This week’s Torah reading, Tetzave, is the only portion in the entire Torah following Moses’ birth, in which Moses’ name does not appear. (It is also, incidentally, the portion usually read during the week in which the anniversary of Moses’ passing, the seventh of Adar, falls.)
Our Sages explain that the reason for this omission was Moses’ own request, made of G-d after the Children of Israel sinned with the Golden Calf: “And if not (if You will not forgive them), blot me out, I pray you, from Your book which You have written.” The words of a tzadik, a holy and righteous person, are always fulfilled, even if spoken conditionally. Thus, we find that Moses’ wish was granted in this week’s Torah portion, for his name never appears in the entire portion.
However, when we delve into the text itself, we find an interesting phenomenon: This chapter, which specifically does not mention Moses, begins with a direct address to the very person whose name it omits! “And you shall command (ve’ata tetzave).”
A name is of lesser importance than a person’s essential nature. It is a means of identification and a way of being known to others. But one does not really need a name in order to live. A newborn baby exists as an independent being from the moment it is born, and only receives its name after several days. From this we learn that the use of the grammatical second person, “you,” expresses an even higher level of relationship than calling a person by his given name, which was only bestowed on him secondarily. If such is the case, then it follows that the omission of Moses’ name only serves to underscore the very special essence of Moses, which was even higher than the mention of his name could express.
Moses’ whole life was Torah, to the extent that we refer to the Torah as “The Five Books of Moses.” But his greatness was best illustrated when the lowest elements among the Children of Israel sinned with the Golden Calf, explicitly expressing their desire to separate themselves from the Torah. Yet, Moses was willing to sacrifice that which he held most dear on their behalf. “Blot out my name from Your book,” Moses pleaded with G-d, if You will not forgive them even this grave sin.
Moses and the Jews formed one entity, each of whose existence was dependent upon the other. The commentator Rashi explains; “Moses is Israel, and Israel is Moses.” When even some Jews sinned, Moses suffered a spiritual blow. Even though Moses was up on Mount Sinai when the Golden Calf was actually made, he was still affected by the actions of the others.
It was Moses’ self-sacrifice and his desire to forgo that which was most important to him that express a unity that is beyond mere names. It is therefore precisely the portion Tetzave, in which Moses is not mentioned, that reveals his strength and his greatness. The willingness to sacrifice oneself for every fellow Jew, even one who sins, is the mark of every true leader of the Jewish People.
Reprinted from the Parashat Mishpatim 2025/5785 edition of L’Chaim, a publication of the Lubavitch Youth Organization. Adapted from the teachins of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt”l.
