Six million candles

Six million... who can understand six million?
One or ten is a number that we can grasp, a hundred even, but a million? Six million?
It's an abstraction; it's astronomy or accounting. We can't get ahold of it.

Start with one. In the mind's eye, one candle.

Let one candle become ten: a minyan of candles. Do this with me, in your minds.

Behind the minyan, another minyan of candles.
And another.
Another,
And another...
Ten minyanim of candles.
They make a solid square now, a congregation of candles.
Look at them, hold them in your mind.

This congregation is on the first floor. On the second floor is another congregation. --
Above that is another. --
And another,
And another...
Ten floors, ten congregations. One thousand candles, a temple of candles.
Can you feel their warmth on your face and hands?
Step back a little, see into this temple from the outside, see these thousand candles all together, each with its own flame.

Now look next door.
There's another temple as tall as the first, with a sanctuary on each floor, and a full congregation in each sanctuary.
Watch these two temples of flickering candles, side by side. --
Next to that temple is another one,
A fourth,
A fifth,
Sixth...
A minyan of temples now, ten towers of light.

Rise up a little now so you can look beyond these temples.
See! There's another minyan behind them, ten more temples full of glowing candles. --
And behind that minyan, another,
And another...
And yet another...
Ten minyans of temples now. One hundred temples, each full of light.
You can feel their heat, can't you?
Step back again and watch this field of solid, flickering light.

Now we have to abandon earthly architecture.
Above this squared minyan of temples, this field of light, is another square of temples, each temple with its own thousandfold glow. --
Yes, and another one above it,
And above that another,
Another...
Ten fields of solid, glowing light.
Float up to see them all together: ten minyans of minyans, one thousand temples, one million candles shining, filling the space in front of you.
Let them warm your face and the front of your body, there before you in the middle of space.

As you float before this solidity of warmth and illumination, think also of the emptiness around you.
Fill that void with light, one direction at a time.
First the space on your right: fill it with a thousand temples, a million candles of light and life.
Let them warm you on the right. --
Now, on your left, the same. --
At your back, another million candles, warming and guarding you all around. --
Now, as you float in space, the emptiness beneath your feet is filled also, a million candles upholding you with their strength. --
And finally, the sky above your head, no longer blank, radiates the life and warmth of a million candles more.
The void is filled with living, pulsing light. It surrounds you and supports you, strengthening your life with the power of its own.

Six million candles.
As they glow now in your mind, they glow forever in the undying memory of God.
The memory of the righteous is a blessing: zecher tsaddik l'vrachah.