Parshas TeTsaveh opens with
HaKadosh Baruch Hu saying to Moshe, “you shall command the children of Israel,
and they shall take to you pure olive oil, crushed for lighting, to kindle the lamps
continually’, (Exodus 27:20). The simple understanding of this verse is that
the people are to donate high quality olive oil to light the menorah in the
Temple. The Or HaChaim comments that
olive oil is a metaphor for Torah, because just like oil [candles] illuminates
the world so too does the Torah. He then in detail analyzes the verse. Pure (זך)
means that they should engage in Torah with no outside motives such as to tease
others or for the purpose of conceit. These things are considered to be the
dregs of religious scholarship. The olives are to be crushed (כתית)
meaning one should exhaust his body and all of his abilities in the pursuit of
his studies.
The commentaries typically
explain this mitzvah in terms of its practical application to making oil
candles for the sacred menorah. However their ideas provide hints as to how we
should study. Rashi learns a limitation
from the word crushed saying that the olives should only be crushed in a mortar
and pestle. This is because if they are thoroughly ground up in a mill, the oil
will be of low quality and therefore will not provide quality illumination.
This hints that when studying a text a person should not delve into the words
to the extent that he is inferring things which are not there. Rashi continues
that the oil candle should be lit until the flame burns by itself. This implies
that when a person learns something he should understand it clearly and to the
extent he can talk intelligently about it.
The Sforno focuses on the
phrase, “You will command”, noting it is specifically aimed exclusively at. He
explains that Moshe was required to give the order to Israel himself.
Homiletically we can say that a person must learn for himself and that others
cannot do it for him. The Baal HaTurim
notes that this is the only parsha that occurs after the birth of Moshe, in which
his name is not mentioned, perhaps suggesting the importance of humility in
limudei kodesh. He also says that, because there is a financial cost to this
mitzvah, the language of “command” was necessary to motivate the people to keep
it. This suggests that in the pursuit of knowledge a person should expect to
spend money.
The Or HaChaim remarks that
even if an individual donated oil for the Menorah, never the less it was
reckoned as a community offering. This hints that education must include a
community effort. He also discusses the western candle of the menorah, the nir
ma’aravi נר המערבי. There is a legend that the nir ma’aravi never went out. The Talmud understands this as a testimony to
the entire world that the Shechina rested on Israel. The Or HaChaim explains that the jokers of
the generation would wisecrack, “How could the Heavenly presence rest on the
work of Moshe?” However when people saw
this miracle, they knew that Moshe rabenu’s prophesy was true that the Lord on
High dwelled in this lower world. From this we can infer that one, who is
constantly learning Torah properly, demonstrates the truth of Torah and the
presence of HaShem in the physical world.
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Acknowledgements to websites: תורת אמת, וויקיטקסט, http://dictionary.reference.com/,
http://hebrewbooks.org/,
, לע"נ סבתא ,טויבע בת יואל לייב ז"ל נלב"ע כה שבט
תשכ"ג וגם בדואר
אלקטרוני ניתן באתר http://dyschreiber.blogspot.co.il
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