An Amazing Hint – Parshat Tetzave

To kindle the light continually.” (27:20) If you count all the candles we light over the eight days of chanuka it comes to thirty-six. One on the first night, two on the second, together that’s three. On the third night, you’ll light another three, add that to the first two nights, that’s six. If you keep going till the eighth night like this, the number youwillcome to is 36. This is way beit hillel say we should light. Even though we light one candle on the first night and add another one night like beit hillel, the opinion of beit shammai, is that we should start in a blaze ofgloryon the first night with eight candles and work our way down to one on the last night. It says in parshat tetzave – ‘to kindle the light continually” — ‘light’ in the singular ” if you count backwards from parshat bereishit, if you go back thirty-six parshiot from the beginning of the torah, 36, 35, 43 etc, you’ll get to parshat tetzave, this week’s parsha, in which the torah talks about a ‘lamp’ in the singular . But if you count forward from bereishit, from the beginning of the torah, one two three, adding all the time, the 35th parsha you’ll get to is parshat behalosecha, where it says, “when you kindle the lamps…” lamps in the plural. In other words, if you go back, if you go down, you’ll get to this week’s parsha – lamp in the singular like beit shammai. And if you go forward, adding, going up, you’ll end up with lamps in the plural, like beit hillel.
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Rabbi Sinclair’s book on the weekly Parsha – https://www.israelbookshoppublications.com/store/pc/The-Color-of-Heaven-54p652.htm

Rabbi Sinclair’s on-line art gallery – http://www.seasonsofthemoon.com/