Parshat Tetzaveh includes some amazing verses.God tells Moshe to speak to כל חכמי לב (kol chochmei lev), everyone with wisdom in their hearts, who will make the clothing of Aharon, the High Priest.
The חשן משפט (choshen mishpat), “breastplate of judgment” or “bag of oracles,” is to be a מעשה חשב (ma’aseh choshev), the work of a thoughtful designer.
There is even a part of Aharon’s garb called the חשב (cheshev) — literally, the designer band.
People are asked, instructed, commanded, to bring their thoughtful creativity to the making of holy objects.
Naturally, I am led to the idea of הדור מצוה (hiddur mitzvah), the beautification of mitzvot. Hiddur mitzvah is said to be derived from a verse in Shirat HaYam, the Song of the Sea, sung by Moshe and the Israelites after the crossing of the Red Sea (Shemot/Exodus 15:2) : זה אלי ואנוהו (zeh Eyli v’anveihu).
The sages of the Talmud ask, What does this verse mean? They offer two answers, based on two different meanings of נוה, the root of אנוהו.
ONE: נוה means “to set before oneself as an aim, to take on a purpose.” Thus זה אליואנוהו means “I will set before myself a divine purpose. As God is endlessly compassionate, so will I be.”
TWO: נוה means “to make beautiful.” Thus זה אלי ואנוהו means “I will make beautiful the things I do for God.”
Let’s talk about meaning number ONE. In the Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Peah, the rabbis find themselves discussing the problem of endless compassion. How much monetary tzedakah is required of a person, they ask. Well, they answer, Torah mandates 1/10 for the Temple and 1/10 for the poor. So tzedakah is set at 1/5 or 20% of a person’s assets. This is the mitzvah of tzedakah.
However, because of the verse זה אלי ואנחהו, it is also a mitzvah to give more than 20%. This is a problem. If everyone gave away all their money, they would be broke, in need of tzedakah, and society would be rather unstable.
Where does it end??? Here we have one mitzvah — giving 20% — that implies another mitzvah — giving more than 20%. Does every mitzvah lead to an endless chain of going the extra mile??? Or do we get credit from God and our own conscience if we just do the basic mitzvah? The rabbis set a limit to the mitzvah of charitable giving: maximum 33%, one-third. But they don’t resolve the larger conceptual issue about the additional mitzvah within every mitzvah.
One thousand years later, the question is revisited by Rabbi Yehuda Lev ben Bezalel of Prague, also known as the Maharal (1525 – 1609). The Maharal is concerned with meaning number TWO of the verse זה אלי ואנוהו. He is worried about the obligation to make ritual objects beautiful.
If the mitzvah is to make a sukkah, is it completed if we make it a plain, unadorned sukkah? Or, hidden inside the mitzvah, is there another mitzvah, to beautify it? Where does one mitzvah end and the other begin? If making beautiful ritual objects is part of the ritual mitzvah, how are they integrated? What counts for what?
The Maharal’s solution is beautiful and metaphorical.
He takes a verse from Mishlei, Proverbs 6:23: נר מצוה ותורה אור (ner mitzvah v’Torah or), “Mitzvah is a candle and Torah is light.”
A candle, says the Maharal, is physical, and light is pure energy, pure spirit. But a candle is the vehicle needed to radiate light into the world. Mitzvot are the physical practices that bring God’s presence into the world.T he more beautiful the performance of the mitzvah, the more the beauty of God’s presence is brought forth. If you have to assign a percentage, he says, say the physical is 1/3 of the mitzvah because the Talmud says we can use up to 1/3 of our possessions to express compassion.
But really, number is not the point. Performing a mitzvah and beautifying it are inseparable. Both bring God’s presence into the world.
— Laura Duhan Kaplan, 2005
Image: jdorganizer.blogspot.com
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