AS TO THE ETERNAL LIGHT

QUESTION:

In this synagogue the Eternal Light is in a recess in the wall near the Ark. Must it not be outside of the wall? Also, may the Eternal Light be maintained by solar energy? (Asked by Rabbi Martin Weitz, Laguna Hills, California.)

ANSWER:

Questions as to the proper location of the Eternal Light and the fuel which keeps it burning depend for their answer upon the basic question of the status of the Eternal Light in the halakhah. It should be clear at the outset that this light which is kept kindled before the Ark has virtually no basis in the halakhah. Although the halakhah has full and clear rules as to the Torah, the Ark and other synagogue appurtenances, there are no references to the Eternal Light before the Ark, either in the Talmud or in the Codes.

Elbogen in his Gottesdienst (p. 476) says that the first literary reference to the Eternal Light is in the 17th Century. He may be referring to the reference (which may well be the first one) in Pahad Yitzhhaq by Isaac Lamperonti, Rabbi of Ferrara in the 17th-18th Century, who says under the heading Ner Tamid: “There is no requirement to have a Ner Tamid in the synagogue except during the time of prayer.” There are, of course, many references to lights in the synagogue and to the merit earned by those who provide them, but these refer to lights in general for worship or study, not to a single light before the Ark (Ner Tamid). (See the full discussion of the legal status of the Ner Tamid in Current Reform Responsa, p. 8 ff.)

We may therefore conclude that the Ner Tamid as a symbol is about three centuries old. But that is a span of time long enough for it to have become a beloved symbol which people are eager to observe in proper fashion. What, then, is the proper way of placing it and maintaining it?

It is clear that its location before the Ark is an analogy to the light before the Ark in the Wilderness Tabernacle and then in the Temple in Jerusalem. The location is definitely fixed in the command given by Moses as follows: “Command the Children of Israel that they bring pure olive oil for the light to burn continually outside the curtain which is before the Testimony” (i.e., the Ark) (Exodus 27:20.21 and also Leviticus 24:2)

It is of course difficult to see how that Tabernacle light could have been continuous. A cup of oil with a wick floating on it can hardly be made into a continual light. Therefore, Rashi explains the word Tamid to be not continuous , but regular. The Tamid, as Rashi explains it, means a light which was lit daily, i.e., regularly. But aside from this question of “continuity” or “regularity” there is no question of the location of the Tabernacle lamp. Therefore as the lamp in the Tabernacle and the Temple stood in front of the curtain behind which was the Ark, so our custom is to have the light outside of the curtain in front of the Ark.

Therefore, the answer to the first question as to the position of the light is that we should indeed follow the established custom based on the analogy of the light in the ancient Temple and we hang the lamp above and outside the Ark curtain. This is not a matter of whether the present light in the wall niche is (as the questioner puts it) kosher or not. It is simply a matter of well established custom.

As to the second question, whether or not the lamp may be maintained by solar energy, the fuel referred to in Exodus is “pure olive oil.” This has, of course, not been followed strictly in the synagogue light. There is a variety of possible fuels and wicks mentioned in the law, not with regard to the Temple Light, but with regard to the Sabbath Lights. The law as to the fuel and the wicks stems from Chapter 2 of the Tractate Shabbat and is codified in the Shulkhan Aruldi (Orah Hayyim 264). The general decision is that no fuel may be used that gives off an unpleasant smell. Therefore, using the analogy with the Sabbath Lights, we use gas or electricity which is odorless and fairly continuous.

Therefore as to the specific question whether or not solar energy may be used, there can be no possible objection, provided that the energy cell does not need to be taken out periodically to be reexposed to the sunlight and in the meantime the Ner Tamid be extinguished. Of course, even when the Ner Tamid is fuelled by gas or electricity, we cannot guarantee that it will be continuous light. The gas house or the fuel station may fail at times and the light may go out. But if the solar power can keep the light going most of the time, that will fulfill the requirement of the law and the custom as indicated by the statement of Isaac Lamperonti quoted above.