Parashat Tetzaveh: Where Is Moshe Rabbeinu?

0:03Now the parashah starts, Parashat Tetzaveh in the book of Shemot, chapter 27, verse 20. It starts off with one of the most profound statements that are constantly used by our holy sages. as a symbol for Am Yisrael. Where HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, Now, you shall command the children of Israel that they shall take for you a clear or pure olive oil, crushed for illumination, to kindle the lamp continually. So of course, the basic statement here is talking about how HaKadosh Baruch Hu is commanding Moshe Rabbeinu to tell Am Yisrael that when they make the oil for the lamp of the Mishkan and later on the Beit HaMikdash, it must be done through a certain process. You can't just grind them because that's going to leave little pieces. You have to crush them. You have to crush those olives in order for the oil to be completely pure, without anything that is in essence considered foreign. Now, great. For the lamp of the Mishkan and then later in the Beit HaMikdash, it must be done through a certain process. You can't just grind them because that's going to leave little pieces. You have to crush them. You have to crush those olives in order for the oil to be completely pure without anything that is considered foreign. Now, great.

1:29Unless you're in the oil business, this is not going to affect you. But our holy sages teach us that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is constantly comparing Am Yisrael to shemen zayit zach, pure olive oil, when we are fulfilling His will. When we're fulfilling HaKadosh Baruch Hu's will by following the holy Torah, we are in essence, pure, clear olive oil. Now, of course, our ultimate leader, the most pure of all, was Moshe Rabbeinu. We are, in essence, pure, clear olive oil. Now, of course, our ultimate leader, the most pure of all, was Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu, our leader, Who is Hashem referring to with "Vata"? Interestingly enough, he doesn't say his name. This is because in next week's parsha, Parashat Ki Tisa, when Am Yisrael commits the sin of the Golden Calf, Hashem threatens to destroy them. Moshe Rabbeinu then says, if you're going to destroy them, then erase me from Your book.

2:37because Hashem offered him to start a whole new nation from him since he was so pure and so good and so holy: "Let me start a new nation with you." Moshe Rabbeinu says, "No, no, no, no. I don't want to be the leader that followed the patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, all of the holy people that have come throughout all the generations." And I'm now the leader, but I'm the leader that got the nation destroyed. So if you're going to destroy them, remove me too. Remove me from the book. Of course, the Gemara teaches us that a righteous person, when they curse someone, even if it's unintentionally, Hashem fulfills it. We see this from Yaakov Avinu, as the prime example. The Zohar HaKadosh says, when Lavan chased after him to see if he stole his idols, Yaakov did not know that his wife Rachel had stolen her father's idols. Hashem fulfills it. Hashem fulfills it. We see it from Yaakov Avinu as the prime example. The Zohar HaKadosh says that when Lavan chased after him to see if he stole his idols, Yaakov did not know that his wife Rachel had stolen her father's idols.

3:44which actually had a lot of tumah in them and were able to give Lavan an insight into the future. That's why he wanted them so much. If they were just simple statues that he could make from clay, he wouldn't have traveled several days to chase after them. These were statues that were tied to a certain... Ritual of impurity and witchcraft that Lavan was the ultimate expert in, and because this is considered idolatry, Rachel did not want her father to continue with idolatry, and she stole those statues. And she did not tell her husband, Yaakov. So when Yaakov said to Lavan, "I worked for you for over two decades and never took anything from you. In fact, I worked through the night and the day. If somebody stole one of the sheep or if one of them was killed by an animal, I would take out of my pocket and give you."

4:53Meaning that not only did I not steal, I ended up taking out of my own pocket just so you're always whole. You never had any loss. And now you're accusing me of stealing. If you find that anything is stolen here, anything of yours is here, that person shall die. Now, I gave a chiddush some years ago where I said that Yaakov Avinu not only didn't know that it was his wife, but in essence, Yaakov Avinu was just implementing the Noahide laws. According to the Noahide laws, unlike in the Torah that's applied to the Jewish people, where if a Jew steals and gets caught, he has to pay double, a Noahide that steals faces a heavenly death penalty. So, it's any violation of the seven Noahide laws that results in the death penalty. So, Yaakov Avinu was, in essence, since this is before Matan Torah, even though he followed the Torah, he said that if somebody stole one of these terafim, the perpetrator would receive the death penalty because that's the decree, according to the Noahide laws. He didn't know that it was his wife who took them, and shortly thereafter...

6:10His wife, Rachel, died. Now, of course, Yaakov would have never said what he said had he known that his wife took it. But the Zohar HaKadosh says that tzaddikim, the righteous people, when they say something, even if that something is negative, Hashem fulfills it. So when Moshe Rabbeinu said, "Take me out of this book," even though Hashem did not destroy Am Yisrael, Baruch Hashem, He still had to implement this because the Midat HaDin, the decree of judgment, was constantly asking Hashem to implement the law as HaKadosh Baruch Hu was disclosing more and more of the Torah to Moshe Rabbeinu. This reminds us of the power of words, especially those spoken by tzaddikim, and the importance of understanding the consequences of our speech. So when Moshe Rabbeinu said, "Take me out of this book," even though Hashem did not destroy Am Yisrael, Baruch Hashem, He still had to implement this because the Midat Hadin, the attribute of judgment, was constantly asking Hashem to implement the law as HaKadosh Baruch Hu was disclosing more and more of the Torah to Moshe Rabbeinu. The judgment, the decree of judgment was saying to Hashem, well, he's in this parsha again, he's in this parsha again, he's in this parsha again. You said you're going to remove him from the book, you have to remove him at least one time. So we see that one of those removals was in parashat Tetzaveh. Parashat Tetzaveh

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