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    08 Feb PARSHAS TETZAVEH-ALLOWING US TO LEAVE THE LIGHT ON FOR HIM

    Posted at 23:03h in by
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    Parshas Tetzaveh begins with the mitzvah of kindling the Menorah. There is a famous Medrash
    which teaches: “The Almighty states ‘It is not that I need their light for illumination. I am the
    Light of the World. Rather I am giving you an opportunity to provide light for Me just as I
    provided light for you.'” This means that when the Jewish people were in the wilderness for 40
    years, there was the Pillar of Cloud which provided light for them throughout their travels. The
    Medrash compares this to a blind person and a person with full sight who were walking together.
    The person with vision told the blind person “Grab onto me and I will lead you along the way.”
    When they entered the house, the person with vision asked the blind person to turn on the lights
    for him.

    The goal in both situations is so that the recipient of the favor (Klal Yisrael / the blind person)
    will not feel that they owe a favor to their benefactor. They were provided the opportunity to
    “return the favor” so to speak: “I took care of you when you could not see; now you turn on the
    light for me so I can see.”

    Rav Yeruchem Levovitz, the Mirer Mashgiach in his sefer Daas Torah says that the Almighty is
    teaching us a very important and a very common lesson: When we do someone a favor and he
    comes to us later and tells us “You did me a tremendous favor, how can I pay you back?” our
    natural reaction is to respond “Think nothing of it. Do not worry about it.” Offhand, we think we
    are being very nice by giving such a response. However, a greater act of kindness would be to
    respond, “I will tell you how you can pay me back. Can you do this and that for me?”

    This is a great kindness because it removes the sense of indebtedness that will be hanging over
    the person who received the favor. It is not good to feel beholden to someone. In truth, many
    people are happy when people feel indebted to them. They like the fact that they “have
    something on them” and that they can “lord it over on them”.

    The kindest way to do a favor to someone is to let him pay you back! This is the lesson of
    lighting the Menorah in the Mishkan, according to the above referenced Medrash.