Parashat Tetzaveh

Parashat Tetzaveh                                                              by Herschel Raysman
Shabbat Zachor – The Sabbath of Repentance
Exodus 27:20-30:10; Ezekiel 43:10-27; Hebrews 13:10-17
Special reading for Zachor: Deut 25:17-19;  1 Samuel 15:1-34; Mark 6:14-29

Our parasha this Shabbat deals with;
• The preparation of consecrated oil to be used to keep the menorah burning
• The ner tamid that was to burn continuously before the Aaron Kodesh
• the preparation of the consecrated oil
• Setting apart of Aaron and his sons to serve as cohanim
• The priestly vestments
• The Altar of Burnt Offering
• The Altar of Incense

This parasha marks a transition from dealing with the structure of the Mishkan (the Tabernacle in the wilderness) to those who will serve HaShem as priests IN the tabernacle. This is introduced by the phrase “v’atah” – “now you”. The sages note that both last Shabbat’s portion,  Terumah (offerings) and Tetzaveh (commandments) should be read together as a single unit, for you cannot separate the physical space from those who are called to serve in it! They form an intrinsic whole and both are essential for the efficient functioning of the Tabernacle.

Furthermore, the special consecrated oil of olives is pivotal in this transition because it is the chief means of anointing the cohanim who were to be set apart to serve in the Tabernacle.

The portion of Tetzaveh, as commentators have noted, has one unusual feature: it is the only portion from the beginning of Shemot to the end of Devarim that does not contain the name of Moses. Several interpretations have been offered:

1. Vilna Gaon suggests that it is related to the fact that in most years it is read during the week in which the seventh of Adar falls: the day of Moses' death. During this week, we sense the loss of the greatest leader in Jewish history - and his absence from Tetzaveh expresses that loss.

2. Baal HaTurim relates it to Moses' plea, in next week's sedra, for God to forgive Israel. "If not," says Moses, "blot me out of the book you have written" (32: 32). There is a principle that "The curse of a sage comes true, even if it was conditional " (Makkot 11a). Thus for one week, his name was "blotted out" from the Torah.

3. Paneach Raza relates it to another principle: "There is no anger that does not leave an impression" When Moses, for the last time, declined God's invitation to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt, saying "Please send someone else", God "became angry with Moses" (Ex. 4: 13-14) and told him that his brother Aaron would accompany him.

For that reason, Moses forfeited the role he might otherwise have had, of becoming the first of Israel's priests, a role that went instead to Aaron. That is why he is missing from the portion of Tetsaveh which is dedicated to the role of the Cohen.

All three explanations focus on an absence. However, perhaps the simplest explanation is that Tetzaveh is dedicated to a presence, one that had a decisive influence on Judaism and Jewish history.

Judaism is unusual in that it recognises not one form of religious leadership but two: the navi (prophet) and the cohen (the priest).
Perhaps Sha’ul was alluding to this principle in Ehpesians 2:
Eph 2:19-22
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 
21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

The figure of the prophet has always captured the imagination. He (or she) is a person of drama, "speaking truth to power", unafraid to challenge kings and courts or society in the name of the Most High. No other type of religious personality has had the impact as the prophets of Israel of whom the greatest was Moses.

The priests, by contrast, were for the most part quieter figures, a-political, who served in the sanctuary rather than in the spotlight of political debate. Yet they, no less than the prophets, sustained Israel as a holy nation. Indeed, though Israel was summoned to become "a kingdom of priests" they were never called on to be a people of prophets even though in Numbers 11:29-30, he said: “I wish that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!"

Rav Sha’ul however, had a different perspective of this as revealed in 1 Cor 14:1-6:
1  Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.
2  For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries.
3  But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.
4  One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church.
5  Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy ; and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying.
6  But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, what shall I profit you, unless I speak to you either by way of revelation or of knowledge or of prophecy or of teaching?

