Beha'aloscha: 5783 - In our parsha it is written, "We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt for free," and the Midrash states: "From here [we learn] about Shabbos candles from the Torah." What is the connection between their complaint and Shabbos candles? This week's insight…

00:00 Speaker 1 Rabbi Sonnenfeld, please.

00:03 Speaker 2 In the weekly parsha, it says, “The people were like complainers.” They came to Moshe Rabbeinu with complaints, asking, “Give us meat.” And they said, “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt, the cucumbers and the watermelons.” Now, there’s a question. There’s a puzzling Midrash that says: “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for free—from here we learn that Shabbos candles are from the Torah.” What’s the connection between the two? There’s a beautiful explanation, I think from Rabbi Yonasan Eibeshitz. He explains the Midrash like this: Look at what their complaint was. “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt.” But the manna could taste like anything in the world. If they wanted to taste fish, they tasted fish. So what were they complaining about? They could—if they wanted khachapuri, it tasted like khachapuri. They could taste anything. So what was their complaint? Their complaint was: True, we can taste fish, but we can’t see the fish. From here we learn about Shabbos candles from the Torah. Why do we need Shabbos candles? One reason is so that a person can enjoy Shabbos; you need to see what you’re eating. So that gives us the connection. If their complaint was “We remember the fish,” why was that? Because they couldn’t see it. From here we learn about Shabbos candles from the Torah.

01:39 Speaker 1 Beautiful.

01:39 Speaker 2 Have a good Shabbos.

01:40 Speaker 1 Good Shabbos.