The Essence Beyond the Name3 min read

Our parsha begins with the words, “And you will command the b’nei Yisrael to bring to you refined olive oil, crushed, for illumination; to kindle the candles of Menorah.” This abrupt commencement, in addition to the obvious absence of Moshe’s name, highlights a fact that becomes clearer and clearer as we read on: Moshe’s name is entirely absent from parshas Tetzaveh. The Ba’al HaTurim and others point out that this absence fulfills Moshe’s request after the cheit ha’eigel of “Erase me from Your Book”. Even though this request was contingent on a condition that was never met (Hashem’s refusal to forgive the Jewish nation), having emerged from Moshe’s mouth, it had to be fulfilled in some form, and that was by having his name left out of parshas Tetzaveh completely, which, as the 20th parsha, may be seen as alluded to within Moshe’s words – “M’sifrecha – M’sefer Chaf”, “from Your 20th Book.”

The Lubavitcher Rebbe zy”a sees the absence of Moshe’s name in the context of the oil that was to be used in the kindling of the Menorah as holding a deep message about this tzaddik’s eternal role. Although our tradition places a great deal of emphasis on the significance of names, going so far as to teach that a person’s life-mission is encapsulated in his or her name (which is one of the reasons we add a name to an ailing individual, in the attempt of granting the patient a new mission and thus additional years in this world). However, even so, a name is still essentially a human construct which enables the abstract essence of a person or thing to manifest in the world. In its purest form, that spiritual essence is devoid of any name – we do not give a name to a newborn baby immediately after birth because the soul has not yet sufficiently settled in this world so as to require (or contain the capacity to constrict itself into) a name.

Moshe Rabbeinu’s task as leader of the Jewish nation was to embody the quintessential Jew; the ideal model of an oveid Hashem. In this capacity, the essential Jewishness emanating from his very being would uncover the Jewish spark within every single Jew. His avodah as the tzaddik was to lay the most fundamental foundations for spiritual growth by drilling deep into the Jewish until he reached the core of the essential Jewishness of our collective soul to allow a mighty flow of untouchable holiness, untainted purity, and infinite yearning for a relationship with our Creator to come gushing forth. In order to achieve this response, Moshe would need to be deeply in tune with the collectivity of the essential Jewish spirit he embodied in his own spiritual structure. Always aware of the essential aspect at the core of his own soul, Moshe would be able to easily draw that element out of the souls in his charge.

The Jewish nation did not light the Menorah – Ahron did. But they needed to bring the oil, to demonstrate their willingness to be a part, to prepare vessels for the awesome light of Torah revealed by the great tzaddikim. Awakening this willingness and preparation is the domain of the Moshe Rabbeinu, the tzaddik whose focus is constantly fixed on the essentiality of our nation’s collective soul, that core of perfect holiness we share at the deepest level of our identity. Thus, in the context of the b’nei Yisrael bringing the oil for the Menorah, Hashem refers to Moshe without using his name. This demonstrates that in order to succeed in his mission to wake up the sleeping heart of the Jewish nation, he would need to remain ever-connected to a place that reached beyond his name, to the most essential aspect of his being; his essence, his core in Knesses Yisrael, the collective Jewish soul. Only then would he be able to reveal the essential identity of each and every Jew, inspiring them to prepare a vessel into which the light of Ahron’s flickering candles could rest to light up the world.