Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto’s talks are known throughout the Jewish world. They combine chassidic teachings and philosophy, along with tips for a better life. We have collected pearls from his teachings that are relevant to our daily lives. This week he comments on the Torah section of Tetzavah.
“And you shall command the children of Israel, and they shall take to you pure olive oil, crushed for lighting, to kindle the lamps continually.” (27:20).
Our faithful teacher Moses who was our conduit to receiving the Holy Torah is mentioned in every Torah section from the time he was born, except for one. His name is not mentioned anywhere in this week’s Torah section. Instead of the Almighty’s introduction to giving a command “And God spoke to Moses” that appears all over the Torah, he is only addressed in this Torah section as “you”. Why is that?
Our sages say in Tractate Brachot (32a) that when the Israelites sinned with the Golden Calf, the Almighty sought to annihilate them. They had done the inexcusable travesty of taking an inanimate, useless thing, pointed at it and said, "These are your Gods, Israel, who took you out of the land of Egypt." (Ex. 32:4).
When G-d wanted to destroy the entire Israelite nation, our leader Moses stood in prayer and pleaded with G-d to forgive them. Moses insisted, "If not, please erase me from Your book that you wrote" (Ex. 32:32). If You will not forgive them, erase me from the holy Torah so that my name will not be mentioned in it. The sages say (Makkot 11:1) that "the curse of a sage comes true even if he said it conditionally." Even if the sage did not really intend the curse or didn’t want it to occur, in the end it will come true in some way. Moses spoke from the heart when he said his words, and therefore they came true. This is why Moses’s name doesn’t appear in the section of Tetzaveh in the Torah.
It was also said about Moses, "And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face glowed light, so Moses put a mask on his face" (Exodus 14:11). Moses' holy face radiated a brilliant light to the extent that anyone who looked at Moses could have become blinded by it.
The midrash states that while Moses was writing the Torah, he did his best to diminish himself. In the verse, "And He called to Moses, and the Lord spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying" (Lev. 1:1) Moses wrote the word “and He called” [ויקרא} with a small aleph. Moses is also not mentioned in this week’s Torah section the week. Therefore, a few extra drops remained in the inkwell that contained the holy ink that Moses used to write the Torah.
When Moses finished writing the Torah, he asked God what to do with the remaining ink. God answered him that this ink was his. Moses took the ink and poured it on his face and this is what caused his face’s skin to glow light. The light was so powerful that anyone who looked at Moses's face could go blind, so Moses had to cover his face with a mask.
This ink which caused Moses's face to glow was left over due to Moses’s humility, righteousness and his love for the Israelites. As we see in this week's Torah section, his name is not mentioned due to him saying to G-d "Erase me from Your book that You have written" if He would punish the Israelites.
Moses teaches us the great principle of taking responsibility. Many people face all kinds of situations in life, but find it difficult to take responsibility. There are many difficulties and problems in the world because most of the world does not take responsibility for themselves. They see something failing or deteriorating, they see ruin and destruction, and instead of taking care of it, they run away and don't want to deal with it. They see a problem but choose to ignore it. They don't want to deal with the problem themselves, and so the problems get worse and the end is great destruction.
A person who runs away from taking responsibility, causes unparalleled destruction himself. A man encounters various problems at home, and he is quick to blame his wife. As for her, she blames the husband and the children. Instead of someone taking responsibility, each blames the other. There are partners in a business who see that the business is falling apart, but no one takes responsibility to do what has to be done to save the business and it collapses. Employees in a factory may see there is a problem, but no one takes responsibility to correct the problem. Each puts the blame on the other, each relies on and waits for someone else to fix the problem. In the end, everything fails and collapses. Because no one takes responsibility, homes are destroyed, businesses fail, and factories close down.
The bedrock principle of Judaism is to take responsibility. "In a place where there are no men, try to be a man" (Avot 2:5). This means that when you see that no one is taking responsibility, you should step up to the bat and do what you can. If you run away from responsibility, not only you will cause harm to yourself, but the harm will also affect the entire world.
The Jewish people feel unity and responsibility for each other. A person who causes ruin, not only does it to himself but to the whole world. We must take responsibility whenever a challenge arises, without shirking and trying to push the job on others. If we act in this way, we will see the world flourish and improve until its complete rectification, may it come soon.
This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel