민수기 8:2 상호 참조 및 관련 구절

"When you kindle the lamps" (Bamidbar 8:2). In Midrash Rabbah, the verse "For You will light my lamp" (Ps. 18:29) is expounded thus: Israel said before the Holy Blessed One: "Master of the Universe, You tell us to give light before You? You are the light of the world, light dwells with You, as it is written, 'and light dwells with Him' (Dan. 2:22) — yet You say 'opposite the face of the Menorah'?! Thus: 'For You will light my lamp.'" The Holy Blessed One replied: "Not that I need you, but so that you may give light to Me, just as I gave light to you — in order to elevate you before the nations of idolatry, so they will say: See how Israel gives light to the One who gives light to all!" The explanation of this matter rests on a principle we have already stated and written at length in the glosses to the Tikkunei Zohar: the Creator, blessed be He, illuminates all His creatures with His great kindness and bestows an abundance of all that is needed. However, so that the Chitzonim (outer forces) should not seize hold of the flow of blessing on its way to Israel — for the world was created principally for Israel, as the Midrash on Bereishit states — it is therefore necessary for there to be a boundary and a tzimtzum, so that governance should operate measure for measure: to reward those who do His will and to punish those who transgress it. And even though there is no measure or likeness in Him, He descends through His levels to clothe Himself according to the attributes through which He is served, and the entire matter depends on deed. This is the secret of all the commandments: the Holy Blessed One has no need of His creatures in any way — the commandments are simply royal decrees — yet when Israel does His will, He then pours down upon them alone all goodness, and no other shares in it. Now, when Israel performs the commandments, they make a pathway and a channel for the Creator's flow of blessing, a measure and a tzimtzum. And this is the meaning of the Midrash: the Holy Blessed One said, "Not that I need you — for I shine with My great kindness and bestow upon you all good — but that you should give light to Me," that is, to set a boundary for the flow, so that the Chitzonim should not seize hold of it. And this is what "elevates you before all the nations of idolatry, so that they themselves will say: See how Israel gives light to the One who gives light to all" — for Israel, in doing so, creates a boundary and a vessel for His light. This is illustrated through the seven lamps of the Menorah, which alludes to the Malkhut (sovereignty), through which they enthrone the Creator by means of His attributes. In truth, all is according to His simple will and there is no change in Him in any way. The further details are explained elsewhere in the glosses to Gevurot Hashem and to Tikkunei Zohar, and in the commentary on the Likutim of Rav Hai Gaon — see there.

"Speak to Aaron" etc., "When you kindle" — in the Midrash: The verse "Fear the Lord, His holy ones" (Ps. 34:10) is expounded. You find that above, eleven tribes brought offerings, and the tribe of Ephraim brought [its offering]... but Aaron did not bring [an offering]... The Holy Blessed One said to him: "For something greater than this you are destined..." "But the lamps — forever, opposite the face of the Menorah they shall shine," and all the blessings are never annulled. (For since Ephraim also brought an offering, the twelve tribes corresponding to the legs of the Merkavah were now complete — and Aaron is called shoshbina d'Matronita, the companion of the Matron. And our sages taught concerning the firstborn and the tithe.) We have already written above that the lower Chokhmah is a vessel for the upper Chokhmah, and Aaron — the root of his soul is from the aspect of Abba — and he is the one who establishes the Community of Israel before Him, blessed be He. The Holy Blessed One commanded him that when he kindles the lamps — which is the Community of Israel before Him — he should raise her up as she was in the root of [divine] thought. This is why the flame should ascend of its own accord (me'eilehah) — reading this as mi-ma'al Yah, "from above, from Yah" — for ayin and alef are interchangeable, as we have written. The secret of the flame is like the bathing in hot water on Shabbat eve; her essential elevation and reception comes from Him, blessed be He, through the central pillar — that is, "opposite the face of the Menorah the seven lamps shall shine." For through the outer edges it is impossible to receive without the Chitzonim, God forbid, seizing hold, unlike the future time when the worlds will be in their correction, as it is written: "For you shall spread out to the right and to the left" (Is. 54:3), and there will be no fear from Esau and Ishmael, "for your seed shall inherit nations." This is what the Midrash means: the sacrifices belong to the time of the Temple, but the lamps are never annulled — which is puzzling at first glance, for where are the lamps in the present time? And if the intent is upon the Hanukkah lights, as some commentators explain — in the Babylonian exile there was not yet even the commandment of Hanukkah! But according to what I have written, it will be understood: this preparation was specifically for the days of destruction until the worlds will be in their repair, because the soul of Aaron is the vessel for this. And this is what they meant: "And all the blessings are never annulled," for the priestly blessing operates through the aspect of Abba, and for this reason the priestly blessing spoken by Aaron's mouth requires the one who blesses to be a merkavah, a vehicle for the mouth of Aaron. And the verse says: "And Aaron did so" — for there are righteous ones who inflame the souls of Israel for His service at the start, but afterward those individuals sometimes fail to maintain constancy in the service of God, God forbid. Not so Aaron, the holy one of God — he did not deviate from upholding the Community of Israel, which is the holy Matronita, before Him, all his days, being a vessel for the supreme thought, to illuminate them from the hidden light. This is what the Midrash says: "Great is the light of the Holy Blessed One — the sun and the moon illuminate the world, but from where do they receive their light? From sparks of fire above they draw, as it is said: 'By the light of Your arrows they go' (Hab. 3:11)." For ḥetz (arrow) has the numerical value of YHVH plus Chesed — and from there they receive the light. The word itself likewise points to this: ḥet is Chokhmah (Wisdom) flowing to Binah; tzadi is yod-nun, flowing to nun through the yod, and from there the flow comes to Israel through the Tzaddik — this is the yod of ḥitzeikha ("Your arrows"). At its root it is "the lightning flash of Your spear" (ibid.), which is like a flash — and understand this well. And it further states: "Greater still is the light from above, which was not given to creatures except in a measure of one in a hundred, as it is said: 'He knows what is in the darkness' (Dan. 2:22)" — for the name Mah (in full spelling with alef's) is related to the word for meah (hundred), and wherever you find this teaching, it means: the aspect of Mah is joined at its root to the root of all roots, called Efisah (nothingness), which the Kabbalists call by the name darkness — owing to its great hiddenness — and from there the sun and moon that are known receive their light. And it continues: "Opposite the face of the Menorah" — Rabbi Yehoshua bar Nehemiah said: Joy was withheld from the wicked and given to the righteous — meaning, by withholding joy from the wicked, that is, the outer forces, so they do not seize hold, God forbid, it is given to Israel. For the Holy Blessed One, as it were, had need of dwelling among flesh and blood by means of a lamp (ner), since the central pillar is called ben adam (mortal) on account of the 248 positive commandments and 365 negative commandments, as is known. Ner (lamp) is the union that ascends to the value of ner (250+5). And as it were, through the perfecting of their deeds, He, may His Name be blessed, clothes Himself in the aspect of Tiferet Yisrael and unites with them through three unifications that together rise to the value of ner.

"When you kindle the lamps." In the Midrash: "How so? Three facing east and three facing west, and one in the middle — so all of them faced the middle one. From here Rabbi Kehana said: The middle one is the most praised." The hint here is that all the acts of service and all matters aim at cleaving to the body of the King, which is the central pillar. This is "opposite the face of the Menorah shall the seven lamps shine" — and it does not say six lamps, because all seven needed to be raised up toward the central pillar, and the middle one is the most praised.