The parsha begins with the commandment to Aharon to light the Menorah. The medrash compares this pasuk to a pasuk in Yishaya, “Hashem was pleased, for his own righteousness, to magnify Torah and to make it glorious.” The first question is, what is the connection between the magnification of Torah and the lighting of the Menorah?
The medrash answers, Hashem didn’t command the Menorah to be lit for his need. Chas vishalom, Hashem is all powerful, not needing anything from us! Rather the commandment was given in order to magnify the name of Hashem into the world. Usually when one builds a house he makes the windows, on the outside narrow and the inside wide, so that light will be drawn into the house. When Shlomo Hamelech built the Beit Hamikdash, he made the inside of the windows narrow and the outside wide, so the light of the Beit Hamikdash would shine out.
The pasuk in Yishaya is coming to teach us, if the Kohanim are careful to light the Menorah for the sake of the magnification of Hashem’s name, then he will light us a great light in the world to come.
When have we seen examples of this?
The medrash asks another question. Why was the commandment of the Menorah juxtaposed to last week’s parsha, when the princes of 11 tribes gave special out of the ordinary sacrifices?
The medrash answers that Aharon was upset that he and the tribe of Levi were left out of giving these special sacrifices. Adds the Ramban onto the medrash’s answer, Hashem gave him this commandment in order to tell him, don’t worry, long after 10 of the tribes are lost, there will be a time of darkness in the world, where the Greeks have invaded Israel and disgraced the Temple, the world has rejected Hashem, and in that time you will be able to shine my light into the world.
May we all merit to see the greatest revelation of Hashem and his light in the third temple to come very soon.
