A Thought on Parshas Tetzaveh

"...v'ateh tetzaveh..." "...and you shall instruct..." (27:20) "...ya'aroch oso Aharon u'banav..." "...Aharon and his sons will arrange it..." (27:21) You probably have noticed over the years, as did Rashi and so many of the great sages, that Moshe Rabbeinu's name is missing from this entire parsha. There are some standard and by now famous explanations for this. True to form, the Panae'ach Raza works with a midrashic approach which is not cited by Rashi. He notes that when HaShem first spoke to Moshe early on in the desert, He bid him to take charge of the Jewish people. HaShem told Moshe (4:14) to return to his "brother Aharon the Levite." From this, we can posit that the original plan was for Aharon to ascend to the role of Levi but for Moshe to rise to the emerging position of Kohen. From the time that Moshe, however, asked that HaShem designate his brother Aharon as the primary spokesman for the Divine, there seems to have been a reconfiguring of the plan. Moshe Rabbeinu remained a Levi. Aharon was given the role of Kohen, in fact, his role became that of Kohen Gadol. In guiding the nation, Moshe was the leader. In administering to the spiritual needs of the nation and in leading the Divine service, Aharon became the key figure. It is for this reason that, says the Panae'ach Raza, our parsha, which focuses on the tasks of the Kahuna, omits Moshe Rabbeinu's name. Once that role was wrested from him and vested in his brother, all of the laws pertaining to being a Kohen would not make mention of Moshe. The Panae'ach Raza then addresses the second verse above. Here the Torah instructs Aharon and his sons in the task of kindling the Temple lamps. However, in parshas Emor (24:3) the verse says "ya'aroch oso Aharon." The words are identical to our verse above, but only reference Aharon without adding "and his sons." Why the omission? The Panae'ach Raza suggests that indeed, per our verse here, the original plan was for either Aharon or his sons to take charge of kindling the menorah lamps. However, following the deaths of Aharon's sons Nadav and Avihu, Aharon intervened and would not permit his surviving sons to enter into that sacred place for this particular avoda. Perhaps it was a protective move in the way that a father wants to protect his children, or perhaps it was a means of safeguarding and accenting the great sanctity of that place and of that avoda which led Aharon to move into this role and disallow his own sons to venture there. The contrasting verses, though, are now clear: even though the lighting of the menorah does not require a Kohen Gadol and any of his sons might have performed that task, in practice it was Aharon alone who kindled the menorah in the mishkan.