Upon deeper reflection we see that garments simultaneously conceal and reveal. The Hebrew root for “world” (olam) also means “to conceal.”
Paradoxically, the world, like garments, both reveals and conceals God. The world and the laws of nature conceal God so well that His presence is not at all obvious, yet to a spiritually attuned soul, the beauty and awesome precision of nature and its laws reveal the handiwork of the Divine.
Indeed, this explains what the verse means when it states that the cohanim are to wear their garments for “glory and splendor.” These garments concealed the physical and reveal God’s glory destined to shine through the souls of those representing both God and His people.
Just as every detail of the Tabernacle’s construction and of the sacred vessels used in it embody profound secrets of creation, so too every detail of the cohanim’s holy garments sheds light on deep concepts relating to the emotions, intellect, and soul of man.
The concepts of concealment and revelation are deeply connected to the holiday of Purim which usually falls near Tetzaveh (this year parashat Tetzaveh is the Shabbat preceding Purim). Many commentators have pointed out that God’s Name does not appear in the Scroll of Esther read on Purim, symbolizing God’s Providence hidden in the historical narrative. Only after the miraculous salvation had come to pass did the people realize how involved God had been behind the scenes, leaving nothing to chance. In fact, when delving deeply into the text and the commentaries, one realizes that God’s providence was behind every detail of the unfolding story.
Significantly, mirroring God’s absence from the Scroll of Esther, Moses is not mentioned in parashat Tetzaveh. The simple explanation is that when defending Israel after the sin of the Golden Calf, Moses told God that if he did not forgive the people, he should erase him from the Torah. The sages teach that every word spoken by a tzaddik is realized in one form or another. Therefore, Moses’ name was erased, as it were, from parashat Tetzaveh, the parashah preceding his demonstration of self-sacrifice, which is related in parashat Ki Tissa.
A deeper explanation offered in Chasidut is that Moses’ act of total self-sacrifice for the sake of the people reached such a lofty level of pure faith—associated with the highest level of the crown (keter)—that his soul root, which transcends his name was revealed. As a consequence, his name, Moses, could not appear in the parashah before because it constitutes a preparation for his ultimate self-sacrifice. Thus, his name is absent from parashat Tetzaveh so that he could sacrifice himself in parashat Ki Tissa. That is why parashat Tetzaveh begins with God addressing Moses with a pronoun rather than with his name, “And you shall command”—a face to face revelation that transcends the enclothement of Moses’ soul in his body.
