This week's parashah (parashah) is called Behaalotcha, which literally means "when you lift up." The Torah (Numbers 8:2) describes how the candles of the Menorah (candelabrum) in the Sanctuary should be lit.
Apparently, the text should have said "When you light" (behaadlikjah, in Hebrew) instead of "When you raise." Rashi (1040-1105), one of the leading commentators, explains that the term "raise," when speaking of lighting candles, refers to the flame, since the flame rises. However, it should still have said "When you light," which would be a more appropriate word and could refer to the candle itself (and not the flame). Therefore, Rashi continues, the Torah teaches us that the candle should be lit until the flame rises on its own. It emerges, then, that from this change of expression (behaalotjah instead of behaadlikjah) we learn an idea that would have required many more words if the Torah had had to explain it separately.
Like all matters of the Torah, we must find some practical lesson for all times and places.
A prophecy in Zechariah (Three Asar:2) refers to the Menorah of the Sanctuary and the Temple as representing the Jewish people. Each of the branches symbolizes different groups of people, and the candles themselves represent the people. In fact, there is a verse in Proverbs (20:27) that compares the soul to a candle.
Now, just as candles must be lit, so too must souls. In particular, the souls of children (both in age and in knowledge). This is the teaching of this verse in our section, regarding how the candles of the Menorah should be lit, in the words of Rashi: "until the flame rises by itself.".
It is clear and widely acknowledged that a child needs education. This begins in the early years of life and continues uninterrupted, even after the child has grown. However, simply transmitting information is not enough; there must be adequate stimulation for the information to be retained. If this is true for mathematics, language, and other subjects, it is also true for Judaism.
But there's one more thing: the encouragement must be such that "the flame rises on its own." It's not enough to simply tell the child that they come from a Jewish family, or even that they live surrounded by Jewish symbols at home or at school, or that they play a sport at a Jewish club. There must be such a strong incentive that it prompts the child to inquire on their own, to seek, on their own initiative, to deepen and reach new horizons in their relationship with God. This is what the Torah calls "lighting the candle": parents have the duty and responsibility to ignite the child's soul so that they may know their true essence.