Menorah (מנורה)

Core definition

The Menorah — the seven-branched candelabrum of the Beis HaMikdash, kindled daily with pure olive oil — is read in the corpus as the image of the Jewish soul and its service. "Ha'neiros" plainly means the souls: "ner Havayah nishmas adam" — the soul's nature is constant running to its source, like a lamp's flame, a separated part of the elemental fire [19800/maamar_032 :: Overview].

How the Rebbeim develop it

The three commands of kindling. The Behaaloscha discourse expounds "beha'aloscha es haneiros": the three commands — the seven lamps, kindling in elevation (ha'alah — the flame must ascend by itself), and light toward the Menorah's face — and Rashi's juxtaposition of the Menorah to the princes' dedication: "yours is greater than theirs." The Menorah parallels the utterance "yehi me'oros"; kindling adds light to that utterance (as Sarah added to the luminaries), the seven lamps being the seven planets [19800/maamar_032 :: Overview].

Two kinds of souls. Souls divide into Atzilus-souls (revealed running) and Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah-souls (concealed running) — "zera adam v'zera beheimah" — and Aharon's service arouses the running, sustaining the world. The Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah-souls serve through reason: love from contemplating yeish mei'ayin, fear with precision, mercy on the fallen soul ("from a high roof to a deep pit"). Aharon could have elevated them from above to below — but "shelo shinah" is his praise: he did not; the lower souls reached re'usa d'liba (essential desire in service) by their own power, until "the flame ascends by itself" [19800/maamar_032 :: Overview].

The sealed flask. The Chanukah discourse develops the Menorah's oil: everything in the Beis HaMikdash needed certain purity, and the Menorah's oil was "the best and choicest" ("zach" = clean, "kasis" = crushed; nine manners of pressing, only three fit for the Menorah), sealed in the kohen gadol's seal. The Greeks' war was spiritual — they valued Torah as culture but denied its holiness, warring specifically against chukim ("l'hashkicham Torasecha," "ul'ha'aviram mei'chukei retzonecha") — and "they made the Menorah's oil impure, to extinguish the Divine light." After the victory, one sealed flask was found — enough for one day, burning eight: "the fit flask found, burning eight nights instead of one" [58834/maamar_044 :: Overview]. The sealed holiness the Greeks could not touch is the image of chukim — holiness where reason ends.

The contemporary Menorah. "This is the Chanukah lamp: with 'Hashem Elokeinu, Havayah echad's' mesirus nefesh, they find now too the fit chinuch's oil flask — to light in Yisroel's homes the Torah and mitzvos' Divine Menorah" [58834/maamar_044 :: Overview].

Key distinctions

"Ner mitzvah" vs. "ner Havayah nishmas adam." Two lamps: the mitzvah's lamp (Torah) and Havayah's lamp (the soul) — "neri b'yadecha v'nercha b'yadi": "if you guard My lamp, I guard your lamp." The neshamah's descent is to light the darkness — "l'ha'alos ner tamid," the yichud of the two lamps [15966/maamar_019 :: §1742].

Ha'alah — the ascending flame. Kindling must be "in elevation": the flame ascending by itself — the lower souls' own-power ascent to re'usa d'liba, not lifted from above [19800/maamar_032 :: Overview].

The oil's choiceness. "Zach kasis" — clean and crushed: the choicest oil comes through crushing; nine pressings, three fit for the Menorah — the most precious things are the most refined [58834/maamar_044 :: Overview].

Related concepts

Sources