Parashat Tetzaveh (Shabbat Zakhor) - 13 Adar 5770/26-27 February 2010
Torah Reading: Exodus Exodus 27:20 - 30:10
Maftir (Shabbat Zakhor): Deuteronomy 25:17-19
Haftarah (Shabbat Zakhor): 1 Samuel 1-34
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
Remember?
"And you shall put the two stones upon the shoulder pieces of the ephod, stones of remembrance for the Children of Israel; and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a remembrance... And Aaron shall bear the names of the Children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment over his heart, when he goes into the holy place, for a remembrance before the Lord perpetually." Exodus 28:12, 29
"For a remembrance - that the Holy One Blessed Be He should see the tribes written before Him and remember their righteousness." Rashi to verse 12, citing Midrash Exodus Rabbah.
"Memory is the source of redemption; exile comes from forgetting." Baal Shem Tov to verse 29.
The names of the tribes were engraved on the stones as a reminder - to whom? Rashi teaches that God needs to be reminded of the righteousness of our ancestors. Perhaps it is to remind God of our righteousness; we also are the Children of Israel. Does God really need to be reminded of anything - as if God could forget! Yet many of the prayers which we regularly offer do just that.
The Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Chasidism says "no!" We are the ones who need to remember. If we are righteous, we need to remember that we once were not. If we are not righteous, we must remember that we can become so - if we try. Remembering itself takes on redeeming qualities, because it compels us to perform acts of righteousness. So it is imperative to remember what you once were; to be reminded of what you have the potential to become; and to do something about it, by performing an act of tzedakah, of righteousness.
Shabbat Shalom and Purim Sameach!
HaRav HaGaon Abba Reuven ben Menachem Mendel Shlita, Jr.
Der Heiliger Burbanker Rebbe
Av Beis Din - Chelm
Mikvah Inspector and Slivovitz Taste Tester
"For the sake of Zion I will not be silent; for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still" Isaiah 62:1
