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This is the only parasha since Moshe’s birth where his name is not mentioned. The primary reason given is a kind of ‘good cop-bad cop’ dialogue. In the episode of the Golden Calf, when G-d threatened to destroy the Jewish people for participating in one way or the other in that act of infidelity, Moshe pleaded as their defense lawyer, ‘If you don’t forgive them, erase ME from your book.’ Thus, in this portion where the cohanim take primary stage, Moshe’s name is indeed ‘erased.’ However he is still referred to in the opening word, ‘and YOU’… ‘command the children of Israel to take pure olive oil to light an eternal flame.’
What is the difference between saying Moshe’s name, and writing YOU? Well, in this book of ‘SHEMOT-NAMES’ on one hand it does seem a dismissal to omit his name. However the Hassidic masters emphasize that though a name ‘reflects’ the essence of a person, the essence itself can’t be named. In fact, if we think about G-d, though there are many names both in Hebrew and other languages, the Zohar in particular refers to that essence as ‘the one who shall not be named,’ to borrow an opposite reference to the side of evil from the Harry Potter series.
Speaking of evil, there is an extra very important reading this week called parashat Zachor, where we read about the destruction of Amalek, the arch enemy of the Jewish people. The paradoxical idea is: Remember to erase from your memory and don’t forget. The counterpart to that command to remember is; ‘Remember the day of the Sabbath, to keep it holy.’ Both memories are related to G-d’s name in an interesting way. The four letter name called Havaya and spelled with a Yud and a Hei and a Vav and another Hei, are a code for the flow of divine energy from the highest levels to the most mundane. The sages say that this Name will not be complete until Amalek is erased, because Amalek wants to ‘split up the name’. In personal terms, this means Amalek insists on a split between the awareness of the mind and the feeling of the heart. However, even in the most challenging of times, somehow the ‘pintele yid,’ or what I like to call, ‘the pilot light’ of the Jewish soul asserts itself and connects the letters of G-d’s name, binding the mind and the heart. This inner light during more tranquil times may seem dormant and even extinguished, but it stubbornly flares up and affirms its divine connection even and especially during oppression from dark forces represented by Amalek. These forces not only threaten us physically but besiege and weaken us with dangerous toxins like self-doubt or self-aggrandizement.
Of course examples from October 7th, stand out the most these days. Just think about the accounts such as these: Keith Siegal who saved crumbs to say Hamotzi on Shabbat, and after being released asked only for a Kiddush cup and a kipah. Then there was Omer Shemtov who in the tunnels, would have only a piece of toilet paper to cover his head when he wanted to say a blessing. Also consider Agam Berger who begged for a siddur where there was none, and suddenly someone left a siddur for her by mistake. Similarly there was Daniella Gilboa who wanted to sing Shalom Aleichem on Friday night but was afraid she would be harmed in front of Hamas, so she learned how to sing it in Arabic! And to sum it all up, Yarden Bibas who lost his entire family but when persuaded to convert, retorted, ‘I was born a Jew and will die a Jew!’
These and many other accounts from October 11th, are stories of greater miracles than the splitting of the sea and the raining of the Manna; they are miracles of defiance of the spirit, a defiance that cannot be anticipated and that defy any rational prediction, a defiance that Amalek tried to destroy but instead was fanned into flames by the holy olive oil of the Jewish soul.
As the Mishna writes about the first war with Amalek, Moshe sat on a rock and when he raised his hands, the Israelites got stronger but when his hand fell, his people got weaker. As the sages explain, Moshe wasn’t acting like a conductor but rather he was guiding their eyes and hearts to look beyond themselves to the true basis of power. When can we in our ordinary lives tap into this extraordinary power? Primarily on Shabbat when we are gifted with all the blessings that are the opposite of everything Amalek stands for: the link between mind and heart, faith in a force beyond ourselves, and humility from the awareness that we cannot even wag our finger without input from our Divine Source, which like Moshe’s essence, is always with us and within us. May our candle lighting illuminate our souls with the light of this inspiration!
