Written on the Heart
The mitzvot are a path of spiritual practice, a cultivation of religious awareness that may open us to the mystery and urgency of the divine voice. Not only legal obligation, mitzvah is a moment of encounter with the ever-renewing Divine Presence as it reverberates through the generations of the Jewish people.
As the hasidic mystics have taught, every person is a living Torah, an embodiment of the word and light of God. According to ancient rabbinic midrash, it was through the Torah that God created the world, and later mystics adapted this idea to suggest that the Torah is the very energy and life-force of Divinity as it fills the world and the human self. Each person is imbued with the divine spirit of Torah; the words that we speak and the actions we undertake are all manifestations of Torah, mitzvot in motion.
We stand this week just a short distance from the grand revelation of Sinai. We have heard the legislations of parashat Mishpatim, the detailed mapping of individual and communal life. In parashat Tetzavveh, as could be said in different ways about parashat Terumah, the Torah is taken into the heart of each individual Jew; the mitzvot received as a people through divine revelation are now absorbed into the depths of the human self in all its singularity and preciousness.
At a literal level, our parashah begins with the imperative to construct the forms of priestly service with precision, to fashion the devotional trappings of the Ohel Moed (Tent of Meeting):
讜职讗址转旨指譃讛 转旨职爪址讜旨侄郑讛 讇 讗侄转志讘旨职谞值郑讬 讬执砖讉职专指讗值謼诇 讜职讬执拽职讞吱讜旨 讗值诇侄譁讬讱指 砖讈侄郑诪侄谉 讝址芝讬执转 讝指譀讱职 讻旨指转执謻讬转 诇址诪旨指讗謶讜止专 诇职讛址注植诇止芝转 谞值謻专 转旨指诪执纸讬讚變
You shall instruct the Israelites to bring you clear oil of beaten olives for lighting, for kindling lamps regularly. (Exod. 27:20)
But read figuratively through the lens of spiritual direction, this opening verse seeks to cultivate the growth of the individual person into a living embodiment of mitzvah, a vessel for the divine light.
Such is the teaching found in a playful and bold reading by the Sefat Emet, the late nineteenth century hasidic master, Rabbi Yehudah Leib Alter of Ger: the statement 鈥�atah tetzavvehet benei Yisrael鈥�&苍产蝉辫;(鈥淵ou shall 鈥榠nstruct鈥� the Israelites鈥�) may be read as the transformation of the people, each of them, into a living mitzvah. Make them, the people of Israel, into mitzvot in the world鈥�tetzaveh et benei Yisrael. Guide each Jew toward the embodiment and ensoulment of the mitzvot; help them become mitzvot themselves.
What does this mean? How does a person become a living mitzvah? Perhaps it is in those moments of greater spiritual awareness, the affirmation of the pervasive presence of the sacred in the world. Or perhaps it is in a posture of love and compassion toward the others that we encounter on a daily basis. When we 鈥渂ecome mitzvot鈥� in this way, we contribute meaningfully to the building of the sacred 鈥渓ighting鈥� (尘补鈥檕谤) mentioned in this opening verse, the luminous presence of God in our world. That is the dramatic act of 诇职讛址注植诇止芝转 谞值謻专 转旨指诪执纸讬讚鈥攔aising up the eternal flame of divine wonder and mystery. We bring light into the world when we become instruments of the ahavah rabbah of Divinity鈥攖he great and unending love that God sends into our hearts through the mitzvah of 岣蝉别诲, kindness and compassion toward our fellow human beings. Not just to our family, friends, and intimate partners, but to all who cry out to us鈥攚hether that cry be audible or silent.
This, I suggest, is how we might read another striking verse from our parashah鈥�lines that depict the ornate and dramatic features of the priestly service bestowed upon Aaron:
讜职谞指砖讉指郑讗 讗址譅讛植专止谉 讗侄转志砖讈职诪吱讜止转 讘旨职谞值纸讬志讬执砖讉职专指讗值譁诇 讘旨职讞止支砖讈侄谉 讛址诪旨执砖讈职驻旨指譀讟 注址诇志诇执讘旨謻讜止 讘旨职讘止讗郑讜止 讗侄诇志讛址拽旨止謶讚侄砖讈 诇职讝执讻旨指专止芝谉 诇执驻职谞值纸讬志讛’转旨指诪执纸讬讚變
Aaron shall carry the names of the children of Israel on the breastplate of mishpat over his heart, when he enters the sanctuary (bevo鈥檕 el hakodesh), for remembrance (lezikaron) before the LORD always. (Exod. 28:12)
In its original biblical context, this ritual practice is both evocative and mysterious. Aaron the priest is called upon to bring the people 鈥渨ith him鈥� symbolically into the sacred zone; his task is to carry them upon his heart so that when he approaches God he fully represents the people. Applying a figurative spiritual reading to this already rich devotional ritual, let us interpret Aaron here as a model for our own individual journey to the sacred, our cultivation of a spiritual practice infused with the moral urgency of 岣蝉别诲 and 尘颈蝉丑辫补迟鈥�kindness or compassion, and justice. We must hold that marker of justice and goodness on our hearts always: the 岣shen mishpat (鈥渢he breastplate of judgment,鈥� perhaps the breastplate of justice) should be kept close, and 鈥渢he names of the children of Israel鈥濃�攐r, far better, of all people who suffer and need our love and compassion鈥攕hould be symbolically inscribed upon our hearts. We must carry that vision of justice and love whenever we seek to approach the sacred (be-vo鈥檕 el hakodesh). Remember them to God (lezikaron lifnei YHVH tamid): always hold the pain of others in your mind as you approach the holy, for human goodness and love must never be removed from spiritual practice. That remembering, that zikaron, brings us before God (lifnei YHVH)鈥攖o become aware of the brokenness and to seek its redemption.
The publication and distribution of the 91快播 Commentary are made possible by a generous grant from Rita Dee (z”l) and Harold Hassenfeld (z”l).
