“Lift Up the Light,” Rabbi Elaine Zecher’s Shabbat Awakenings

June 13, 2025 | 17 Sivan 5785

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection, as we make our way toward Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast here.

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings, a weekly reflection as we enter Shabbat.  This week I share with you my words from our Annual Gathering held on Thursday night, June 12, 2025.  There is much instability in the world and in particular, Israel’s pre-emptive strike on nuclear targets in Iran puts us on the precipice of escalation but also, perhaps security.  Nevertheless, turning to our learning has the potential to ground us.  Last night, we celebrated the strength and light that permeates our community.  It’s a worthy focus in these trying times.

This evening we begin, as we do, with the Torah portion connected to this Shabbat called B’ha’alotecha.  The book of Numbers speaks of the finishing touches of the Mishkan.  One important act is how to ensure that the menorah, the seven-branch candelabra that connects heaven and earth is properly illuminated.  Most often when we go to light a candle, we use the Hebrew, lehadlik ner, to kindle a candle, but here, the instruction differs.  The Hebrew reveals a higher purpose with the use of the word Alah as in Aliyah, as in to ascend. It is the name of the portion, B’ha’alotecha.  We don’t need to be too scientific to know that flames rise but why use it instead of to kindle or just to light.  

Here is the text with the infused meaning of instruction:

 Numbers 1:2
GOD spoke to Moses, saying: 

 וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ 

Speak to Aaron and say to him,

 דַּבֵּר֙ אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֔ן וְאָמַרְתָּ֖ אֵלָ֑יו

“When you cause the light of the lamps to ascend,

                                                              בְּהַעֲלֹֽתְךָ֙ אֶת־הַנֵּרֹ֔ת

let the seven lamps provide illumination 

at the front of the lampstand.”

 אֶל־מוּל֙ פְּנֵ֣י הַמְּנוֹרָ֔ה יָאִ֖ירוּ שִׁבְעַ֥ת הַנֵּרֽוֹת׃ 

For the ancients, the very act of bringing light into their sacred space elevated them all.  To recognize the power of the light illuminating what is above and what is within them brought them closer to the significance of the moment and to the divine.

We, too, symbolically raise ourselves up this evening to bask in the glow of how much light enhances our experience of belonging and contributing of ourselves to this community.  There are spiritual places within our community that may be dimmed by loss, sadness, and illness.  We know there are spaces that need more light. From where we stand, the radiance of your faces is like seeing divine light shining from and on each of you.  As many commentators and the midrash have noted, God doesn’t need light, the illumination is upon us.

Our sacred work, all of us, is to ensure that the rays of light shine everywhere through our values, our moral standards, and our commitment to a vital and gleaming experience of living Judaism together through discovery, dynamic spirituality, and righteous impact.  Sparks of light are everywhere, thanks to you and all of the synagogue, throughout the building and all the souls who inhabit and give it life.

Shabbat Shalom! שבת שלום

Connect with me with comments and reflections here.

Rabbi Elaine Zecher