We are vessels for something much greater

This week’s portion, Tetzaveh, opens with a mitzvah which seems at first glance to be out of place:

Hashem tells Moshe: “Ve’Atah Te’tzaveh Et B’nei Yisrael, Ve’Yikchu’ Eilecha’ Shemen Zayit Zach — Katit La’Ma’or — Le’Ha’alot Ner Tamid (And you shall command the children of Israel, and they shall take to you pure olive oil which was crushed for the light, to raise up a continuous [daily] flame).” (Exodus 27:20).

Having just concluded a lengthy delineation of the specifics of building the Mishkan (Tabernacle) including a listing of all the vessels and their specifications, we now seem to begin the process of understanding exactly what are we meant to do with all the vessels we are building for the Mishkan.

Although the mitzvah discussed here is the lighting of the menorah, the Torah is really demanding the preparation of the wicks, an obligation to bring oil so that the wicks might one day be lit in the Mishkan.

Why is this commandment raised in such a roundabout fashion? Why not just state the purpose of this endeavor, which is to light the menorah daily in the sanctuary?  Indeed, the Torah here does not even mention the menorah itself?

And for that matter, why do we bring the oil to Moshe? Why not to G-d? (Especially as it is Aaron who does the lighting, so why not bring the oil to him?)

Meanwhile, there is something unique in this week’s parsha: in all of the Torah, this is the only portion (since his birth in the portion of Exodus) where Moshe’s name does not appear.

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The Midrash suggests that in the sin of the golden calf (32:33), Moshe says to G-d: “Me’cheini Na’ Mi’Sifrechah (Erase me from your book).” In other words, if I cannot achieve forgiveness for the Jewish people, then I don’t want to be in the Torah. And, despite the fact that Hashem does indeed forgive us, nonetheless part of Moshe’s declaration came to pass, and thus, in this week’s portion, Moshe’s name is, indeed, not mentioned.

Of course, this leaves us wondering what all this has to do with our portion and the mitzvah of the menorah?

The Lubavitcher Rebbe points out that, in truth, Moshe is clearly mentioned in this week’s parsha, though not by name. The portion begins with the word “ve’atah (and you)” which clearly refers to Moshe. In fact, it refers to Moshe on a much higher level than his name — ve’atah refers to the essence of Moshe.

Moshe’s greatest attribute was his ability to recognize that he was really only a vessel for something much greater than himself. The Torah describes Moshe as the greatest anav, the most humble person who ever lived. Moshe was able to get out of his own way.

How often do we get so wrapped up in ourselves, so caught up in making sure we get what we want, that we forget that it isn’t supposed to be about us; we are merely the vessel for something much greater, for the entire world.

Moshe was so in touch with the purpose for which he was meant to be a vessel, that he was able to demonstrate that without the Jewish people there was no longer a point to his existence.

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In a time when rulers and monarchs were acting as gods, and assuming that the people existed to serve them, Moshe was teaching the world that it is not the people who serve the leader, but the leader who is meant to be a vessel to serve the people, and indeed the world.

Moshe understood his purpose, that without the Jewish people he had no purpose. And that is what this week’s portion, and particularly this mitzvah, is all about.

Just like Moshe, the menorah was only the vehicle for bringing light into the world. We are often so dazzled by the menorahs in this world that we forget they only have value if they are vehicles for light, which is why the menorah itself is not mentioned this week, so we can focus on the light. Our ultimate mission as a people is simply to bring light into the world.

Yet the menorah’s light is not completely tangible. You can see light, but you can’t really touch it or hold it; it transcends the physical, and thus it and what it represents can never be destroyed. Just as the soul, which is beyond the name, needs the body to have an impact here on earth, we need the menorah and the wicks to light up the world.

The challenge for each of us is to find the atah within, the essence of who we are, and the ultimate reason we are here, and bring it into the world 

And this is the reason this particular mitzvah is a tzivuy le’dorot, a mitzvah for eternity. Long after the destruction of the Temple and the loss of the menorah, Jews are still fulfilling the mitzvah of an eternal flame in synagogues and study halls. Because this mitzvah is the essence of the mission of the Jewish people forever — to be a light and illuminate the world.

May Hashem bless us soon, to become, as a people, the vehicle for light we are meant to be, and create together a world of light and shalom, truly whole, all of us together.

Rabbi Freedman is rosh yeshiva at Yeshivat Orayta in Jerusalem.

Write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com