[Avodah] Tetzaveh "Mosheless"

[Cantor Wolberg]

This parashah is the only one in the last four books of the Torah in  
which the name of Moshe does not appear. Noting this literary  
curiosity, some commentators explain it as Moshe’s generously stepping  
aside to let the spotlight fall on his brother Aharon and his priestly  
functions.  Others point out that the traditional date of Moshe’s  
death, the 7th of Adar, always falls during the week in which Tetzaveh  
is read and his absence from the Torah reading, like his virtual  
absence from the Haggadah is seen as part of an effort to ensure that  
no cult of Moses worship would ever arise.

"And I will dwell among the People of Israel and be their God" Sh’mos  
(29:45).  Rabbi Yaakov Auerbach z"l points out that the Gematria of  
that whole pasuk is 2449, the year from Creation in which the Mishkan  
was first dedicated.

The actual phrase, Ner Tamid, which appears in our parashah for the  
first time, has come to refer to this fixture in synagogue  
architecture. Here, however, the meaning is that the lamp be lit  
regularly and does not refer to the synagogue's 'eternal light'. Light  
was the first element in Creation — the first step in transforming  
chaos into cosmic order. Light intimates both life and the Presence of  
the Giver of all life. Psalm 104:2 describes God as "wrapped in a robe  
of light." Light has always been associated with peace. According to  
the Talmud (Shabbat 22b), the light of the menorah is testimony that  
the Divine Presence resides in the midst of Israel.¹

May we all be enlightened to the truth of Torah.

¹Kolel’s Parasha Study

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