22. VA'YYAK'HEYL
The Prophetic Green Menorah
GREEN MENORAH COVENANT (on climate crisis) | 19. TERUMA | 22. VA'YYAK'HEYL | 36. BEHA'ALOTEKHA | Hanukkah | Oiloholic Uncle Sam & Global ScorchingBy Rabbi Arthur Waskow *
On Shabbat Hanukkah, we read the passage from the Prophet Zechariah that envisions the future Great Menorah, taking its sacred place in a rebuilt Holy Temple after the Babylonian Captivity. (We read the same Haftarah for Shabbat Behaalotekha.)
Zechariah, in visionary, prophetic style, goes beyond the Torah's description of the original Menorah (literally, a Light-bearer). That Menorah was planned as part of the portable Shrine, the Mishkan, in the Wilderness.
First Zechariah describes the Menorah of the future that he sees: "All of gold, with a bowl on its top, seven lamps, and seven pipes leading to the seven lamps." It sounds like the original bearer of the sacred Light. But then he adds a new detail: "By it are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and one on the left." (4: 2-3)
