This week’s Torah portion, Tetzaveh, opens with the commandment that the Israelites should bring ‘pure oil of beaten olives’ to the Sanctuary, so that Aaron and his sons can kindle a ner tamid, or a lamp which will be kept always burning.

The ner tamid is rich in symbolism, but for today, let’s focus on its fuel.  The commandment is to bring pure – we would call it, ‘extra-virgin’ – olive oil.  In the ancient world light was created from any number of substances.  In some forms of the Shabbat evening service we read a passage called Be-Meh Madlikin, from the Mishnah (Shabbat 2:1-7) which proves that pitch, wax, cottonseed oil, fat from sheeps’ tails or tallow, sesame oil, nut oil, radish oil, fish oil, gourd oil, tar or naptha were all possible sources of fuel.  But there Rabbi Tarfon rules that only olive oil may be used for Shabbat candles.

Flipping through a recent issue of National Geographic, I came across a fascinating article about crocodiles or crocodilians as the species is formally called.  The article opened with a recounting of a sad story of the recent killing of “Donna,” a crocodile that had made its home amongst the students on the University of Miami campus – contrasting that one death to the incredible staying power of the mighty crocodiles. The article stating, “Having endured millions of years of planetary climate change, tectonic-plate musical chairs, and other ecological vicissitudes, [the crocodiles of] today face a new challenge to their survival – us. 

And so, we arrive once again at Sinai.  Where to find a reference to food in the thunder and fire that surround the giving of the Torah, the revelation of God’s word to human beings?

For this, we need to turn a little later in the tradition.  While in the Torah the land of Israel is compared to milk and honey, we find that later commentators compare the Torah itself to food and drink.  Rashi, in interpreting various verses in Deuteronomy which refer to the Torah being given ‘today’ understands that this means the words of Torah will be like new for us – hadashim – every day.  That word hadashim can be understood as being the initial letters of the Hebrew words for milk, honey, oil, wine and water – and it is intriguing to compare each of these to the five books of the Torah.  Which, we might ask, goes with what?

“Setting out from Elim, the whole Israelite community came to the wilderness of Sin…the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron… “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate our fill of bread! For you have brought us out in to this wilderness to starve this whole congregation to death.” (Exodus 16:1-3)

Torah To Go – Va’era

At the beginning of this portion, we have a piece of Torah that gives rise to one of the most ancient traditions we possess:

6  So say to the people of Israel, I am God, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will save you from their slavery, and I will redeem you with a outstretched arm, and with great judgments; 7  And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. (Exodus 6:6-8)