Ziv: Parashat Beha'alotcha 2


Each week, Gad Barnea or Sister Agnès de la Croix (from the Community of the Beatitudes) proposes a reflection on the portion of the Pentateuch that is read in the synagogue (parashat hashavua). This week the portion is from Numbers 8:1 - 12:16 with the haftarah (additional reading) from Zechariah 2:14 - 4:7. They call their reflection “ziv” – a ray of light.

ziv behaalotkha2

Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit

The haftarah - reading portion from the prophets - that accompanies the reading from the Torah each week, is always paired with it in order to bring out what those who organized these readings believed to be its main points. This gives the very pairing of these texts a status of commentary and helps us in better understanding the parasha.

This week, the parasha begins with a short paragraph regarding the service of the lamps of the tabernacle: “Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and say to him, when you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lamp stand” (Numbers 8:1-2) - the verb translated as “set up” in the Hebrew is actually “raise up” (which is the name of the parasha). What is the meaning of this “raising up”? Does it mean “light up”? Rashi attempts to combine both meanings and explains that the verb “to raise up” puts the stress on the flame which rises up and so the lamp is to be lit until the flame is fully upright. However, the initial instruction in Exodus regarding the lamp is that it is to be “regularly be set up to burn” (Exodus 27:20), which the Hebrew puts more emphatically as a “forever lamp” - a lamp that never goes out. Therefore the sense of this verse should be understood rather as a commandment that the lamps are to be strengthened while they still burn - precisely in order that they never go out.

The lamp stand itself, we are reminded, has the form of a tree. It is a “hammered work of gold. From its base to its flowers” (Numbers 8:4) - a tree of light, implementing, as the book of Zohar says, what the Psalmist says: “Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart” (Psalm 97:11). This joy leads us to the haftarah which also begins with great joy: “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord” (Zechariah 2:10) and ends with a vision of the lamp stand which Zechariah describes as “a lamp stand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” (Zechariah 4:2–3), and the angel explains this vision to the prophet: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6). Therefore, the lamp stand of the tabernacle with its eternal light represents the Spirit of God and it is placed here, after the end of the previous paracha that listed the wealth and strength of the princes of Israel in order to remind them, as well as us today, not to trust in riches and physical strength, but in the Spirit of God who removes all obstacles: “Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain”... (Zechariah 4:7). Shabbat Shalom.

Support Us Contact Us Vatican News in Hebrew Mass in Hebrew Child Safeguarding Policy


© 2020 Saint James Vicariate for Hebrew Speaking Catholics in Israel