The Light

La’yehudim hayta ora v’simha, “The Jews had light and joy” during the celebration of Purim.

So does this mean that our ancestors lit fires in their homes, kindling every wick available?  Not likely.  

Light has many associations.  A few of them have to do with physical light.  A great many of them have to do with sacred or metaphysical light.  Torah, for example, gives off light.  Torah Orah, they call it, the illumination of the sacred.

When immersed in Torah the Sanctuary becomes bathed in light.  Have you ever witnessed the faces of those in the Sea of Light?  It is not unusual to see someone aflame on the holy Shabbat.

As we pore over ancient texts on Shabbat or during the week sometimes feel the dizzying effect of absorbing the many layers of the meaning of the glory of the Torah when at one with the holy Text.  This is the wonder of the day of Purim. Like the initial observance when the Jews of Shushan long-ago first breathed freedom from the heinous machinations of Haman, their souls were drenched with light.

Long ago, when the Jews were under the Ottoman rule in Palestine the inhabitants of the northern city of Safed were warned to keep their homes dark at night.  Each evening a blanket of bluish hue gathered through the ancient street and byways of Safed.

The windows of Rabbi Joseph Caro, however, glowed. It as was if the venerable and wise rabbi became more defiant as the light grew in intensity with successive night.  The Pasha’s guards brought to him news of the disobedient Jew.

Ordering his carriage to be brought, the Pasha rode to the site to oversee the punishment of the transgressor himself.  It was true, the rabbi’s windows were glowing with light.  Forcing open the door, the Pasha’s guards opened the door to let the Pasha enter. 

There sat Rabbi Caro bent over a fraying text.  There was no lamp in the room.  No logs were in the fireplace.  No candles. Yet the room was bathed in light.

The Pasha was wide-eyed as he saw thousands of tiny fireflies lining he walls of the rabbi’s study.  The sage told the pasha that during the day the little insects flew about but at night they settled on the walls and made the house luminescent.

“Why do these fireflies stay all day in this room rather than frolic in the bright sunlight?” the Pasha asked.

The rabbi paused, looked at the Pasha and answered, “The Torah not only illumines the one who studies it.  It enlightens every living creature that comes near.”

 

And this is your heritage.