Tetzaveh - Laibl's Weekly Parsha Video

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Tetzaveh (Sat 4th March. /11th Adar)
What’s in a Name?
Laibl's Weekly Parsha Video
Moses’ name doesn’t appear in this week’s Parsha even though he is its central figure. A name doesn’t express the essence of a person. It only identifies him for third parties. So, when G-d refers to Moses in the second person, ‘you’, that is even a more specific reference to Moses than his name.
Notes:
• We are all given names. Does that truly identify us? What is the purpose of a name? And interestingly, in this week’s Parsha, Tetzaveh, when we are dealing with centrality of Moshe Rabbeinu in the life of the Jewish people, his name is absolutely missing. He has gone AWOL!
• You could suggest that when he responded to G-d’s wish to wipe out the Jewish people when they designed the golden calf, and he defended the Jewish people saying that he rather G-d wipe out his, Moses’ name instead, that G-d honours the words of a Tzaddik by symbolically removing his name from one whole Parsha.
• But a deeper reason is that a name doesn’t express a person’s essence. A name only serves the external purpose of being able to be identified by others.
• More pointedly Moses is indeed mentioned in the parsha but through the first word – ‘you’- which addresses the core of an individual. You are you, and no name can capture that core. So G-d refers to Moses in the second person, you. Much more direct, and much more personal. G-d points His finger at Moses.