Moshe Rabbeinu’s name is not mentioned in parshas Tetzaveh, and some suggest it is because when Moshe was begging Hashem to forgive the Jewish people for the sin of the Golden Calf, he said: “Now, if You will forgive their sin [well and good]; but if not, erase me from the record which You have written!”
The truth is that Moshe ‘should have’ played a crucial role in parshas Tetzaveh, which primarily discusses the clothing of the Kohanim. Originally, Moshe was supposed to serve as the Kohen as well, but he lost that privilege to his brother Aharon.
There are two components to connecting the lower world, and the Jewish people, to the spiritual world and presence of Hashem. Moshe’s approach was “top-down.” Moshe served a role called מרכבה למלכא merkava l’malka, which represents drawing the light of Hashem, in the form of the holy Torah, down from the Heavens into the lower world and to the Jewish people. Aharon’s approach was ‘bottom-up.’ Aharon served a role called מרכבא למטרוניתא merkava l’matronisa, which represents bringing the desires of the Jewish people to come close to Hashem up to Hashem. The Kohanim take the physical korbanos of the lower world and ‘send them up’ to Hashem. Yehoshua served this role as well, as leading the Yidden into Eretz Yisroel ultimately paved the way for the avodah in the Beis Hamikdash.
What lesson was being given over by the fact that the “bottom-up” role was given to Aharon and Yehoshua, and why was Moshe requesting to “erase me from the record which You have written?”
Although Moshe didn’t directly fill the same roles of operating in the lower world, Aharon and Yehoshua were able to do it on his behalf: Aharon as his brother and Yehoshua as his close disciple. Particularly Yehoshua was considered to be a direct continuation of the avodah of Moshe, to the extent that you can say that Yehoshua’s entire mission was one of revealing the light of Moshe, by doing what Moshe did not merit to do (leading the Yidden into Eretz Yisroel) using the abilities that he learned from Moshe. Despite the fact that the ‘lower’ role – of Aharon and Yehoshua – was separate from the higher role – of Moshe – they are really dependent on one another, and it is as if they are all one and the same. You can argue that although Moshe’s name is not explicitly mentioned in the parsha, it is as if it is mentioned, since Aharon’s name is mentioned!
This was the ‘case’ Moshe was making to Hashem. If You don’t have the ‘lower world,’ if You don’t forgive the Jewish people, then You don’t have the ‘upper world,’ meaning You can erase me from Your Torah because for what purpose is the Torah without the Jewish people? Just as there is no Aharon and Yehoshua without Moshe, there is no Torah without the Jewish people.
Take It To Go:
We learn from all this that the Jewish people and Hashem are one and the same. When we daven for Hashem for our tzaros to go away, that isn’t ‘our problem’ that we are asking Hashem to resolve. It is Hashem’s tzarah as well! Likewise, when we daven that Hashem’s name should be revealed, that isn’t us trying to solve ‘Hashem’s problem,’ that He is concealed, that is our problem as well. We daven for Moshiach because we are pained by Hashem’s concealment, and He is pained by our tzaros.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 27 Special Purim Editions.
