Shabbos Parashas Tetzaveh - 5777

Shabbos Parashas Tetzaveh - 5777

Rabbi Hal Miller

As a continual burnt-offering for your generations, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,

before Hashem, where I shall set My meeting with you to speak to you there. [Shemos 29:42]

This week is known as Shabbos Zachor, the Sabbath of Remembrance. It is not the only

memory-jogger we have in Judaism. Our verse, for example, tells of a "continual burnt

offering", something we must do every day. Earlier in the parsha we read about making a

lamp "burn continually". We put on tefillin nearly every day. What does "continual" mean

in these contexts?

Ramban starts by differentiating between these "continual" events. The lamp is to burn

day and night, not going out at all. The daily offering is only burned for a short time,

albeit each day. Tefillin we put on six days a week, not on Shabbos and not on holidays.

Thus one type of continual means nonstop, and another type means regularly even

though there are breaks.

Rashi says that our verse is intended for the inauguration of the Mishkan, and that the

verse in Bamidbar [28:2] is the command for the following generations. Thus there are

two different "continual"s here as well.

Nechama Leibowitz notes that sometimes Moshe is told to speak to the people, and at

other times to command them, where whatever is being related seems to be a mitzvah

in either case. She brings Sifrei, who says, "A command implies now and for all time."

This seems to contradict Rashi, but since his grandson Rashbam cited this Sifrei, it may

be that Rashi's intent was somewhat different than our current texts indicate.

Rav Kook explains that the "continual" here marks a change in how the world runs. Up

to this point, the holiness in the world was sporadic and inconsistent. From this point,

due to the Jewish people accepting the Torah sight unseen (na'aseh v'nishmah), Hashem

brought holiness into the world full-time.

If holiness exists now at all times in the world, why do we need a reminder all the time?

This is due to the human tendency toward "out of sight, out of mind". We need a reminder

that G-d runs this world, and we need it all the time. Where do we see proof of this?

Tomorrow we read Megillas Esther, the reading for Purim. In the entire story, G-d does

not appear in any obvious sense. We must be reminded from other sources around us

to know that He is in fact there, and that we should look more closely. When listening to

the Megillah tomorrow, keep in mind that Hashem is there at every turn, both in the

day-to-day events of the story, and every minute of it as well.