<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><p dir="LTR"><span lang="en-us"><font size="4" face="Mangal">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. </font></span></p><p dir="LTR"><span lang="en-us"><font size="4" face="Mangal">"And I will dwell among the People of Israel and be their G</font></span><span lang="en-us"><font size="4" face="Mangal">o</font></span><span lang="en-us"><font size="4" face="Mangal">d" 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.</font></span></p><div><span lang="en-us"><font size="4" face="Mangal">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.</font></span><span lang="en-us"><b><font size="4" face="Mangal">¹</font></b></span><span lang="en-us"></span></div><div><span lang="en-us"></span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 17px; ">May we all be enlightened to the truth of Torah.</span><span lang="en-us"></span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Mangal" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 17px; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></span></font></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 17px; ">¹Kolel’s Parasha Study</span><span lang="en-us"></span></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Mangal; font-size: 17px; ">ri</span></div></body></html>