In this week's Torah portion, Beha'alosecha, Aaron, the kohen gadol (high priest), is commanded to light the menora: "Speak to Aaron...When you light the lamps."
According to Jewish law, any Jew, even someone who is not a kohen, is permitted to light the menora and the kindling will be valid. Furthermore, the trimming of the menora's wicks need not necessarily be done by the high priest; any kohen is allowed to perform the task. Why then is the commandment to light the menora directed specifically at Aaron?
The fact that the Torah addresses Aaron indicates that although others are permitted to kindle the lamps, lighting the menora is an activity best done only by someone with the spiritual standing of a kohen gadol.
The commandment to kindle the menora is symbolic of every Jew's obligation to involve himself with others and exert a positive influence on everyone with whom he comes in contact. All of us are commanded to ignite the Divine spark in our fellow Jews and light up our surroundings.
How are we to exert this influence? By emulating the example of Aaron, the high priest, the embodiment of the highest level of holiness. We too must not content ourselves with presenting a watered-down version of Torah and mitzvot to our fellow Jews; only the highest levels of sanctity and holiness will suffice!
What was so special about the kohen gadol? One day each year, on Yom Kippur, the high priest entered the holy of holies, the most sanctified place on earth. The chamber itself was bare except for the tablets of the law, the Ten Commandments. Indeed, this is the essence of the high priest: the Torah in its purest form.
The Ten Commandments were engraved in stone, its letters part and parcel of the tablets themselves, inseparable from the substance in which it was etched. Again, this expresses the nature of the high priest: someone to whom the Torah is his very essence.
The commandment to light the menora is both the duty and the merit of every single Jew. All of us are required to kindle our own "lamp," our G-dly soul, and ignite the spark of G-d that dwells in others. And while any Jew can and must light the "menora" - ie. his own G-dly soul and his environment, it must be done in a manner consistent with the high priest, whose whole being was synonymous with the highest levels of sanctity.
(From the Teachings of the Rebbe)
