What is the meaning and symbolism of fire in Judaism? There are many ways in which we use it: Yartzheit, (remembrence) Shabbat, (endings and beginnings) Hanukah, (miracles) warmth, in the Magen David it is said it’s the fire and water elements which are combined to result in unity or harmony…but what does it truly mean in the spiritual, traditional, personal and religious?

Thank you for your excellent question. I’m not sure that I can answer the bigger question that you are asking, but I’ll try my best to answer the details:

For a Yarzheit we light a candle as a reminder of the soul of the departed. In Mishlei (20; 27) it states “The person’s soul is the candle of G-d…”. On the anniversary of the death, when we pray and do actions to elevate the soul of the departed we symbolise it through a candle.

We light two candles at the beginning of Shabbat so that the home will be well lit. The Talmud states that if the home is dark people will get cross when they bump into things, and they will not have ‘Shabbat Shalom’. Symbolically the two candles correspond to the two commandments of Shabbat – remember (zachor) and keep (shamor) We light a candle for havdala at the end of Shabbat to show that we are now permitted to do ‘melacha’ (forbidden Shabbat activities), and since lighting fire is one of the only melachot to be mentioned explicitly in the Torah it is appropriate to symbolise the end of Shababt by lighting. Also, fire was created on Motzei Shabbat (after Shabbat) when Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, G-d gave them the gift of fire for protection, warmth and preparing food.

Chanukah is all about light – the light of the Menorah which burnt for 8 days, the light of the Jews combatting the darkness of the Greek culture, etc. I’m sure you can find many online pieces about the deeper symbolism of Chanukah, and you don’t need me for that.
Finally, the Magen David I know nothing about. Many reasons are suggested for why it has become a Jewish symbol – some more likely than others. It doesn’t seem to have any traditional source, and only in the past few hundred years became associated with Judaism. I know that people write about fire and water, male and female etc. but I am very skeptical if that is really anything to do with Judaism.

Yours
Rabbi David Sedley