Stacie Rosenberg

Moshe and the Power of Words

              Parshat Tetzaveh starts out with a pasuk saying, “V'ata titzaveh”, “now YOU should command Bnei Yisrael. This is strange after the familiar, “Hashem spoke to MOSHE saying”. Now it says, “you command”. This is especially strange considering the content of this parsha. This parsha deals with Kohanim-their selection, their clothing, and their special  inauguration service. We would've thought that Moshe would've been a key character in this parsha. Wouldn't he be the one Hashem would speak to about commandments regarding the Mishkan? Why wasn't his name included in each one? Moshe has been mentioned in every parsha since he was born!

              Rabbi Ari D. Kahn of “Explorations” discusses this question. He says that after the chet haegel, Hashem offered to destroy Bnei Yisrael and create a new nation from Moshe's offspring.  Moshe rejects this offer and begs Hashem to forgive  them. In next week's parsha, Parshat Ki Tisa (32:32) Moshe says, “V'ata im tisah chatatam v'im ayin, micheyni na misipiricha asher katavta” if Hashem doesn't forgive Bnei Yisrael, He should erase him from the book Hashem has written. The Baal Haturim on pasuk alef, says that Moshe's comment was a klala al tnai, a curse on condition, but because he was a tzadik, it came true. Therefore, Moshe's name was removed from this section of the Torah. Moshe desperately tried to save Bnei Yisrael, but his name was removed from the parsha. He just could not understand how he could be a leader who wasn't able to gain mercy for his nation.

              Rabbi Scheinbaum of “Pnimim Al Hatorah” says that Moshe's “unparalled devotion to Klal Yisrael turned the tide and Hashem listened”. But, nonetheless, his name had to be erased. Rabbi Scheinbaum comments that Parshat Tetzaveh usually falls around the seventh of Adar, the anniversary of  Moshe Rabbeinu's birth and death. He says that this date is also “intrinsically bound” with his name. Therefore, this specific Parsha was selected as the only Parsha in the Torah, where Moshe's name is not mentioned, as if to substitute for it.

              If it's not Moshe, then who is the “atah” in pasuk alef referring to? Rav Hirsch explains that the “you”, is all of Bnei Yisrael, and that all together, they are the transmitters of Torah. He says the study of Torah  is represented by the menorah, mentioned in the later part of the pasuk. “Ki ner mitzvah, v'Torah or” Torah is light.

              Talmud Bavli Mesechet Shabbos- daf chaf bet discusses the commandment mentioned in pasuk alef, of taking pure olive oil and lighting the ner tamid. It could have been lit with regular oil, because the whole tzibor was tamey, “tamey h'tina b'tzibor” but they were commanded to use pure olive oil. The ner maaravi recieved the same amount of oil as the others but would still remain lit every single morning. This was a neis from Hashem, a sign that the shechina was still resting amongst Bnei Yisrael. The Pnei Yehoshua- Mesechet Shabbos daf alef, discuses that gemarah and connects it to Chanukah. Davka through candles, the miracle of Chanukah occurred. In the time of the Bet Hamikdash, the ner tamid had been the sign for Klal Yisrael that Hashem was with them, and now, after it was destroyed, they were left feeling helpless and alone. But when the miracle occurred through fire, it proved that Hashem was really still with them. Chanukah was when the shechina came back.

              The Rashbam says that from the word “atah”, the mitzvah of providing oil to light is a mitzvah for all time. That is why the statement is a “command” because every expression of “command” implies for now and for “all time”. Without the bet hamikdash now, we don't have  the zhut of seeing Hashem's shechina resting with us through the candles. However, when mashiach comes, we will go back to having the menorah, as well as the ner tamid again.

              As we've seen before, Moshe's name being erased is an example of the curse of tzadikim being fulfilled even when it is conditional. Rabbi Scheinbaum says that because a “word” left Moshe's mouth, it came true. For a tzadik like Moshe Rabbeinu, every word was Torah.  And therefore, such an expression could not go to waste, but rather, it had to come true.

              The Torah tells us that Moshe suffered from some sort of speech impedement.

It is obviously not coincidental that Moshe's name was erased from this section due to “speech” and that he was unable to use his words like others. Yet, despite his inability, the power of everything that Moshe said still existed, meaning the removal of his name from the Parsha. There are many other examples of this in Tanach. Talmud Bavli Mesechet Makkot (11:1) says that a tzadik's words come true even if he didn't mean them. “Klalat chacham afilu b'chinam hi baah". The gemarah makot says that that this same thing occurred with Dovid Hamelech & Achitofel, Shmuel & Eili, and Yehudah & Binyamin. All three situations had one cursing the other unintentionally, but because Hashem listens to the words of tzadikim, it came true.  

              Another time where we see this is with Rochel Imenu. In Parshat Vayeitzei (30:1) Rochel says to Yaacov, “Hava li banim, v'im ain meyta anochi”. The Or Hachayim comments on the following pasuk, about Yaacov's anger. He says in pasuk bet, “Vayichar af Yaacov b'Rochel”.  Or Hachayim discusses that Rochel had cursed herself when saying that Moshe should give her children- otherwise she would die. When a tzadik issues a klala,  even if it's “al tnai”, it still could happen. Yaacov was angry because he knew the power of her words. He knew that she really could be causing her own death. Perhaps this is also why he cried when they met (29:11) and it says, “Vayisak Yaacov  l'Rochel vayisa et kolo vayivcha”. Yaacov might have been crying because he knew that in the future Rochel would curse herself and eventually die early.

              We need to be extremely careful with what we say. How often do we throw around phrases like “I'm going to die!” or “My mom's going to kill me!” without even thinking twice about it? Do we not realize that we were given the bracha of a peh, from Hakadosh Baruch Hu? How holy are our mouths, and how selfishly do we defile them on a daily basis?? From lashon hara, to nivel peh, to saying things that we really don't mean, we constantly degrade our words.  So much good can come about from just a few simple words, a day can be brightened, a mood can be changed. And in the same way, chas vi shalom, just a few words can bring about klala.

If only we would truly realize the power of our words!