This week, our Torah portion, Parsha Tetzaveh, opens with the mitzvah (comandment) of the ner tamid – the eternal flame. In context, we see the menorah to be lit regularly:
וְאַתָּה תְּצַוֶּה אֶת-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן זַיִת זָךְ כָּתִית–לַמָּאוֹר: לְהַעֲלֹת נֵר, תָּמִיד.
And you shall command the children of Israel, and they shall take to you pure olive oil, crushed for lighting, to kindle the lamps continually.
In practice, this idea has been translated into a light that always stays lit in our sanctuaries above the aron kodesh, the holy ark with our Torah. I love walking through the sanctuary at night when the lights are off. It’s quite special to see the small orange light floating over our ark. The light coming out of the darkness reminds me of the Eternal Presence. It reminds me that the light is always there, no matter how thick and persistent the dark seems, which is also true of God’s presence, even when it feels far away and unapproachable. In addition to the ner tamid in the front, there is also another “ner tamid,” persistent light, that emanates from the rear of the sanctuary: the soft glow of the yahrzeit lights on the back wall, lit beside the plaques of those whose yahrtzeits (year time, anniversary of death) are during the week.
In the book of Proverbs (20:27), our tradition teaches, ner Hashem nishmat adam – the light of the Holy Blessed One is the soul of a human. You may have seen this written on the side of yahrzeit candles. It is one of the reasons why we light memorial candles, yahrzeit candles, and these bulbs beside the plaques, believing that the light represents, temporarily, the soul of our loved one, burning with us as long as the candle or light stays lit. So, it is quite peaceful to exist between the burning flame of Torah and God’s presence in front of us, a beacon toward the future, and the warmth and light of our ancestors behind us, the foundation for our forward progress.
There is a third “ner tamid” that permeates our lives, which is that from our phones, tablets, and computers. There’s no denying that it’s tamid, always. How many people sleep with their phones in their rooms? In their beds? I got in the elevator the other day and panicked about my phone being at 1%. Not that I wouldn’t be able to call for help, but what would I do until help arrived if my phone was dead!? This modern ner tamid interrupts the light of Torah and the light of our ancestors because we come to value information over wisdom. Our society has shorter attention spans because of this readily available and ever-changing access. How can we slow down long enough, and focus long enough, to study and understand? To make sense of Torah in our day and to be patient enough to glean wisdom from the past?
What a blessing the gift of Shabbat is! Now, as humans, we have an appreciation for the abstract, the invisible, and the non-physical. But, we need something to ground our connection. We’ll see this play out in next week’s parsha with the golden calf. So, even though we know that Shabbat can be a tool to help us disconnect from technology and connect to the flow of What Always Is, it’s hard to do. Luckily, the Global Day of Unplugging (next Shabbat, March 1-2) comes to allow us to be intentional about how we spend this particular Shabbat, a day off of screens. We often hear about the mitzvah of shmirat Shabbat, of keeping Shabbat, and we talk about a person being shomer Shabbat, a keeper of Shabbat. However, equally important is the mitzvah of zechirat Shabbat, of remembering Shabbat, that Shabbat is coming and preparing for it! We do this the other six days of the week, making the necessary preparations and arrangements so that we can keep Shabbat meaningfully. I invite you to start thinking about how you would like to spend next Shabbat. And then, figure out what you will have to do during the week, what practical preparations you will need to take, to make that happen.
To help with that concrete reminder of Shabbat, you’ll have the opportunity to design a “cell phone nap-sack” in which your phone can rest on Shabbat. Stop by TBZ during the week to pick up a sack and (if it’s not on Shabbat!) use the fabric markers to do hiddur mitzvah (making the mitzvah even more beautiful)! In addition, as we disconnect, we get to consider what we are choosing to connect to! Click here to download and print a kavannah, an intention, for your Shabbat. Snap a photo (not on Shabbat!) and send it our way!
In our tradition, we learn that words that come from the heart also turn around and enter the heart of the speaker. So as I write these words, I’m hoping I’ll read them and they will land on me as well! May we all be able to enjoy a Shabbat more deeply connected to the Unity of All Things, to shalom, and to ourselves in a true and lasting way.
Finally, I want to close with a meta-translation or spiritual interpretation by Rabbi David Wolfe-Blank z”l, of the verse about the ner tamid:
וְאַתָּה תְּצַוֶּה אֶת-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן זַיִת זָךְ כָּתִית–לַמָּאוֹר: לְהַעֲלֹת נֵר, תָּמִיד.
Connect the more intuitive parts of you
with the more conventional parts of you.
Take and absorb deeply inside yourselves
wisdom from the Tree of Life
purified of subtle agendas
sufficiently crushed in the external view
so that its inner light shines through
with the intention that each soul and spirit will rise
as a result of your immersion in the light.
May the light of Shabbat bring you grounding and wisdom.
May you experience a ta’am olam ha’ba, a taste of the world that is coming, a world where everyone’s needs are met because we’re all willing to do our part, to be content with enough and not more than we need, and to live within the trust and faith of the interconnectivity of all life.
May those who are ill find refuat ha’nefesh, healing in spirit, as well as refuat ha’guf, healing in body, if possible.
And, may the hostages soon be returned to their families and friends, may the Israeli and Palestinian peaceworkers in the land continue their sacred work and not be deterred or turn away from the vision of peace and dignity for all.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rav Tiferet