By Marco Del Monte
The Chachamim teach us an extraordinary, almost prophetic principle: "Look into the parashah of the week, and you will understand the week itself." Because the Torah is not a book of the past, but a mirror of the present, a map of time that contains, in codified form, the secrets of the events of every generation.
Rav Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov wrote that "the waves of history flow beneath the bridge of the weekly Parashah", or as Rabbi Nachman states in Likutey Moharan: "Every word of the Torah is a personal message from Heaven for man, at the precise moment he reads it."
Each Parashah is divided into seven Aliyot-Ascents, and each Aliyah corresponds to one of the seven days of the week.
Shabbat, the day on which everything is elevated, corresponds to the seventh Aliyah in which, among other things, an additional portion is read, the Maftir; perhaps these two parts of the seventh call could correspond to the two Neshamot that we have during Shabbat (Neshamah Yeterah). Friday, the preparatory day of Shabbat, corresponds to the sixth Aliyah. It is precisely in this part that we read two enigmatic and immensely powerful verses: "Vaihi Binsoa Aharon… And when the Ark moved, Moshe said: Arise, Hashem, and may Your enemies be scattered..." the phrase we sing when we open the Hechal.
A verse that seems ancient yet speaks with surgical precision to our present: To what happens in the darkest hours, even today the Ark walks, even today the voice of Moshe rises invoking Hashem!
Why were these verses inserted right into this Parashah? The Talmud (Shabbat 115b) states that these two verses form a book in their own right, a distinct "Sefer". Thus the Torah does not have just five books, but seven: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers up to Vaihi, Vaihi itself, the end of Numbers and Deuteronomy; seven books corresponding precisely to the seven branches of the Menorah that Aharon lights at the beginning of the Parashah, as if to say, the study of these "seven" books kindles immensely powerful lights that illuminate the world, as it is said "Ki Ner Mitzvah VeTorah Or - For the Mitzvah is a Lamp and the Torah is Light". "Ner" also represents the soul of man as it is said "Ner Hashem Nishmat Haadam - The Lamp of Hashem is the soul of man", hence the soul of man is light, that light which is kindled by the study of the books of the Torah, a light that illuminates the face, the mirror of the soul, composed of seven openings (2 ears, 2 eyes, 2 nostrils, one mouth) corresponding to the seven branches of the Menorah, as it is said "Chochmat Adam Tair Panav - The wisdom of man illuminates his face". The Torah itself is the soul of the Jewish people: whoever tries to destroy Israel actually wants to extinguish the light of the Torah in the world. But they cannot, because that light is Divine, it is Or Ganuz, the secret light of Creation, kindled every day in the hearts of those who study, who live, who hope. For this reason, in the midst of chaos, of exile, of the deserts of the darkness of the soul and the wars of the world, we still cry out: "Arise Hashem!" There are two attempts to attack the people of Israel: Purim and Chanukah, an attempt at physical extermination and a spiritual one. Here lies the evident link between the Menorah of the Parashah and that of the Maccabees: what did the Greeks want? They wanted to extinguish the Menorah, that is, to erase the light of the seven books of the Torah. They did not want to kill bodies. They wanted to extinguish the soul. Not to destroy the people with violence but with the sweet smile of assimilation. And for this reason the miracle of Chanukah is a light that does not go out. Thus in Purim, where, according to tradition, they renewed the "acceptance of the Torah", it was said: "Layehudim Haytah Orah", for the Jews there was "Orah" meaning Light, from the root of "Torah", which is our True Strength! This is the true Miracle that has always happened, like that of the light of the Menorah lit by Aharon, like the central book of the Torah that kindles precisely with the verse "Yafutzu oyevecha - scatter Your enemies", like the light of Chanukah and Purim, because whoever opposes the light is destined to dissolve, whoever threatens us again today would like to stop the light, but cannot. Because the Torah, like the soul of the people of Israel, is an eternal fire.
Remember to kindle the Shabbat lights... ah and also the candles!
Even a little light chases away much darkness!
Shabbat Shalom
Translated from the Italian with Google Gemini. The Italian text is the original.