Smoke and Light
Parshat Tetzavah is the parsha of the kohanim, and it is therefore also the parsha that speaks to the importance of what we do in this world. Let me explain what I mean by that. The creation of the world culminated with the placing of man into Gan Eden, a place where there was room for Hashem’s Presence to be felt. In Gan Eden, Adam was given the job of working on and guarding his surroundings. The Mishkan, like Gan Eden, was also a place where there was room for Hashem’s Presence to be felt, and the Kohen Gadol, like Adam, was given avodah to do within it.
The specific avodah the parsha opens up with is lighting the menorah. The Midrash asks a question about this avodah, which it places in the mouth of Klal Yisrael. “Hashem, we are happy to do whatever you ask of us. But we know that you created the entire world and filled it with light. Do you really need us to light a candle in your Mishkan?” To which Hashem replies that our avodah is precious. He desires the things that we do ourselves. Anyone who has treasured a messy piece of artwork or a misspelled card given to them by a child understands this idea intrinsically.
The Mishkan is an expression of two connected spiritual realities. It expresses how Hashem draws His Presence down to us, to create a relationship with us. It also expresses the way in which we shape our relationship with Hashem by actively responding to Hashem’s presence in the world. This is reflected in the two modes of Torah that we received through the Mishkan, the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. The Written Torah we received as a gift from Hashem, through the nevuah that emanated from the Kodesh HaKedoshim. Moshe was its emissary, and it was represented by the luchot, which were literally the writing of Hashem.
The emissary of the Oral Torah was Aharon. From the beginning of Moshe’s mission to bring us out of Mitzrayim, Aaron served as Moshe’s “peh,” his interpreter. And it is through Aharon that we see the first instance of a s’vara, where human intellect is used to determine halacha (see Vayikra 10:16-20). The menorah, lit by Aharon daily, was the reflection of the Oral Torah in the Mishkan.
When the Gemara (Shabbat 22b) asks, “Why did we need to light the menorah at all? Didn’t we travel by the light of Hashem for all 40 years in the desert?” Rav Schorr understands the question to be, “For 40 years in the desert we were traveling through life according to the direct word of Hashem. Is there room in this scenario for the independent thoughts of man?” And the answer, given to us through Hashem’s command to light the menorah, is yes. Even in a world with 24/7 direct access to Hashem, our response to that revelation, our avodah, is still precious.
And so the parsha begins with Aharon creating light from pure oil in an indescribable golden menorah. This avodah expresses how beautiful our actions, when done properly, can be. But that is only the beginning of the parsha. At the end of the Parsha is the description of the mizbeach hazahav, which seems to be out of place, as it is not with the other keilim of the Mishkan mentioned in Parshat Terumah. We can understand its place here, at the end of the parsha, as giving us insight into the specific avodah of the Kohanim.
The Kohanim have a different avodah than Moshe. The Torah describes Moshe as judging the nation “from morning until evening (Shemot 18:13).” The essence of Moshe’s avodah was to bring the Torah from the clarity and light of the spiritual realm into the comparative darkness of this world. In contrast, the Torah describes Aharon as lighting the candles of the menorah “from evening until morning.” (Shemot 27:21). His avodah is the inverse of Moshe’s. He takes the complexity of this world and draws it close to Hashem. He starts in darkness but ends in light.
This avodah is expressed through the mizbeach hazahav, on which we offer the ketoret. The ketoret has a very interesting feature. One of its 11 mandated ingredients is the chelbanah, which is pungent and not particularly good smelling. The chelbanah is an illusion to the sinners of Israel, and the ketoret can not be made without it.
Aharon is the one who lights the menorah, but he is also the one who offers the ketoret. He is the man of peace, who brings resolution to arguments, and who loves everyone, tzaddik and sinner alike. He is a representation of the nation as a whole, in all our various spiritual levels. His avodah is also a message to us about the value of everything that we do as a response to Hashem’s Presence in the world. All of our avodah, even when it begins in a place of darkness is precious.