Rashi records a Medrash Tanchuma that espouses an idea we might not have believed had we not seen it in print, and that we certainly would never have had the temerity to espouse ourselves. The Medrash, noticing the order of the parshiyos, asks why the commandment for Aharon to light the Menorah appears at the beginning of Parshas Beha’aloscha, immediately after the section detailing the gifts that the heads of the tribes brought to inaugurate the Mishkan. 

Famously, Rashi answers that:

לָמָּה נִסְמְכָה פָרָשַׁת הַמְּנוֹרָה לְפָרָשַׁת הַנְּשִׂיאִים? לְפִי שֶׁכְּשָׁרָאָה אַהֲרֹן חֲנֻכַּת הַנְּשִׂיאִים חָלְשָׁה אָז דַּעְתּוֹ, שֶׁלֹּא הָיָה עִמָּהֶם בַּחֲנֻכָּה לֹא הוּא וְלֹא שִׁבְטוֹ, אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּבָּ"ה חַיֶּיךָ שֶׁלְּךָ גְדוֹלָה מִשֶּׁלָּהֶם, שֶׁאַתָּה מַדְלִיק וּמֵטִיב אֶת הַנֵּרוֹת.

Why is the section treating of the Candelabrum put in juxtaposition with the section dealing with the offerings of the princes? Because when Aaron saw the dedication offerings of the princes, he felt distressed because neither he nor his tribe was with them in the dedication, whereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “By your life! Your part is of greater importance than theirs, for you will kindle and set in order the lamps.”

Rashi, Bamidbar 7:2

The question that always bothered me was: how do we understand this concept that Aharon had a chalishus hada’as — a weakening of spirit? Was Aharon some small-minded person who would become jealous of others who were given a unique contribution to Hashem’s Sanctuary? This is the magnanimous and refined Aharon that we so revere. 

Furthermore, the Ramban poses two other questions. First, why did this avodah of hadlakas haneiros animate yishuv hada’as more so than the twice daily obligation of the ketores that was also in Aharon and his family’s domain? How about the Yom Kippur service or the many other responsibilities that were entrusted only to the kohanim?

Second, Aharon himself offered daily sacrifices during the days of the inauguration of the Mishkan. So why should he have felt jealous of the offerings brought by the nesi’im?

Famously, the Ramban quotes a medrash that says that the sacrifices and the like would no longer apply if and when the Beis Hamikdash ceases to exist — אבל הנרות לעולם אל מול פני המנורה יאירו — but the neiros will burn eternally “across from the Menorah.” The Ramban explains this tantalizing Medrash as follows: While the Beis HaMikdash may no longer be standing, the lights of the Menorah continue to burn in the form of the neiros Chanukah. It was the eternal nature of ner, in the form of the neros Chashmonaim, that brought comfort to Aharon in a way that his normal korbanos and other obligations of service did not. 

Maybe this is why Aharon felt dejected in the first place. Aharon saw the nesi’im contributing to something eternal. Even if ultimately the Mishkan ends in a state of destruction, the creation of sanctity in this world is permanent. Even if the actual structure is destroyed, every future makom kadosh is infused with and is modeled after the original Mishkan. That eternal quality was lacking in the acts of avodah that Aharon heretofore had been assigned. But once Aharon was instructed in the lighting of the Menorah, which is also fundamentally eternal, he also felt as though he was making an everlasting contribution.

This is the furthest thing from a petty jealousy. Rather, it is a desire to contribute to the eternal sanctity that is the hallmark of the Am Hanetzach, the Eternal People.

May we be zoche to experience the historical, eternal, and transformative beauty of the ner Chanukah during the days ahead.