Lighting up our Lives The Significance of Light for the Jewish People

(3) God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. (4) God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. (5) God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day.

Light is written five times here, this corresponds to the five books of Torah.

Five times the word 'light' is written in this section, representing the five books of the Torah which are called 'light'...

For the commandment is a candle and the Torah is light....

Men and women have to have a lit candle in their home on Shabbat, even if they are so poor that they don't have anything to eat....

Be particular to make a beautiful candle and some have the intention to make two wicks one corresponding to Zachor and one corresponding to Shamor

The Sages taught in a baraita: The basic mitzva of Hanukkah is each day to have a light kindled by a person, the head of the household, for himself and his household. And the mehadrin, i.e., those who are meticulous in the performance of mitzvot, kindle a light for each and every one in the household. And the mehadrin min hamehadrin, who are even more meticulous, adjust the number of lights daily. Beit Shammai say: On the first day one kindles eight lights and, from there on, gradually decreases the number of lights until, on the last day of Hanukkah, he kindles one light. And Beit Hillel say: On the first day one kindles one light, and from there on, gradually increases the number of lights until, on the last day, he kindles eight lights.

Rava said: It is obvious to me that there is a fixed list of priorities. When a person is poor and must choose between purchasing oil to light a Shabbat lamp for his home or purchasing oil to light a Hanukkah lamp, the Shabbat lamp for his home takes precedence. That is due to peace in his home; without the light of that lamp, his family would be sitting and eating their meal in the dark. Similarly, if there is a conflict between acquiring oil to light a lamp for his home and wine for the sanctification [kiddush] of Shabbat day, the lamp for his home takes precedence due to peace in his home. However, Rava raised a dilemma: When the conflict is between oil for a Hanukkah lamp or wine for kiddush of Shabbat day, what is the ruling in that case? Does kiddush of Shabbat day take priority because it is frequent, i.e., it is performed every week, and there is a principle: When there is a conflict between a frequent practice and an infrequent practice, the frequent practice takes precedence? Or, perhaps the Hanukkah lamp takes precedence due to publicity of the miracle? After he raised the dilemma, he then resolved it on his own and he ruled that, in that case, the Hanukkah lamp takes precedence due to publicity of the miracle.

(6) Anything that is more common than its peer supersedes its peer.

At the conclusion of Shabbat, the Holy One, Blessed be He, granted Adam, the first man, ….. and he brought two rocks and rubbed them against each other, and the first fire emerged from them.

On the evening of the fourteenth [of Nissan] we check for Chametz by candlelight.

This Mishna hints that when a person reached the beginning of their 14th year (when a boy reaches Barmitzva) the Neshama (soul) becomes (activiated) with a (reinforced) Yetzer tov within the person. Then we have to check for 'Chametz'. This is his Yetzer Harah (self preservation - Egoism) which has been with him until today and the checking needs to be done by the light of the candle. That is the light of the soul which enters a person.

The soul of man is the candle of Hashem.....

Light a 'Ner Neshama' for a deceased father or mother

With what [wicks] may one light [Shabbat candles], and with what [wicks] may one not light?

Make for yourself two silver trumpets; make them of hammered work.

MAKE FOR YOURSELF” you make them and use them, but no one else.

(בהעלתך lit., WHEN THOU MAKEST [THE LIGHTS] RISE — Because the flame rises upwards (עולה), an expression denoting “ascending” is used of kindling them (the lights), implying that one must kindle them until the light ascends of itself (Shabbat 21a)