Peaceful Shabbat Candles Amongst the many intricate laws of the impurity of the Metzora, the person afflicted with the skin affliction described in this week’s portion, the Mishna relates a dispute regarding a Metzora who entered someone else’s home: If a Metzora entered a house, all the vessels in it, even up to the roof beams, become ritually impure… Rabbi Yehudah says: only if the metzora stayed there as much time as is required for the lighting of a lamp. Negaim 13:11 Rabbi Yehudah offers the lighting of a candle as an example to measure the time that must elapse before the impurity sets in because, as the kabbalists explain, the lighting of the candle is the antithesis and the antidote to the impurity of the Tzaraat, which, as the classic commentators explain, is a consequence for the sin of negative speech. Negative speech, such as slander and gossip, is an expression of arrogance and ego that causes the person to separate from his fellow. A lamp represents the enlightenment of wisdom, which, in the kabbalah, is synonymous with humility, which heals the divisiveness that causes the Tzaarat. The commentators explain that Rabbi Yehudah is referring not to the time it takes to light an ordinary lamp but to the Shabbat candles lit Friday toward evening. That teaches us that light per se is not necessarily conducive to peace. Light can destroy romance, as it can sometimes highlight the less desirable features and characteristics of a person or a situation. The Shabbat candles, by contrast, bring peace into the home. For they represent the light of the Torah as it manifests and illuminates our physical environment and reality. The Torah “was given to bring peace to the world”, because the Torah resolves the perceived conflict between the material and spiritual. The light of the Torah, manifest through the physical light of the Shabbat candles, spreads throughout our home, revealing the inner Divine spark within everything, and creating harmony between all aspects of our life, our homes, and the people we love. Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Lekutei Sichos 17 Tazria 3