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The Power In Our Hands

Parshat Shemini: Leviticus 9:1-11:47;
II Samuel 6:1-7:17.

O

ne of the most moving ritu-
On the seven days of creation, God cre-
als of the Jewish week, at the ated a world for the human being to live
advent of the eighth day, is
in; on the eighth day Adam discovered
the Havdalah (“separation”) ceremony,
— through fire — how he could repair
when we bid a sorrowful farewell to the and improve that world, re-create that
warm comfort of the fleeting Shabbat
world as a true picture of the Divine.
amidst wine, spice and fire.
If on the primordial seven
Perhaps the feelings we
days of creation God made a
experience as we go through
world for humanity, on the
this act of separation (dividing
eighth day of the consecration
the Sabbath from the rest of
of the sanctuary, the Israelites
the week) require the wine and
made a Sacred Space — an
the sweet-smelling fragrances
improved world — in minia-
to refresh and re-invigorate
ture, in which God could dwell
our spirits when we sense the
together with humanity.
Rabbi Shlomo
leave-taking of the Sabbath
Fire is the human response
Riskin
Queen.
to God’s light. But fire is a
As we intone the blessing
double-edged sword; it can
over the fire — recalling the teaching of strengthen and purify, or it can sub-
our sages that fire was created by Adam vert and petrify; it can bring light and
on that first, primordial Saturday night
warmth, or it can bring cannon fire and
— we customarily look at our finger-
nuclear destruction.
nails. Why our fingernails?
The blessing over fire, which attri-
The most rational explanation is that butes fire to its ultimate Divine source,
we can see, in the reflection of the light
must remind us that we must serve God
on one side of our fingers and not on
in accordance with His Divine laws, that
the other, the actual power of light to
we dare not remove our creativity from
provide enhanced vision.
its Divin e direction. To do so would be
Because we are about to intone the
a repetition of Adam’s original sin.
prayer for the speedy arrival of Elijah
God sent down His Divine light
the Prophet, herald of redemption, at
and fire as a sign that He accepted our
the end of the Havdalah ceremony, we
sanctuary, the work of human hands
are, in effect, requesting a return to the
— which carried out to perfection the
more exalted and guarded human estate Divine architectural directions.
in Eden.
Yes, we must use our creativity in the
Our biblical portion of Shemini
service of God to perfect ourselves and
opens, “And it happened on the eighth
our world — but only in accordance
day.” The “eighth day” — beginning
with His will.
Saturday night — is, indeed, fraught
Human hands created fire — but
with significance.
human hands must use that fire to re-
“This was the first time that dark-
create and not to destroy. And, there-
ness began to descend upon the world
fore, we look at our fingers as we make
... And the Almighty prepared two
the blessing over fire every Saturday
flint stones for Adam; Adam rubbed
night, the beginning of our weekly
them together and there emerged fire.”
“eighth day.”
(Bereishit Rabbah 11, 2).
We are telling ourselves that every-
Hence the first “eighth day” is paral-
thing — the entire future of our lives
lel to the very first day: On the first day
and our world — lies in our own
God created light for the world, and on
hands!
the eighth day Adam created light and
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is chancellor of Ohr Torah
warmth for the world.
Stone and chief rabbi of Efrat, Israel.
But it goes much deeper than that.

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46 March 31 • 2016