Intimacy with Hashem
Parshas Tetzaveh builds on the previous parsha, Teruma, which introduced the Mishkan and its various components—menorah, Shulchan, the main altar, etc. and how they are built. Tetzaveh goes on to finer details, such as the clothes to be worn by the Kohanim, the korbanos brought at the inauguration of the Mishkan, etc. At the very end of the parsha (Shemos 30:1), we are introduced to another component of the Mishkan, the mizbe’ach hapenimi, the small altar located in the inner, holier section of the Mishkan. This altar was used only for the ketores (incense offering).
Why is the mizbe’ach hapenimi mentioned here, together with the final details of the Mishkan, instead of with the basic components in Parshas Teruma? Moreover, why couldn’t the ketores be brought on the mizbe’ach hachitzon (the main altar, located in the azara), where all the other offerings were brought? Why did it need its own altar and why did it have to be located inside?
These questions can be answered based on the Ramban, who states that in Parshas Teruma, the commands focused on building a Mishkan in order to bring Hashem’s Shechina to the world. The purpose of the ketores went beyond that. This offering was a unique form of intimacy with Hashem.
All the korbanos offered in the Mishkan were ways through which Jews could come closer to Hashem. Nevertheless, the ketores served as a way to achieve a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him. This indeed is the explanation of the word ketores, which Rabbeinu Bechaya (Vayikra 10:1) notes is related to the Aramaic word keter, which means a knot. The ketores binds the Jewish People to Hashem.
To make the ketores more intimate, it had its own altar, located in the inner chamber of the Mishkan, and this too is why the ketores is the final detail of the Mishkan to be mentioned. All the other korbanos achieved a basic connection with Hashem. The ketores added the dimension of intimacy with Him.
This idea finds further expression in the command that no one else be together with the kohen when he offers the ketores (Vayikra 16:17), and Talmud Yerushalmi (Yoma 27a) adds that even angels cannot be present at this time. The ketores offering must be an intimate meeting between the kohen and Hashem.
Just like the ketores achieved intimacy, so too when any Jew decides to accept upon himself an added form of avoda, and he does it in the manner of the ketores, privately, between he and Hashem alone, this deepens his connection to Hashem and makes it more intimate.
Rav Avigdor Miller said that this is what the Navi Micha meant in his famous statement: “What does Hashem really want from you? … To go humbly with Your G-d” (Micha 6:8). This is what Hashem is waiting for, that we should serve Him privately, not for kavod or other motivations, but only for His sake.
For example, if we see a person in need whom we can help, find a way to do so that does not draw attention. Sometimes this is easy, because the person in need may be one of your own family! Devoting a bit of time to making another Jew happy or easing his burden, if done in a discreet, private manner, will bring you an intimacy with Hashem that you did not have before.
In Makkos (24 a), the sages describe “going humbly with Hashem” as one of the pillars of our avoda. In Talmud Yerushalmi (Brachos 19b), Rav Yossi bar Tachlifa praises Rebbe Meir as being a “giant in Torah, a holy man and a humble man.” Meaning, even after reaching a level of greatness in Torah and kedusha, for Rabbi Yossi bar Tachlifa, this was not enough. The additional element of going humbly with Hashem was necessary to achieve the highest level of spiritual perfection. Going humbly with Hashem is the finishing touch of a Jew’s greatness.
Rav Yitzchak Zilber served the Russian Jewish community selflessly, both before and after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Quietly, without fanfare, Rav Zilber was the Rav who took responsibility for this vast community and its array of complex issues (such as bris mila, heter agunos, kashrus, Jewish burial, etc.).
The wife of Rav Chaim Sarno (Rosh Yeshivas Chevron) was also involved in activities to help Russian Jews, and at times this brought Rav Zilber to the Sarno home. During one such visit, Rav Sarno was learning with a talmid. After the matter was resolved and Rav Zilber turned to leave, Rav Sarno went over to him and whispered something in his ear. Rav Zilber recoiled.
“I’m sorry, I have to leave right away,” he said, and with that he hurried out of the Sarno home. Rav Sarno returned to his talmid.
“What did you say to him?” asked the talmid.
“I wanted to praise him for his countless acts of chessed for the Russian Jewish community but I barely got a word in. He didn’t even let me finish the sentence. Rav Zilber is an example of how to serve Hashem humbly. I’m positive that he is one of the 36 tzaddikim that Chazal say are present in every generation. My only question is if the other 35 tzaddikim are even close to his level.”
May we be zoche to go humbly with Hashem!