The Gift of Fire
Rabbi Tom Samuels
Elie Wiesel, May his soul rest in peace, tells of the poet who was asked what he would save from his burning home. Only one thing. What would it be? The poet answered that he would save the fire itself, for without the fire, life would not be worth living. (Fredric K. Schroeder)
Fire plays an integral and seamless role throughout the Torah. The first act of creation, light, is the creation of all sources of energy, the fire. Soon afterwards comes the crowning event of creation, Shabbat. And when the first Shabbat is over, Adam watches as the sun goes down for the first time. An ever-deepening gloom and terror unfolds. Adam's heart is filled with terror, lost in the absolute darkness. God gives Adam the intuition to rub two stones together, to discover fire, upon which Adam exclaims "Blessed be the creator of the lights of fire.” Thus the light of the first Shabbat was like the primordial light of the first day of creation, in which it was possible to see from one end of the universe to the other, for on both days the light lasted and the darkness was held back. (Dr. Howard Schwartz).
This story is in stark contrast to the creation myths of other cultures. In the Greek myth of Prometheus, he steals fire from the jealous gods and secretly shares it with the humans. For this he is chained to a rock and tortured for eternity. In the Jewish tradition, the fire is not stolen nor denied to humanity. It is in fact a gift from God as part of a symbiotic relationship whereby both God and man, the eternal, infinite and the finite, co-create, collaborate on the ongoing quest to make and improve the world. (Dr. Israel Drazin)
The creation story is re-enacted every week on Shabbat. That for six days there is an invigorating and intense creation process of the physical realm. We usher in Shabbat with light, the candles. On this seventh day, we cease this activity in order to make room for the life of the soul. We welcome in our Neshama Yeteira, our additional soul. And then, at the end of the Shabbat, we welcome back in to our lives the Chol, the ever-potentially-holy everyday, again, with fire. (Rabbi Pinchas Peli)
The word Havdalah means to differentiate, to distinguish. The entire ceremony is to distinguish between the Shabbat that we have just experienced, and the week that we are about to enter. (Dr. Micha Goodman)
Three blessings are said: First on the wine, a symbol of joy. Now we take pleasure in what we have accomplished, and hope that it will continue to grow into the week. Then on the spices, whose fragrance we inhale to comfort our soul at the loss of Shabbat. And finally on the flame, which symbolizes light and darkness and the ability to see the difference in a very deep way. (Rabbi Jonathan Sacks)
The greatest tool we have for appreciating anything is the ability to distinguish and differentiate. When we see things as rare and unique, they stand out as special, and somehow have their own place in the world. Yet, all too often, we have a hard time utilizing this tool and seeing things for their own uniqueness. Masses of people just become ordinary beings. Beautiful sunsets start to look all the same. Our challenge is to discern and see the minute differences that exist in the world in order to appreciate their rare and unique qualities and thus take pleasure in their existence. (Rabbi Jonathan Sacks)
In the Havdalah ceremony, we set a braided candle aflame and hold up our fingers to see the light and shadows dancing upon them. Shabbat is over. We mark the ending with Havdalah and recognize the beginning of the week. For the week is not Shabbat. If we have used the Shabbat properly however, we may be able to infuse some of it into our week. (Lori Palatnik)
B’Shalom,
Rabbi Tom Samuels
Rabbi Tom Samuels
Elie Wiesel, May his soul rest in peace, tells of the poet who was asked what he would save from his burning home. Only one thing. What would it be? The poet answered that he would save the fire itself, for without the fire, life would not be worth living. (Fredric K. Schroeder)
Fire plays an integral and seamless role throughout the Torah. The first act of creation, light, is the creation of all sources of energy, the fire. Soon afterwards comes the crowning event of creation, Shabbat. And when the first Shabbat is over, Adam watches as the sun goes down for the first time. An ever-deepening gloom and terror unfolds. Adam's heart is filled with terror, lost in the absolute darkness. God gives Adam the intuition to rub two stones together, to discover fire, upon which Adam exclaims "Blessed be the creator of the lights of fire.” Thus the light of the first Shabbat was like the primordial light of the first day of creation, in which it was possible to see from one end of the universe to the other, for on both days the light lasted and the darkness was held back. (Dr. Howard Schwartz).
This story is in stark contrast to the creation myths of other cultures. In the Greek myth of Prometheus, he steals fire from the jealous gods and secretly shares it with the humans. For this he is chained to a rock and tortured for eternity. In the Jewish tradition, the fire is not stolen nor denied to humanity. It is in fact a gift from God as part of a symbiotic relationship whereby both God and man, the eternal, infinite and the finite, co-create, collaborate on the ongoing quest to make and improve the world. (Dr. Israel Drazin)
The creation story is re-enacted every week on Shabbat. That for six days there is an invigorating and intense creation process of the physical realm. We usher in Shabbat with light, the candles. On this seventh day, we cease this activity in order to make room for the life of the soul. We welcome in our Neshama Yeteira, our additional soul. And then, at the end of the Shabbat, we welcome back in to our lives the Chol, the ever-potentially-holy everyday, again, with fire. (Rabbi Pinchas Peli)
The word Havdalah means to differentiate, to distinguish. The entire ceremony is to distinguish between the Shabbat that we have just experienced, and the week that we are about to enter. (Dr. Micha Goodman)
Three blessings are said: First on the wine, a symbol of joy. Now we take pleasure in what we have accomplished, and hope that it will continue to grow into the week. Then on the spices, whose fragrance we inhale to comfort our soul at the loss of Shabbat. And finally on the flame, which symbolizes light and darkness and the ability to see the difference in a very deep way. (Rabbi Jonathan Sacks)
The greatest tool we have for appreciating anything is the ability to distinguish and differentiate. When we see things as rare and unique, they stand out as special, and somehow have their own place in the world. Yet, all too often, we have a hard time utilizing this tool and seeing things for their own uniqueness. Masses of people just become ordinary beings. Beautiful sunsets start to look all the same. Our challenge is to discern and see the minute differences that exist in the world in order to appreciate their rare and unique qualities and thus take pleasure in their existence. (Rabbi Jonathan Sacks)
In the Havdalah ceremony, we set a braided candle aflame and hold up our fingers to see the light and shadows dancing upon them. Shabbat is over. We mark the ending with Havdalah and recognize the beginning of the week. For the week is not Shabbat. If we have used the Shabbat properly however, we may be able to infuse some of it into our week. (Lori Palatnik)
B’Shalom,
Rabbi Tom Samuels
