“Outside the veil of testimony in the tent of meeting,” a testimony to all the people of the world that the Shechina [Divinity] dwells in Israel. If you say, “It is its light that I need, all forty years that Israel walked in the desert, they walked only by His light. Rather, it is a testimony to all the people of the world that the Shechina dwells in Israel.” What is its testimony? Raba 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] 22).

We should ask:

1) What fool could say that the Creator needs Israel to illuminate for the Creator? Does the Creator need corporeal light?

2) Why does he need to bring evidence from the desert that Israel walked by the light of the pillar of fire? Without the evidence, what would I say?

The goal is to do good. The receivers, who take the benefit, it means that they receive the light of the Creator, which is extended through the work of the lower ones. This is called “light from the side of Israel,” meaning the forces of the people of Israel. When there is no preparation on the part of the lower ones, the Creator does not impart them with the upper abundance.

However, He cannot be limited and to say that without this, He cannot bestow upon them. He brings evidence from the desert, that the Creator illuminated for them without an awakening, and for this reason, they ate bread from the sky, meaning without work, and only when they came to the land, they were given the wholeness called “bread from the earth.”

Hence, even when Israel made the Menorah [Temple lamp] in the Temple, they were given the testimony so they would know that the Shechina dwells in Israel even without an awakening from below, since the Creator does not need the light of Israel, meaning their preparation, for “If you are righteous, what will you give Him?” Rather, it is only for man’s benefit so as not to have the bread of shame.

This is why the testimony came from the “western candle,” which illuminated in a miraculous way, for a miracle means above nature, since the Creator created the world with a nature that they will be able to receive pleasure only according to their work.

Hence, when giving half a Log [ancient liquid measure] of oil, the labor is that of half a Log, and the sages assumed that it would be enough to burn from dusk until morning. The fact that the “western candle” burned more than the measure of the labor indicated that it was burning miraculously, not according to the labor. From this we see that the Creator can impart abundance even without the work of the lower ones.