The Menora Interruption
INTRODUCTION
TO PARASHAT HASHAVUA
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In
memory of Yakov Yehuda ben Pinchas Wallach
and Miriam Wallach bat Tzvi
Donner
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PARASHAT
TETZAVEH
THE MENORA
INTERRUPTION
By Rabbi Yaakov
Beasley
A. THE
ORDER OF THE PARASHA
Our parasha, Parashat
Tetzaveh, continues discussing the building of the Mishkan the
receptacle of the Divine presence on Earth. It describes the people who are chosen
to serve in it, the materials and manufacture of the special clothing that they
are to wear while they work in the Mishkan, and it describes the
dedication ceremony that must be performed to sanctify the kohanim and the Mishkan itself
when the Jewish people complete their creative endeavors.
On the surface, the description of the
Mishkans construction appears neat and clear. All of the construction details of
physical objects appear in last weeks parasha, Parashat Teruma;
all the human aspects, including clothing, are defined here in Parashat
Tetzaveh. Only two details are
inconsistent with this organization:
the description of the incense was inexplicably left out of the blueprint
outlined in Parashat Teruma and appears at the end of our parasha
almost as an afterthought,[1]
and our parasha begins by outlining the need for the Jewish people to
bring pure olive oil to light the menorah:
You shall command Bnei Yisrael
that they bring for you pure beaten olive oil for the light, to cause the lamp
to burn continuously.
In the Mishkan of the
congregation, without the veil that is before the testimony, Aharon and his sons
shall order it, from evening to morning before
Hashem.
It shall be a statute forever unto
their generations on behalf of Bnei Yisrael. (Shemot
27:20-21)
B.
QUESTIONING ITS PLACEMENT
The Abrabanel asks immediately why
this command was inserted here.
Surely, he argues, the proper place would have been after all the details
of the Mishkans construction, including the proper placement of the Menorah and the other vessels. In addition, Aharon and his children had
not yet been consecrated to become kohanim; what point was there in
commanding them regarding the details of the service associated with the menorahs
kindling?
The Ibn Ezra attempts to explain this
sections placement as beginning a series of sections that deal with the
Mishkans attendants and accessories. Just as the menorah could only be lit with pure
olive oil and no other foreign oil, the sons of Aharon were similarly designated
to serve, to the exclusion of all others, and these sons were to be
distinguished by their clothing.
Just as the oil had to be specially prepared, the future kohanim had to be especially prepared
and instructed by Moshe Rabbeinu during the Seven Days of Consecration.
Despite the Ibn Ezras clever
parallelisms between the oil and the sons of Aharon, his answer does not explain
why the interruption occurs here, when other accessories are not dealt with
until later. Rashi, in attempting
to explain the repetition of our section again in Parashat Emor, suggests
that in our section, Hashem tells Moshe what he will eventually say to
the Jewish People later. The Ramban
finds Rashis answer forced and attempts to offer his own explanation for the
need to mention the oil at the beginning of
Tetzaveh:
And [Rashis approach] is not correct
in my eyes, for it already stated (Shemot 40:25), And the lights went up
before Hashem as Hashem HAD commanded Moshe, implying that
both the commandment and its fulfillment had already occurred. Instead, [the section about the oil is
repeated in Parashat Emor because] the original oil had been donated by
the princes, and when it ran out, Hashem wished to emphasize that just as
the first lighting involved only the purest olive oil, so all subsequent oils
that were to be brought by the congregation. (Commentary to Vayikra
24:2)
Despite explaining the need to repeat
the section later, the Ramban ultimately does not address the question of why
the discussion on lighting the menorah with the purest olive oil first
appears here.
C. THE
SYMBOLISM OF THE LIGHT
Given the difficulties in finding a
logical and simple explanation for the commandments appearance here, the
commentators do not view the commandment as one more mundane detail regarding
the Mishkan that was apparently misplaced, but rather as a commandment
that contains some sublime, symbolic value that justifies its precedence among
the accessories. According to the
Sefer Ha-Chinukh, the effect of the lighting of the menorah was to
engender the prerequisite sense of reverence and awe among the Jewish
people:
Hashem commanded us that a lamp should be
alight in the Mikdash in order to enhance its glory in the eyes of its
beholders, for this is the way that people enhance their own homes with
illuminations. The idea underlying
this is to inculcate awe and humility.
We have already stated (see Commandment #16) that [repeated] good
actions form the inner character of a person. This is all based on our fundamental
principle that the precepts that have been ordained by Hashem are attuned to
the capacities of those called upon to observe them
Illuminating the Mikdash,
argues the Sefer Ha-Chinukh, increases the peoples sense of awe towards
it.
Many midrashim view the
symbolism of the menorah
differently. The first of the
Divine creations was light, to which all living things are drawn, and the
opposite of which serves as a symbol of doom and destruction. Sefer Mishlei compares the Torah
to light For Your commandment is a lamp, and the Torah light (Mishlei
6). The fourteenth century French
philosopher-poet Rabbi Yediyah ben Avraham Bedersi writes as follows in his
didactic poem, Bechinot Olam:
The Torah and humanity together
comprise the Lamp of Hashem on earth. The Torah is the flame, separating form
the spark of Him that dwells in the heavens. Man, that is made of dual components of
body and soul, is the torch that draws light from it. His back is the twining wick and his
soul the pure olive oil. Through
their intertwining and fusion [the Torah and the flame], the whole house becomes
filled with light.
Drawing upon the above symbolism, the
nineteenth century commentator the Malbim explains that the Torah emphasizes
that this parasha, unlike the previous one, is directed towards the
people as a whole, and therefore eliminates Moshes name
entirely:
The Mishkan embodies the idea
of the all-embracing unity of the Jewish people. The Mishkan and its services were
intended as an abode for the light of the Divine presence. Therefore, the commandment went forth to
the entire populace to bring to Moshe pure olive oil to purify their souls to be
ready for the Light. They, through
Moshe, who brought the Torah and the Divine Light from the heavens down to
earth, would kindle the lamp which embodied the soul of the Jewish people, and
cause an eternal light to ascend.
This light came from the Torah, which was placed in the aron
ha-brit, and should be arranged constantly before Hashem.
The understanding of the menorah representing the meeting place
between Hashem and the Jewish people finds its expression most clearly in
the Talmud:
Does Hashem need our light [of
the menorah]?
Rather, it is a testimony to all the
inhabitants of the earth that the Divine Presence dwells in
[1] See the commentaries of
the Ramban, the Ibn Ezra, and the Seforno to Shemot 30:1; further
development of their ideas can be found in the Virtual Beit Medrash at
www.vbm-torah.org/parsha.60/20tetzav.htm
and
www.vbm-torah.org/parsha.60/20tetzav.htm.
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