This article was previously published in 2020.
The portion of Tetzaveh is the only one in the Torah where the name of Moses is not mentioned. Why is this?
One of the explanations the kabbalists give is that it is a result of Moses' own words; when the Creator wanted to destroy the Israelites after the Golden Calf, Moses told the Creator that if he did that, the Creator should, “Erase me from Your book!!” And even though the Creator did not destroy the Israelites, because that request came out of the mouth of Moses, it had to be fulfilled. And so, this is the portion when that request is fulfilled, when the name of Moses isn’t mentioned.
But there is a deeper explanation.
“We need to understand what the secret of that Concealed Light is.”
When Moses was born, it says, “They saw him, that he was good.” The kabbalists explain that the secret of those words is that they are telling us Moses’ soul came from what is called the Or HaGanuz, the Concealed Light. And, we know that in order to bring an end to pain, suffering, and death, our job is to reveal that Concealed Light. Therefore, we need to come to understand what the secret of that Concealed Light is.
Everything in this world has the Light of the Creator in it. We are alive, not because our body is intact, but because the Light of the Creator is being infused into our body all the time, just as a cup, for example, exists only because the Light of the Creator is being infused into it all the time. Everything around us is the Light of the Creator concealed within physicality. The concept of Or HaGanuz, therefore, really means that the Light of the Creator exists, but is concealed within the confines of physicality. That’s true of objects, people, and also of actions – when somebody says or does something to us, within those actions or words is the Concealed Light.
The Concealed Light, the Or HaGanuz, is not some supernal place that we want to connect to; rather, it is the Light that is concealed within everything that we already know, and an elevated person is somebody who sees more and more of the physicality around him as the Light of the Creator. That’s the secret of Or HaGanuz.
So, then what does it mean that Moses’ soul was of the Or HaGanuz, that it says he was good? It means that everything Moses saw was the Light of the Creator, and when a person is connected to the Or HaGanuz, he can see everything. The purpose of our spiritual work, therefore, is to connect to that frequency, to that reality of the Or HaGanuz. Because the only way we can see not just things around us, but everything in its truest form, is by connecting to the reality of the Concealed Light.
“When a person is connected to the Concealed Light, he can see everything.”
As such, every day when we make the choice to deny that the Light of the Creator is concealed within this action or person, we are disconnecting from the Or HaGanuz, and we will not gain the ability to truly see. But more importantly, in so doing, we can never bring miracles or change; the importance of forcing ourselves to connect to the Concealed Light is not simply to make us more spiritual or elevated, but to have the ability to create change, to create miracles, and bring the ultimate Light of the Final Correction to this world.
What is revealed, and what we receive, on Shabbat Tetzaveh is the strength, desire, and ability to look at everything around us and push ourselves to see the Concealed Light in it, because being spiritual and doing actions of connection are not enough. On Shabbat Tetzaveh, therefore, we can strive to not simply make a connection to the Concealed Light, but to grow our ability to maintain and strengthen that connection every day.
