The Geula Depends on Toil in Torah and Mitzvos
“And you shall command Bnei Yisrael that they should take for you pure olive oil pressed for illumination to light the ner tomid – continual lamp” (27:20).
The Ohr HaChaim finds in our pasuk a hint at the need for toiling in Torah in order to end the exile and bring about the Ultimate Redemption. He cites the Zohar (Bereishis 8) that Bnei Yisrael were redeemed from each of the four exiles in the merit of one of the Tzaddikim: the Avos and Moshe. We were redeemed from the first Golus in the zechus of Avrohom, the second in the zechus of Yitzchok and from the third Golus in the zechus of Yaakov. The Geula from the fourth and final Golus will be in the zechus and merit of Moshe.
The Golus is So Long Because Moshe Does Not Want to Redeem Batlonim
The Ohr HaChaim then says an amazing statement: “This is why the exile is so long. The Golus has been extended for such a long time because Bnei Yisrael do not engage and actively toil in Torah study and mitzvos and Moshe does not wish to redeem a people who are batlonim from Torah!”
This is all hinted at in our pasuk: “You shall command Bnei Yisrael” – Tetzaveh is a directive for royalty and kingship, and the condition that Moshe should rule as our king once again is that we toil in Torah. This is why it says to take “pure olive oil”; the Torah is compared to olive oil, for just as oil illuminates the world, so does the Torah. It is “pure” oil just as the Torah needs to be pure and refined – lishma – purely and sincerely for its own sake. Ulterior motives, such as the desire to use Torah as a means to become great or honored are like dregs and impurities that need to be filtered out. The pasuk continues, kosis lamo’or – “pressed or beaten for illumination”. A person who toils in Torah needs to press himself, beat himself and subjugate his body, as Chazal say (Berochos 63b) on the pasuk in Bamidbar 19:14, Zos haTorah odam ki yomus – “This is the Torah law of he who dies…” The Torah can only exist and perpetuate in one who kills himself pushing past his limit and exerting himself to death to acquire it!
Eight Holy Garments, Four Gold and Four White, for Two Divine Names
“You shall fashion the holy garments for your brother Aharon for kovod (honor) and tiferes (beauty)” (28:2).
The Ohr HaChaim asks why HaShem commanded Moshe to make eight garments: four white and four gold. The answer the pasuk gives us is that these garments were made for kovod and tiferes – honor and beauty.
The Ohr HaChaim explains based on the Zohar (Tikkunim) that the eight garments allude to the two divine Names of HaShem each spelled with four letters, YHV”H and ADN”Y. The four white garments hint at the four letters of YHV”H and the four gold garments at ADN”Y. The name of HaShem (YHV”H) is associated with tiferes and the name ADN”Y is associated with kovod. This is why the pasuk tells us that Moshe is told to fashion the garments for kovod and tiferes; kovod refers to the golden garments and tiferes to the white ones.
Why Aharon and Not Moshe?
Explains the Ohr HaChaim, HaShem commanded us to fashion these eight garments in order to atone for sins and blemishes that our human failings cause on high. Why then, asks the Ohr HaChaim, did HaShem only command Aharon and not Moshe to wear these garments?
Chazal say (Arachin 16a) that the eight garments atone for eight types of sins that Bnei Yisrael transgressed. The Kohen, whose job is to serve together with his sons and atone for all of Klal Yisrael, is therefore commanded to wear these garments, whereas Moshe, who only served once during the seven-day inaugural period called Yemei HaMiluim, did so in order to atone solely for Aharon and his sons, to prepare them to serve before HaShem. Because he was not atoning for all of Klal Yisrael, Moshe did not need these garments.