(Originally published in 2022)
Word: מאליה, me’eleha, “on its own”
Context: The word מאליה is used in Rashi’s comment on the first verse of the parsha, on the phrase, להעלות נר תמיד, “to make the Ner Tamid [eternal light of the menorah] go up” (Exodus 27:2):
מדליק עד שתהא שלהבת עולה מאליה – one lights it [the light of the menorah] until the flame goes up on its own.
After your initial effort, the light has the capacity to go up on its own, without your further assistance or interference.
Elsewhere in Rashi on the Torah: In last week’s parsha, as a comment on the instructions for the construction of the menorah, Rashi writes similarly concerning the words תיעשה המנורה, “the menorah will be made (25:31)”:
מאליה, on its own.
The Torah says te’aseh, “it will be made,” in the passive form here, explains Rashi, in order to let you know that there is very little human involvement in the construction of the menorah. The process happens on its own. Rashi goes on to retell a midrash about Moshe’s difficulties in understanding how to construct the menorah, an extremely intricate instrument made out of one slab of gold. Moshe had so much trouble that God showed him a model of what it was to look like, but even then, Moshe struggled, until finally, God said – just throw the gold into the fire and let the menorah make itself. And that’s what happened: Moshe threw the gold into the fire and the menorah “was made” מאליה, on its own.
Message: We spend a lot of time interfering with our own inner processes – rejecting, minimizing, invalidating, resisting, doubting, and judging feelings as they come up. This sadness, I shouldn’t be feeling it; I don’t have a right to be sad; I should be grateful. Or this anxiety, I don’t like the way it feels. I wish it would go away. Or sometimes, we are like Moshe in our inner work – we try too hard; we want so desperately to get “there,” to do things right, to make the menorah exactly as God wants it, to be spiritually awake and at peace, to be filled with light like a menorah – we want all of that so badly and we try so hard; we work and we strive, like Moshe, and we get so frustrated because all of that work somehow doesn’t get us there. The harder we try, the farther it seems we are from our goal sometimes. What we want is to be in a state of effortless flow, and the way we think we can get there is through effort, that we can effort our way into effortlessness.
But we can’t. We need to absorb some of this מאליה energy, some of this sense that everything will unfold on its own, just as it should, beautifully, if we will only allow it to, if we can only do what Moshe did, let go and surrender to the fire process, trust that the menorah will come out just right “on its own.” We need to learn that in fact, that is the only way the menorah will come out just right, that when we interfere, micromanage, control, judge and try too hard, we stop the natural flow of life that wants to emerge as a stunning menorah of light.
This is a humble stance, and one of faith, acknowledging our limitations as humans to make things right, and trusting the natural inherent processes – both inner and outer – that God has planted in the universe. A flower doesn’t need to be judged and controlled in order to become its most exquisite self. If we tamper less, if we judge less, if we instead allow what is inside us to open and unfold, surely our own light and beauty will emerge מאליה, on its own.
