Exodus Cycle Three Tetzaveh 27:20 to 30:10

Tetzaveh

To understand Tetzaveh we need to look at Terumah, last week’s parasha. There, Moses hears God’s commandments concerning the mishkan. We receive the blueprint to build it from the inside…the inner chamber…moving spherically out. So now imagine. We are all in the courtyard. We are waiting for more instruction.

And we receive it. We, the Israelites, are to enable the lighting of the ner tamid. In short, God is commanding (through Moses) that we take pure oil pounded from olives to him so as to keep the lamp continually burning.

Let’s look at this closely. We have all offered up our inner spark for our personal renewal in the form of fine metals, wools and dyes to create the mishkan. Now it is ready. We are ready. And what next? Well, God is saying it’s time to turn on the light.

It makes sense that the source of this radiance also comes from us, that it be pristine and refined. In this world of Torah, it is pure beaten olive oil…according to Mishnah…olives of the first crop that come from the top of the tree. In our world today, it can be our guttural tears, that intimacy deep under the overlays of gold, under the costumes of style and profession, under those layers that serve to conceal. It can be seen as the viscous flow from the heart-core rising like a fountain of fire to the eyes, beyond the brain, to the place of ayin.

This is not an easy find. In fact, finding our soul-oil takes intention, focus, dedication, effort and action, an unfolding, a de-masking, acceptance of the layers for protection, joy/pain.

Even more, this is our responsibility. Let’s look at Exodus Rabbah (36:1). We read…just as oil gives forth light so did the Temple in Jerusalem give light to the whole world. In other words, the oil we find can illumine not only ourselves and our community, but those who starve physically or spiritually, who suffer. The rabbis of midrash quote Isaiah 60:2-3. Upon thee the Lord will rise. And nations shall walk at thy light and Kings at the brightness of thy rising. In other words, our ability to find this essence within ourselves can bring shalom to the world.

Now we need to figure how to do it.

Well, from what we read, we get there through discerning the layers I refer to above. And not only ours. If we can see and witness how priests prepare themselves for the consecration and sacrifice perhaps we can prepare ourselves. As the Sfas Emes says…God made humans upright, bearing within themselves the perfect totality…from the deepest depths to the greatest heights...Aaron the priest was chosen to serve God… through (him) purity would flow to all of Israel…you can do the same…

Therefore, this is what I think. We first bring the intention of exquisite detail (in the mishkan) even more to our physical beings. While the importance of clothing is clear, I think it’s important (as we did with the mishkan) to focus on the symbol. Who are we? How do we see ourselves? How can we be as the priests (or the high priest) and carry four…or eight (Yuma 7:5) defined layers of visual sanctity that, through their craftsmanship, can serve to shape our inner essence?

Well, first we see ourselves as capable. We separate ourselves (as do the priests) not from the community but from the earth-grip, from the resounding hum of outer activity, from what we (and others) think we are, into the silence of our core.

We then visualize ourselves not as a flash of stones, crimson thread and gilded settings…but as a soul- center with organized, defined, hand-crafted, discerned layers, each one an exceptional design of the intricate and beloved labor of angel-artisans. We focus on the ephod, the names of the sons of Israel on the two stones. We know it. We then feel the breastplate with the four rows of precious stones…the emerald, the sapphire, the amethyst, the onyx. We hear the Hebrew letters…their movement on our heart. We do the same with the robe and all the weavings (and the bells at the bottom edge) the forehead-plate, the tunics and the pants.

We see our nakedness underneath. We purify ourselves. And then we are ready for the pulling of our blood-essence, our life-breath, our heart-oil up through our physical body and into the realm of Hashem. And that’s not all. We continue the work in full, to the very remnant, the very last spark, for seven days. Finally, we clean all resulting scraps of darkness…the stuff we didn’t want to bring up but came up anyway…with incense. We smudge the place clean.

This is how we find the oil for the ner tamid.

So may we prepare ourselves to light that soul-oil in its eternal merge. May we see ourselves as exquisite beings crafted by Hashem. May we define each layer within the masterpiece of ourselves and see how they hold our soul. May we then cleanse ourselves and offer our essence…and cleanse the space. May we raise our life-blood and merge in the eternal Temple for the wholeness of all people, all cultures, all nations…and may we become one in the inner heart sanctum of Divine Love.