"When you light the lamps, opposite the font of the candlestick the seven lamps shall give light." [Bamidbar 8.2]

"The commentaries questioned: Since "the front of the candlestick" refers to the middle lamp, it should have said "the six lamps shall give light," since the six face [inward toward the middle] seventh. Rather, the words "opposite the candlestick" refer to the words above ("When you light the lamps opposite the front of the candlestick - the seven lamps shall give light") ... To say that the Almighty wanted to demonstrate that He is not in need of its light." [Kli Yakar]

The Almighty is not in need of our light. On the contrary, we are in need of His. For this reason the Torah guides us in the proper way of taking full spiritual advantage of the light of the Menorah: The lamps must radiate toward themselves, meaning that the light they give should not only illuminate others, but it must come back and shine on the Menorah itself. This is also the distinguishing characteristic of a truly learned person whose light brightens others, but also reflects back on him in direct proportion. Such light illuminates, as well as reflects. When the Kohain Gadol, Aaron, lights the Menorah before God, he does not do so to offer light to the Creator of light, but so that the Menorah's light can reflect back a light of holiness and sanctity.

The "front of the candlestick" includes all seven lamps. The light was not meant to shine inwards towards the center of the Menorah itself, for then the Torah would have spoken of six lamps directing their light toward the center lamp. Instead we learn of the Menorah's light reaching outwards.

The light of the lamps illuminates all that surrounds it, thus amplifying the light that returns to illuminate the Menorah itself.

This returning light is at once a fact and a commandment. It applies especially in our day and age when the Temple and the Menorah are no longer standing, and when we must fill the void of the reflecting light that the Menorah once provided.

And it is the Torah that must fill that void, as is said (Mishlei 6.23): "For the commandment is a lamp, and the Torah light." There are many great and learned scholars whose light reaches to great distances, yet their work is not complete until that light returns to shine on them, via the students they produce and the influence they have on their society at large.

The returning light of the Torah, of Torah study and of Torah observance, must further shape and influence us all. Otherwise we risk implying that the light is offered for God's sake, rather than for our own.

When the light we radiate around us by leading Torah lives returns to us, enhancing our spirituality and improving our behavior to one another, we will have fulfilled both the fact and the commandment of "When you light the lamps opposite the front of the candlestick the seven lamps shall give light."