By Marco Del Monte
“God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth” (Gen. 9:1).
After the great flood, Hashem commands Noah, just as He did with Adam Harishon, to repopulate the world.
The Chidà (Rabbi Chaym Yosef David Azulai) in his book Devash Lefì offers us a very profound explanation of the words "Perù Urvù" (Be fruitful and multiply). The Chidà tells us that the numerical value of these two words is 500. According to the Chachamim, the man's body is made up of 248 organs while the woman's body is made up of 252 (see for example the book Petach haenaim ohalot), therefore the sum of the union of the man with the woman gives precisely 500 as a result. Therefore the Chachamim tell us that the mitzvah of Perià VeRivià should be put into practice by bringing into the world at least one son and one daughter, as the completeness of the male and female part, and in particular the recommended time would be Shabbat, but the secrets and symbols linked to this mitzvah are very profound and not linked only to material aspects. Another very interesting explanation linked to the number 500 as a union between man and woman is found precisely in the mitzvah of lighting Shabbat candles. It is written in the Babylonian Talmud in tractate Shabbat 23b: "They said that the reason for lighting Shabbat candles is to bring Shalom Bait, meaning peace in the home", and in particular peace between spouses is intended. According to Halachah, it would be enough to light a single candle, precisely for this reason the Berachah that is recited is "Lehadlik Ner Shel Shabbat", but the Chachamim taught us that for various reasons, including the twofold command linked to Shabbat of Shamor-Observe and Zachor-Remember, we light two candles.
The numerical value of the word "Ner", Candle, is 250, by lighting two candles we thus arrive at the number 500, exactly like the number of the composition of male limbs added to the female ones, in other words the Shabbat candles represent the union, completeness and harmony of the male and female aspects, not by chance it is said Shabbat Shalom, Shalom clearly means Peace but its root can also be read as Shalem meaning completeness. In the Jerusalem Talmud, Masechet Shabbat perek bet halachà vav, Adam Harishon, who according to the Midrash was born androgenous, is called "Nerò shel olam" meaning the candle of the world as it is also said in Mishlei (20,27): "Ner H' Nishmat Adam" meaning the Candle of Hashem is the soul of the human being; Adam can be read both as human being and as Adam, therefore the phrase can also be read: "The Candle of Hashem is the Soul of Adam". And this is a very interesting vision linked to a parashah that speaks of destruction and reconstruction, a reconstruction that comes through peace, the dove with the olive branch, the lighting of candles of hope and Berachah.
With the wish to always see the Nerot Shabbat lit in our Neshamot!
Shabbat Shalom Umevorach
Translated from the Italian with Google Gemini. The Italian text is the original.