Let’s spend a moment considering this. 2 gifts are being discussed: prophecy and speaking in tongues together with its interpretation.
Tongues:
• tongues are directed toward G-d (vs 2)
• it is our spirit communing with G-d’s Spirit. As such, it bypasses our minds
• what ought the interpretation of a tongue be? Prophecy? No. The direction is toward the heavens! The interpretation is worship. Our spirit expressing the inexpressible to the Father and the Son!
• Tongues + interpretation does NOT equal prophecy. It is poor exegesis.
• Tongues edifies the unbeliever. When someone hears a believer worshipping the Lord, he is encouraged and edified.
• Prophecy is for believers

Let us therefore consider some of the differences between a prophet and a priest:
     
                                                       PRIEST                   PROPHET

1. Their distinct roles     descendant of Aaron.                    Not dynastic. Moses
      dynastic. handed down                succeeded by Joshua, not
      from father to son       his son

2. their office         The task of the priest was              The prophets, by contrast
                                                 related to his office. It was           imparted their own
                                                 not inherently personal or           personality.
                                                 charismatic.
  
Therefore, there were prophetesses but no priestesses.

3. Their clothing               priests wore uniforms or        they wore their usual
      vestments           garments

4. The rules   the priests had to follow        no rules for prophets
     specific commandments

5. their ministry               held in high esteem by the             prophet is honoured by     
                                                people                                                    being listened to, not by 
                                                                                                                  formal protocols of respect.

6. were they served         the priests were removed               prophets spoke wherever
                                                from the people. They served       the Spirit moved them
                                                only in the Temple.                           The prophet was usually
                 part of the people. he might
                 be a shepherd like Moses or
                 a farmer like Elisha

7. the restrictions            priests were not allowed to            there were no restrictions
                                               become defiled. There were           applied to the prophet
                                               restrictions on whom they
                                               might marry.

8. How they served        The priest offered up sacrifices     The prophet served God  
                                               in silence                                                 through the word.

9. They lived in two        The priest functioned in                   lived in covenantal time
     different modes          cyclical time – the day, week          today is radically different
     of time.                           or month.               to yesterday

                                               The service of the priest never       that of the prophet was
                                               changed.                                                  constantly changing.

                                               the priest worked to sanctify          the prophet to respond to                
                                               nature                                                      history.

                                              the priest represents the                   the prophet represented
                                              principle of structure in Jewish     spontaneity.

10. Key words                  kodesh and chol, tahor and             key words in the life of the    
                                              tamei, sacred, secular, pure and    prophet – tzedek,     
                                                                                                                   righteousness; mishpat –
                             justice.
                                             
                                             The key verbs of priesthood are      The key activity of the
                                             lehorot and lehavdil, to instruct      prophet is to proclaim
                                             and distinguish.                                      "the word of the Lord"

11. the distinction          law – halacha            narrative - aggadah

12. The Word                   the priest speaks the word of            the word of God for this
                                              God for all time,                                     time.

Without the prophet, Judaism would not be a religion of history and destiny. But without the priest, the children of Israel would not have become the people of eternity. This is beautifully summed up in the opening verses of Tetzaveh:
‘Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives, to keep the lamp constantly burning in the tent of meeting, outside the curtain that is in front of the Testimony, Aaron and his sons shall keep the lamps burning before the Lord from evening to morning. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for the generations to come’.

Moses the prophet dominates four of the five books that bear his name. But in Tetsaveh for once it is Aaron, the first of the priests, who holds centre-stage, undiminished by the rival presence of his brother. For whereas Moses lit the fire in the souls of the Jewish people, Aaron tended the flame and turned it into "an eternal light".

So, this Sidrah or portion deals almost exclusively with the priests, their selection, their vestments and their inauguration to serve HaShem in the Tabernacle. It also deals with the consecrated oil made from olives that was to fuel the menorah and the Sanctuary Light called the Ner Tamid – the eternal flame which burns in every Synagogue in front of the Aaron Kodesh (the Ark) which contains the Torah Scrolls.

Dan 5:14
14  I have heard of you, that the Spirit of God is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you.

As followers of Messiah, we carry in us the eternal flame of the Spirit:
2 Tim 1:14
4  That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

Eph 5:8-11
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 
9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),
10  finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

This is our great challenge. Forensic righteousness is assured in Messiah Yeshua!
Now, our daily challenge is to walk in behavioural righteousness. May He inspire you
to ‘grow in the grace and the knowledge of the L-rd” (2 Peter 3:18)