Torah Ohr · Sefer Shemos · Shabbos February 20
פרשת תצוה
Parshas Tetzaveh
4 maamarim of the Alter Rebbe on the parsha, in the Hebrew of the Kehot edition, with every marei makom opened right where it appears. Each small section with a faithful English translation and a short explanation.
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Your progress in Parshas Tetzaveh
The maamarim 4
- ואתה תצוה את בני ישראל ויקחו אליך כו׳ “And you shall command the children of Israel” Aharon, the “groomsman,” kindles in the soul the joy of the mitzvos, a running toward G‑d that dawns out of darkness; but his power comes from Moshe, from Torah study and the bittul of Chochmah, which reveal G‑d’s unity above time. That is why the oil is brought “to you,” to Moshe, and why Moshe’s lamp is “continual.”
- ועשית בגדי קדש לאהרן אחיך וגו׳ ואתה תדבר… “You shall make holy garments for Aharon your brother” The great love that comes from above, Aharon’s level of “abundant in kindness,” must be clothed in garments to dwell in the soul, and those garments are the Torah and the mitzvos; they are made at three levels, by Moshe, by the wise-hearted and by every Jew.
- ועשית ציץ זהב טהור ופתחת עליו פתוחי חותם קדש לה׳ “And you shall make a tzitz of pure gold” The gold tzitz on Aharon’s forehead is the shining of a great love that comes from above. Amalek, the arrogance of the self, is an iron partition that keeps it from the heart; the self-nullification of Moshe, through Torah, breaks the partition, and the steady will to cleave to G‑d that stays on the “forehead” after prayer awakens the Supernal Will, the source of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy that bear iniquity.
- ביאור על הנ״ל An Explanation of the Above The tzitz on Aharon’s forehead is the steady will to G‑d, without reasons, that remains after the contemplation of prayer has faded. Moshe makes it, drawing from the Will of all wills above Atzilus through his self-nullification and higher Daas, so that this will stays “always for favor,” overcomes Amalek’s brazen “forehead,” and brings atonement.
Learn it in seven days Sunday to Shabbos
The Rebbe asked that all the maamarim of the week’s parsha be learned in that week, spread over its seven days. Here is the parsha in seven portions of about equal length.