Divrei Torah on the weekly portions

Shemot: Tetzaveh

In absentia

"And you shall command the Israelites to bring you clear illuminating oil, made from hand crushed olives, to keep the lamp constantly burning" (Shemot 27:20).

The Vilna Gaon asks why this verse does not open with the usual phrase "And God spoke to Moshe saying: Command the Israelites to bring …"? He answers by quoting the Ba'al HaTurim's explanation. Moshe, in his plea to God to spare the Israelites after their sin of worshipping the Golden Calf, said: "Now, if You would, please forgive their sin; if not, You can blot me out from Your scroll that You have written" (Shemot 32:32). In Gemara Makot 11a, Rabbi Abahu teaches that a great sage's curse will to some extent prevail even if the accompanying condition is not fulfilled. Therefore, Moshe's name is blotted out from Tetzaveh, the only Sidra in the Torah (after Moshe's birth #) in which Moshe's name is absent.

However, we must understand why Moshe's name is omitted specifically from Tetzaveh rather than from any other Sidra?

The Vilna Gaon looks closely at Moshe's statement which is recorded in next week's Sidra Ki Tisa: "… You can blot me out from Your scroll that You have written" (Shemot 32:32) . The phrase "… that You have written" is in the past tense, hence Moshe's name is omitted specifically from the previous Sidra, i.e. Tetzaveh.

Additionally, the Vilna Gaon notes that Moshe's Yahrtzeit (date of death), 7th Adar, always occurs in the week that we read Tetzaveh. So, Moshe's name is absent from Tetzaveh, symbolising his absence from the world.

The Vilna Gaon continues that Tetzaveh comprises 101 verses, which equates to the hidden part of the name Moshe. Moshe [Mem SHin Hay] may be written in its expanded form as follows: Mem is spelled Mem Mem; SHin is spelled SHin Yud Nun; and Hay is spelled Hay Alef. The hidden part of his name is therefore Mem Yud Nun Alef, whose Gimatriya (numerical value*) equals 101! This hints that although the revealed part of the name Moshe is absent from our Sidrabecause we read Tetzaveh at the time of Moshe's physical Yahrtzeit, the hidden part of the name Moshe is alluded to in our Sidra because Moshe's inner spirituality, i.e. his Torah teachings, lives on.

Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin offers a different interpretation, based on the fact that Moshe's birth date and death date, 7th Adar, always occur in the week that we read Tetzaveh. In Judaism, we do not believe in deifying prophets or instituting festivals to celebrate their birth or death dates. Therefore, specifically in the week of Moshe's Yahrtzeit, his name is not mentioned in the Sidra.

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin suggests a third reason why Moshe's name is specifically omitted from Tetzaveh. Our Sidra is almost entirely devoted to the priesthood, the Kohanim. The Kohanim were separated from professional or agricultural pursuits and devoted themselves entirely to God, the Temple and the religio-moral needs of the nation. If the Kohanim are to symbolise selfless commitment to God and to the nation, can they possibly have a better example than Moshe who was willing to have his name removed from the Torah for the sake of the future of the people!

# and excluding the book of Devarim which is termed Mishneh Torah (summation of the Torah).

* Mem = 40; Yud = 10; Nun = 50; Alef = 1; and 40 + 10 + 50 + 1 = 101.