Parshas Tetzaveh: Our Sacred Place

This week’s Torah portion, Tetzaveh, Shemot (Exodus) 27:20–30:10, shows us how to make the mundane sacred, the ordinary, extraordinary. The children of Israel and the mixed multitude are encamped at Mt Sinai. Moses continues to give them instructions about the mobile Tent of the Meeting to be built for their journey to the Promised Land. The portion opens as God tells Moses to command the children of Israel to crush olive oil everyday and bring it to the priests to fuel an ever burning Candleabra that will sit in front of the curtain behind which is the Holy of Holies area housing the Ark of the Covenant.

Moses then instructs the priests how to make and don their special garments, and the elaborate and meticulous cleansing rituals and animal sacrifices during seven days of preparation before they enter the Tabernacle. The portion closes as Moses explains how to prepare incense and when to burn it from its own alter near the Candleabra and the table holding the daily bread offering. The Tabernacle must be a holy place, a pure place, hence the need for many cleansing rituals to atone for any offense against the Almighty during its frequent breakdown, conveyance, and reconstruction during 40 years of wandering around in the desert.

Our regular Haftarah portion, Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 43:10-27, takes place not long after the destruction of Solomon's temple by the Babylonians. The Almighty gives the prophet a vision of the construction and preparation of the alter of the third temple that will be built by the Messiah in the distant future. Ezekiel shares his vision with the exiled Jews, hoping that his vision will encourage them to reflect on the causes of the catastrophic loss of their cultural center, to correct them and prepare for a bright future.

The holiday of Purim begins at sunset this coming Thursday. During Purim, we celebrate the miraculous escape of the Jewish people living in Persia from a serious genocide conceived by an enemy of the Jews named Haman, a descendant of the Amalekite king, Agag. The threat is very real because at this time in history, 479 BCE, almost all the Jews in the world live in the vast Persian empire.

Because of Purim, we have an extra Torah reading and an alternative Haftarah reading this week. The extra Torah portion is Parshas Zachor: Devarim (Deuteronomy) 25:17-19. Zachor means 'to remember.' In our extra reading, God tells the Israelites to remember Amalek's attack on them during their march out of Egypt and how they must obliterate this enemy when they settle in the Holy Land.

The special Haftarah portion this week, I Shmuel (Samuel) 15:2-34, tells of events approximately 500 years before the Purim story takes place. The prophet Samuel receives Divine instructions to command King Saul to wage a deadly war against the Amalekites. Saul's army must slay every person and beast. Saul disobeys orders. We surmise that he doesn't kill every Amalekite because Haman shows up 500 years later. Also, Saul captures King Agag alive, thinking that parading him around will enhance his martial reputation, and he spares the best livestock for personal gain. Samuel kills King Agag. Saul loses his kingship.

Many interpretations of this narrative attempt to explain how and why the Almighty  orders the annihilation of a whole society. The reality of such an onslaught conducted with swords and shields evokes horrific scenes and terror in the civilian intellect. Modern weaponry has replaced swords and shields, and the historic battle between good and evil continues on the battlefield and in local, regional and national  jurisdictions around the world.

We can remember the Amalekites as enemies of the Jews, pagans whose society was wholly corrupted with sin and evil and child sacrifice. A depraved culture disinterested, perhaps incapable of atoning for war waged against a new society of God centered people. The time has long passed when we can obliterate all of them in hopes of saving the world from their evil intentions and actions. History shows that after every setback, they renew their mission to destroy all that is good. They refuse to go away, and they now infiltrate everywhere.

While military strategists and policy makers attempt to obliterate the enemy that refuses to go away, we can make real progress in the fight against evil by looking in our own lives to find places that we can transform from mundane to sacred. We can start with how we perceive life and teach others to see innocent life as extraordinary, a gift so precious that it deserves all that we have to defend it. As I've said many times, peace begins in the womb.

Why bother to walk the path of God-centeredness in a depraved world? Because the human soul longs to rest in the holiness and peace of God. As the psalmist sings, "Thy testimonies are very sure, Holiness becometh Thy house, O LORD, for evermore." Psalm 93:5.

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Cecily Routman

May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and good life upon us and upon all Israel. Amen.

Cecily Routman is the founder and president of the Jewish Pro-Life Foundation. She opposes abortion homicide in general and among Jews in particular and laments secular policy making in Israel that results in loss of Jewish life and delays the messianic redemption. She envisions a Torah based holy Land of Israel and a world that respects the life of every human being from conception.