11 February, 2011

Parshas Tetzava

The Baal Haturim points out that Moshe’s name is not mentioned in this weeks Parsha. One of the reasons he says, is that when Moshe was begging Hashem to forgive Klal Yisroel after the sin of the Eigal, he said to Hashem forgive them or erase my name from the Torah. It would seem that this was a punishment for him - offering to be erased from the Torah - so Hashem erased his name from just one Parsha. This is hard to believe for he sacrificed himself for the sake of Klal Yisroel, so why would he be punished? The Chidushai Harim explains this with a Gemorah. The Gemorah (Baba Kamah 60b) says that if one puts himself in danger for the sake of divrei Torah, we don’t say over Halacha in his name. This also is hard to believe that it is a punishment.
Every member of Klal Yisroel’s neshoma is in essence Torah (Yisroel, Torah and Hashem are all one). The only thing that divides us from the Torah is our guf- our physical bodies.
When one puts his life on the line for the sake of Torah, he is detaching his body from his soul and thus all that remains is just the neshoma which is in essence the same as Torah itself. We cannot say over the Torah in his name for being that the Torah is detached from his physical being it’s not his in a phyiscal sense - it’s/he's pure Torah. So too Moshe, being that he gave himself up for the sake of Klal Yisroel got to the level that the torah doesn’t speak about him as it does in the other Parshas, but rather he becomes synonymous with Torah and is addressed just by the word “Vatah”. For in this weeks Parsha Moshe and Torah are one.
P.S. Further study has to be done why this is expressed in Parshas Tetzaveh and not any other parsha. Take a peek at the Alshich in this weeks Parsha, and Masseh Rokeach on the Mishkan.

4 comments:

reb sabra said...

should we say this over in your name?

Mr. S said...

Reb Sabra,

is being on the internet to spread torah such a mesiros nefesh?

Reb Y. Brachfeld said...

Ever since Purim and then the writing of Torah shel baal peh Torah is said in our name.

Reb Zebra said...

Firstly, take a peek into the Pri Tzadik (Page 242 in the new prints) regarding this subject.

Secondly, maybe it's not a punishment that Moshe's name is not mentioned. On the contrary, the fact that it is not mentioned is the main dvar torah on this parsha - everyone is talking about Moshe this week. What a reward for his mesiras nefesh for Klal Yisroel!