In a long excursus in his Commentary on Chumash, Rabbi S.R. Hirsch gives a detailed view of what the Menorah represents. Rav Hirsch1 quotes the Talmudic conclusion2 that there are two elements necessary, at least le-chatchila, in sculpting the Menorah — it must be fashioned of gold, and it must be formed out of a single piece, mikshah.3 What, though, if there is not enough gold on hand? Then, says the Gemara after an extended back and forth, you are allowed to use other metals, and in that case it is not necessary for the Menorah to be a single piece; the parts may be soldered together. Rav Hirsch reads the verb תיעשה almost as a passive command — one way or another, the Menorah must be made. There is the ideal way to make it — of one piece of hammered gold. And then there is the alternative way using any metal, and any number of pieces. 

Why is it so important to have a Menorah even if not in its ideal form? The Midrash Tanchuma imagines Aharon’s reaction as he watches the gifts being brought by the tribal leaders in the lead up to the dedication of the Mishkan, and wonders if he has missed out. “Don’t worry,” God reassures him. “Your gift is greater than theirs, for you will be able to light the Menorah forever.”4 Aharon’s is a gift that keeps on giving and involves him and his descendants in daily avodah in the Mishkan and the Bet ha-Mikdash. Ramban, to be sure, wonders how this can be referred to as “forever”; were not the First and Second Temples destroyed? Where is the continuity? He suggests that the midrash is alluding to the Chanukah miracle, which has a continuing resonance even post-churban.5 

Rav Hirsch notes that on a basic level the significance of the Menorah is plain. The Menorah provides light, which symbolizes knowledge.6 Standing opposite the Shulchan (representing material prosperity) in the Mishkan and near the Aron with the Tablets, the light of the Menorah symbolizes a nation whose life is grounded in the Torah. But, he continues at great length, while light can allude to knowledge and spiritual enlightenment, it more often represents a “source of growth and life, of unfolding and flowering, of undisturbed progress and happiness, of joy and bliss.”7 Light not only illuminates life; it awakens life.8 Light can imply perception and understanding but also the joy of living, the consciousness of growing life. The source of light, says Rav Hirsch, is ruach, the spirit that “grants knowledge, insight, and wisdom, and at the same time motivates moral will and moral action.”9

This idea is underscored by the words of Zechariah that we read for the Haftarah of Shabbat Chanukah. Zechariah, asked to describe what he sees, observes an elaborate gold candelabrum (albeit not precisely in the form of the Menorah of the Mishkan (Zech. 2:2)). But Zechariah is unsure of the meaning of his vision and asks the angel to explain. The heavenly response is stirring and memorable: 

לֹא בְחַיִל, וְלֹא בְכֹחַ--כִּי אִם-בְּרוּחִי, אָמַר ה’ צבקות. 

Not by might, not by force but by My spirit, says the Lord.

Zechariah 4:6

The political leader Zerubavel will achieve greatness for himself and the nation and overcome the enormous challenges he faces if he concentrates on the spirit. To be sure, Zerubavel is the leader, not the teacher of the people. His role (sadly unrealized at the end) is to recognize God’s will and carry it out.

This, according to R. Hirsch, is the dual lesson of the Menorah. We must combine accurate perception and appropriate action. As another great prophet observes:

...רוּחַ ה’--רוּחַ חָכְמָה וּבִינָה, רוּחַ עֵצָה וּגְבוּרָה, רוּחַ דַּעַת, וְיִרְאַת ה'. 

And the spirit of God … the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of God.

Yeshayahu 11:2

Yeshayahu enumerates three pairs of words (3 X 2 = 6), each representing a branch of the Menorah. Each branch points toward the central branch, the ruach, the spirit of God. 

Concludes Rav Hirsch, the spirit of God “is not just the source of theoretical knowledge and perception, but the source of both perception and action.”10

That is why Aharon was comforted with the knowledge that his children would always light the Menorah. They would be the ones to spread the knowledge of God and the ability to bring that knowledge to life. The lesson is sometimes perfectly reproduced — the Menorah is carved from a block of pure gold. But even if the ideal cannot be experienced, in times when the Menorah needs to be cobbled together from baser metals, it is crucial that Aharon’s children be there to bring the light — the spirit of God — to the children of Israel and to mankind. 

Endnotes

1. The Hirsch Chumash (Feldheim, 2002) “Shemos” 25:31 p. 567.

2. BT Menachot 28a.

3. Think of Michelangelo paring down a block of marble.

4. Midrash Tanchuma, Behalotcha, 8, 5.

5. Ramban, Bamidbar 82.

6. Shemos 25:39 p. 570.

7. E.g., “There will I cause the horn of David to flourish; there I prepared a lamp for my anointed.” (Tehillim 132:17). (The translation, by the way, of “keren” as horn which the English translator (and others to be sure) adopted is quite lame and misses the metaphorical allusion to victory and success. See Tehillim 89:18). 

8. Ibid, p. 572.

9. Ibid, p. 572.

10. Ibid, p.572.