Jewish Life #56. Sjemot #13:Incense and Lamps

In parashah Tetzaheh, we read: ‘Aharon should burn incense on it every morning when he tends the lamps, and before evening when he lights the lamps.’ (Exodus/ Sjemot 30:7-8) In this weekly parashah, the ultimate purpose of all the ceremonies to dedicate the altar and other Tabernacle furniture and to prepare Aharon and his sons to the investiture as priest, is ‘I will have My Presence dwell among the Israelites, and I shall be their God. They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt to dwell among them. I am the Lord their God (29:45-46).
 
All the activities involved have great significance. In a commentary on When he [Aharon] tends the lamps(30:7), Rabbi Samson Rahael Hirsch says: ‘the activities symbolize the spiritual labor that the nation must strive for on the one hand, and the perfection of their spiritual deeds on the other.’ According to Hirsch, the ethical excellence that must characterize the people’s behavior is the ultimate goal of their spiritual awareness and development of their mind. 
 
Within the sanctity of Jewish culture and its lifestyle, no one is freed from their moral obligations by virtue of their personal genius. The ethical level of one’s actions is the only true litmus test of absolute intelligence, Hirsch says. This parashah’s rituals, especially the command to light the candelabrum lamps and the ‘pleasing aroma’ of the incense, together can transform man into a priest. 
 
Lightning the candles not only signifies intelligence, but also understanding, knowledge of Torah, clarity of concepts and smart performance. The incense represents the hidden and the intimate, the mysterium tremendum of the Divine Presence in creation and beyond. According to Rav Soloveitchik, incense tells us the great story of the human craving for God, the quest and yearning for the beginning of all. It tells us about humanity waiting for unity with his Maker. The colorful religious experience is represented by it. A clear path to follow, the path for a Jew to walk, is represented by the candles. 
 
In Tehillim (Psalm) 119:105, we read: ‘A lamp to my feet is Your word, and a light for my path.’ We further learn: ‘For the commandment is a lamp; and the Torah is light (Misjlee/ Proverbs, 6:23).
 
The inner life of a Jew is synchronized with the halacha, the way he behaves in the practice of everyday life. Burning incense and tending the lamps, are highly significant metaphors used in this week’s parashah.[1]
 
[1] The commentaries of Rabbi Hirsch and Rabbi Soloveitchik can be found in The Koren Mikraot Hadorot, Parashah Tetzaveh edition, pp.205-208. 


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