנ"י של אותו הדור כל המקומות המסוכנים שהכינו דרך עבור דורות השפלים כדורות שלנו.

For surely Bnei Yisrael of that generation traveled through all the dangerous places, thereby preparing a path for the lowly generations such as ours.

That generation passed through every perilous place in the desert, and in doing so paved a spiritual road for later, lowlier generations — including our own — to be able to traverse those dangers.

וצריכים אנחנו לשוב על כל החטאים שנזכרו בתורה על אבותינו כי הכל הי' בעבורינו.

And we must do teshuvah for all the sins recorded in the Torah concerning our forefathers, for it was all for our sake.

Since their journey and even their failures were undertaken on our behalf, we have a share in those sins and a responsibility to do teshuvah for them, for the whole story was, in a sense, "for us."

ולכן כשהיו באים למקומות החשכים היו צריכין עצות כדאיתא במד' המשל בנין על ספינות מקושרים.

And therefore, when they would come to the dark places, they needed strategies, as the Midrash brings the parable of building upon ships that are bound together.

When they reached the spiritually dark stretches, they required "advice" — and the Midrash's image is of constructing something stable upon ships lashed together: only by binding the vessels into one can a stable structure stand on the water.

היינו כשאין המקום יכול לקבל הקדושה צריכין להעשות אגודה אחת וע"י מתרוממין בנ"י ויכולין לקבל השראת השכינה.

That is, when a place cannot receive the holiness, they must become one bound bundle (agudah achas), and through this Bnei Yisrael are elevated and can receive the resting of the Shechinah.

Where a place is too coarse to hold kedushah on its own, the remedy is achdus: when Bnei Yisrael bind themselves into a single agudah, they are collectively raised up and become able to receive the Shechinah even there.

וזה ג"כ ענין בהעלותך את הנרות שהיא התרוממות נפשות בנ"י.

And this too is the matter of "When you kindle the lamps" — which is the elevation of the souls of Bnei Yisrael.

The "raising up" of the lamps thus alludes to the elevation of the neshamos of Bnei Yisrael, lifted toward their Root through unity.

וכמ"ש לעיל שלכן כתיב לשון עלי'.

And as stated above, this is why the language of "raising up" (aliyah) is used.

This explains the Torah's choice of beha'aloscha, a word of ascent — the kindling is fundamentally about elevation.

כי הדלקה זו הוא רק לעורר השורש להיות עלי' לאלה הנרות בנרות שלמעלה כנ"ל:

For this kindling is only to awaken the Root, so that there should be an ascent for these lamps into the lamps above, as stated.

The act of lighting the menorah below serves only to arouse the supernal Root, enabling these earthly lamps — and the souls they represent — to ascend and be included within the lamps above.

Summary: Everything is Hashem's; a mitzvah (a "lamp") is only the vessel a person prepares below, while the light — its penimiyus — comes from Hashem above. As the six lamps of the menorah turn toward the center, the six weekdays are nullified toward Shabbos; yet all seven, unified in the raza d'echad, ascend to a Root above them all ("the face of the menorah"). This same principle governs Klal Yisrael: when a place is too dark to hold kedushah, Bnei Yisrael must bind themselves into one agudah — like ships lashed together — and through that unity they are elevated to receive the Shechinah. Thus "beha'aloscha" is the raising up of the souls of Bnei Yisrael, kindled below only to arouse their root and ascend to the lamps above.