Joshua Moses – Year 9

Parashat Tetsaveh                               

Light is a core concept in Judaism, and that’s where this parashah begins. Tetzaveh continues from where the previous parashah left off, talking about the Mishkan/Tabernacle. God instructs Moshe to bring pure olive oil to help keep the Menorah in the temple perpetually lit – he notes that Aharon will have this responsibility. Perhaps the most important thing said was how the oil must be pure. Pure oil was needed to keep the sanctity of the tabernacle pure – if you burn bad fuel the light will be tainted.

The main part of this parashah involves what the priests wear when residing in the Mishkan and God is very specific when describing the priests clothing. First of all, for their clothes, they must spin gold so thin that it must become a thread (this seems quite impractical), but let’s move on. It is then woven with turquoise, purple and crimson, and then the controversial part–  wool and linen. Earlier in the Torah God says that the Israelites can’t wear clothes with wool and linen woven together. There are a variety of explanations for this contradiction, but perhaps it was to separate the priests from the ‘regular’ Israelites, thus symbolising their particular connection to God.

Continuing from last week – the use of material. Materials can’t be evil – only how they are used can be wrong. At first the Israelites used gold to worship a calf, and were thus punished. They then used the exact same material for devotion to God – something good.

God says to Moses that he shall anoint the priests in oil – this connects with the notion that light is one of the most important notions in Judaism.These priests are anointed with the fuel for light and are thus expected to carry the same spirit that light does for the Israelites.

Another interesting statement is reiterated in this parashah: “through the Mishkan God shall live among the people”. This rejects the notion that the Mishkan, or later the Temple, is above the people, but instead it embraces the notion that the Mishkan/Temple was with the people.

It’s quite interesting that in this part of the Torah it is very specific, everything has a measurement, or a specific rule. Perhaps there is not as much moral value to be extrapolated from this parashah or perhaps there is, but we just need to go a bit deeper.