500. When You Raise the Candles – 2

“When you raise the candles.” The Creator said to Moses, “It is not because I need the candles that it is written about them, but rather in your favor, as was said, ‘His light is a candle.’” It is also written, “Even darkness will not make it dark for You, and the night will shine as day, the darkness as light.” This teaches you that He does not need flesh and blood candles (Midrash Rabbah).

“Outside the veil of testimony, He will establish. Does He need its light? After all, all forty years when Israel were in the desert, they walked only by His light. Rather, it is a testimony to the people of the world that the Shechina [Divinity] dwells in Israel.” What is a testimony? Rav said, “It is a western candle, which places in it oil such as the measure of the others, and from it he would light, and in it he would conclude” (Shabbat [Sabbath] 22b).

To interpret this, we should understand that the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations. At the same time, the Creator gave us practical Mitzvot [commandments]. This means that without the actions of the created beings, He cannot impart the abundance.

He brings the evidence that Israel walked forty years in the desert only by His light, meaning that there was only an awakening from above, called “bread from the sky,” for the abundance came to them without preparation on the part of the lower ones.

“Bread from the earth” means that the abundance comes through the work of the lower ones. This is called “spoiled bread,” meaning without labor, and our soul has grown loathsome of this bread, since when something comes without labor, we feel very little taste in it compared to something that comes through labor.