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    Their own flame – B’ha’alot’cha

    MenorahVarious places in rabbinic literature discuss the name of this week’s reading.

    The rabbis wondered why the Torah used an unusual word (“When you raise up”) for lighting the menorah when it could easily have said, “When you kindle (the lights)”.

    The explanation they arrived at was that Aaron had to start off the lighting and then allow the flame to rise up by itself.

    As a symbol for the task of the spiritual leader this means that the rabbi or mentor has to kindle the initial spark but then hope that the individual will develop his or her own enthusiasm for the task so that they could be relied upon to keep Judaism going independently.

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