Light a Candle!
The first years of the millennium were a depressing time for Israelis (they were bad for America Israel
As it turns out, lighting candles in a Jewish social context is a highly symbolic gesture which often evokes a sense of the smallness of human consciousness in confrontation with the universe of seeming indifference. Scripture tells us that the human soul is the lamp of God (Proverbs 20.) Despite the candle’s smallness, it changes the universe it shines into to. The light of the human soul stands heroically against despair. Hadad’s song was in essence claiming “We will remain optimistic in spite of the difficulties!” Needless to say, candles are used in numerous ritual and customary ways: in memory of loved ones, on Shabbat and on Hannukah. What interests me here is the lighting of candles as a meditative gesture.
You will notice that I said “lighting of candles” and not “contemplation of candles” or “meditation by focusing your mind on a lit candle.” In my role as cranky arch traditionalist I have to say that don’t know of a Jewish meditation that involves staring at candle. Many a Rebbe will stare at the Hannukah candles. But then, seeing the Hannukah lights is part of the Mitzvah. Some teachers point to a famous passage in the Zohar (Genesis 52b) where it tells you that if you want to understand the secret of the Divine union you should observe a candle flame. Yet none of the commentators I know make any mention of staring at a candle as a way to unlock this secret. Apparently the Zohar is using the candle as an illustration for the point it wants to make, nothing more. Could it me that somewhere some Hassidic Rebbe once stared at a candle in a meditative way? I guess that might be, but have never seen it done. In any event, if one were to meditate by looking at a candle, the point of the meditation would be to understanding spiritual processes within the self, and especially the relationship between body, soul and the Shechinah. But here I am trying to keep things relatively simple and non-kabalistic.
What then can I transmit to you about lighting candles? Lighting candles can sometimes be a mitzvah in its own right. If your chosen meditation place is your local synagogue, it is a actually a mitzvah (by rabbinic enactment) to light candles there. It helps makes the place well lighted, honored and beautiful. Sadly, we seldom bother with this any longer because of the prevalence of electric lights. Candles seem irrelevant. But if you go to any Hassidic place of prayer or study, you will find that candles are lit before every prayer, morning afternoon and evening. The more light the better! Every candle adds some light, even if it isn’t noticeable. So, you can always light a candle in a synagogue. Now, if your chosen meditation spot is not a synagogue, what then? I was told two things. Firstly, you can always light a candle in memory of some departed tzaddik. Secondly, your chosen meditation place can have the status of a synagogue for you, since you will continually use your place for Divine service. Lighting candles is justified there as well.
Cranky arch traditionalist that I am, I remain skeptical of anything that isn’t a mitzvah. I am also somewhat skeptical about using dead tzaddikim as justification. If I am meditating at the grave of a tzaddik, then of course, the candle is affirmed by well established tradition. But If I am meditating someplace that is neither a synagogue nor a tomb, candle lighting is to my mind problematic. Still, I know this much. It is good to do sit in a lighted place, instead of stumbling about in the dark, and since I need to generate light, well it might as well be candle light. So I will light a candle of two instead of taking the easy way out and hitting the light switch. If, however, it is day time and there is plenty of light coming in, then I won’t light candles.
But, from the meditative angle, what do you accomplish by lighting candles? I will translate from Rabbenu Bachya (Kad Hakemah: Ner)
A person is required to light candles in synagogue, which is a place set aside for prayer. Prayer is an activity of the soul, and the soul is compared to a candle. It also says in proverbs “Light makes the righteous glad”. The soul is receives benefit and joy in the candle’s light and expands in that happiness. Light is of the soul’s nature, and what ever makes contact with something that shares its natures, rejoices in that contact. The soul rejoices in serving Hashem, and the divine service is not complete without joy. This is the basis for lighting candles in synagogue according to the “Peshat” (i.e. the plain meaning of the mitzvah) It might be argued that the candle generates mere physical light, while the soul is conscious light, nevertheless we find that the soul becomes enveloped in joy and bliss because of the candle’s light and awakens to the divine service joyfully.
Rabbenu Bachya points out in this passage that he is speaking on the level of Peshat, by which he means that there is nothing particularly mysterious or kabbalistic about these ideas. Still, they are very profound, and they touch upon the nature of the soul. We are informed that the closest thing in our experience to the soul is the phenomenon of light, and that in actuality; the soul becomes expansive through encountering light. Light shows the soul how to be itself.
Light illuminates the relatedness between objects in the world, and permits objects to express their visual characteristics, like number, size, shape and color. Things are real even in the dark, but light gives them new aspects, and makes visible the complex relationships between them. It can be said that Turning on the light recreates everything in a new way. Similarly the light of consciousness transforms what it touches. It builds upon the power of visible light by adding many additional aspects, like goodness and beauty. As a soul expands and sanctifies itself, it sanctifies its view of the world, bringing it closer to the light of G-d’s truth. Indeed, all individual souls have their source in the light of truth, yet each one offers a certain specific point of view, which comprises that souls’ uniqueness. “Just like no two faces are the same, so too no two minds are the same” (Yerushalmi Berachot 5:9) It is by becoming embodied, that a ray of the light of truth is able to experience its uniqueness and individuality. Body and soul are intimately one, and together comprise the self.
Prior to the awakening of the self in meditation, the soul is like light that is still wrapped up in the wax of the candle. Lighting the candle, like repentance, is a gesture of awakening the self. The meditation on the candle, like any of the gestures, is in the intentional enactment being done. Light your candle deliberately, understanding that in bringing forth this visible light you are bringing about an awakening of your own self. Beyond that, the meditation is not on the candle per se, but on the light. Let your mind blend with the visible light, and let your nature as light be released within you. Breathe in and out gently as you feel your awareness expand along with the light. As you contemplate the visible light, and feel your own soul as light, you should find waves of joy arising as your soul learns to recognize itself. Obviously, if you have not actually lit a candle, you can still do this meditation with sunlight or whatever kind of light is available.
Being a kind of light your soul adds dimensions beyond material substance to everything you see. You will discover spirituality as you illuminate your chosen place in the world with your mind. As you look around, notice how the light adds color and shadow, how it lets the objects around you interpenetrate and reflect each other. Your soul also shines on your surroundings in a G-dly way, showing their ephemeral nature on the one hand, and their being sustained by the creators boundless love on the other, which envelops everything in unity. Let no-one tell you that these levels of awareness are just subjective projections of your own thoughts onto the world. Your vision is evocative and creative, but not subjective. It creates what is already in the fabric of the world. At its highest and most creative, your vision merges with the light of G-d’s truth. There you create a-new what had been there from the beginning. Indeed, this is the secret of all ethical and enlightened striving. If we do not create goodness, it will not exist. Ye, when we create goodness, we see that it is nothing more than what G-d has done from the beginning.
“And more…much more than this….You did it yoooooour way!”
(a hat tip to Anka and Sinatra)
