Friday, June 13, 2008

Ever-lasting fire

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix we learn about Gubraithian Fire , ever-lasting fire that's hard to conjure, that Dumbeldore makes as a gift for the giants.

The Torah tells us that the Tabernacle and the Holy Temple also had ever-lasting fire. In this week's Torah portion (Be'ha'a'lot'cha) we see Aaron commanded to light the Menorah. The Torah elsewhere tells us that this light has to be an ever-lasting fire that Aaron and his descendants are commanded to keep lit. This is commemorated nowadays by the "ner tamid" that virtually every synagogue has, a constantly burning light that shows us that Divine light is always coming into the world.

I plan to write more about this in the future, but for now, I encourage everyone to read an interesting article on the significance of ever-lasting fire, on the TorahLab web site at:
http://www.torahlab.org/calendar/article/a_history_of_the_shechinah/

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