Do you ever feel invisible?

Sometimes one can be at a large gathering (remember those?), and despite the crush of people and the large crowd, a person can feel very alone. 

A person may feel that no one sees them at all. 

In this week’s Torah portion which is called Tetzave, there is someone very important who seems to be invisible. 

In this week’s portion Moses is not mentioned at all. 

This is surprising because from the time Moses’ birth is recorded, he has featured prominently. 

Yet in this portion his name is eerily absent. 

Our Sages teach us that this is a result of a conversation that Moses will have with Gd in the future regarding the Sin of the Golden Calf. That sin was a deep betrayal in the relationship between the Jewish people and Gd. Gd decides the Jewish people are not worthy of existence and Gd tells Moses he will destroy them and begin a new nation from Moses. Moses rises to the defense of his people and says:

Gd if you will destroy them, then erase me from your Book. Moses was willing to give up his eternity, his entire legacy, and be erased. 

Become invisible. 

While this statement turns the tide and begins a process of repentance, the statement stands and Gd is going to erase Moses name from one the books, one of the Parshas. 

This is the one. 

One explanation why this Parsha was chosen is because Moses said erase me from your book! 

In Hebrew,  your book is Sifrecha. 

Sefer means book, cha  is the suffix which means yours. In Hebrew every letter has a numerical value and the suffix of “Cha” is equivalent to the number 20. 

So Moses might be saying erase me from your Book #20. 

This is the 20 th Parsha and Gd took Moses quite literally and erased his name from the 20 th book. 

But while we don’t actually see Moses in this Parsha, we are very aware that he is there. 

He is wearing a mask, he is behind the scenes, and we are well aware that he was completely willing to negate himself, to obliterate himself on behalf of his People. 

Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi, popular Israeli Torah teacher likens this scenario to the lot of many a woman. 

Sometimes we are doing so much for others we wonder, Where am I in this picture?

She teaches us to learn from Moses to recognize, that in our efforts to take care of all in our orbit, to provide constantly for the needs of others, we have not disappeared at all. 

We are providing the critical tools for existence and survival to those we love. 

It’s almost as if we are hiding in full sight. 

Sort of like wearing a mask. 

We are starting to think about the upcoming holiday of Purim when masks and costumes are the norm. 

Why do we dress up on Purim?

One of the many reasons is to teach us that things may not be as they look. You need to peer behind the mask to capture the full story. 

At the end of the Purim saga Esther convinced the Sages to canonize the Book of Esther and include it in the 24 Books of the Tanach or Bible.  

Because just as Moses is not mentioned in our Parsha, Gd is not mentioned once in the Megillah, the Scroll of Esther. 

Esther wanted to make sure that this book, which teaches us the seminal lesson that even if something may be hidden, it nonetheless, still exists. 

That message needed to be recorded and canonized for the Ages. 

The Kotzker Rebbe, Kabbalist and 18th century Torah leader, shares a parable:

A father and a son went for a walk on the beach, retracing the steps of a previous journey. They notice the trail of their two sets of footsteps abruptly becoming one set of footsteps. 

The son says to the father:

this is where I had a crisis and this is where you left me to continue alone, without your guidance and support. 

To which the father answered:

It may look like I was hidden and I left you alone, but here is where I lifted you on my shoulders. 

Feeling invisible is painful. 

The antidote is to look around and see someone else who might not be feeling seen. Reach out to that person.

Use the ability to feel that pain and help someone else experiencing the same plight. 

Then one will be like a Moses who saw his nations pain and was willing to shoulder it as his own, even if meant he would disappear. 

But in the end, he was there all along, carrying us on his shoulders. 

Shabbat Shalom and so much love!