Parashat Tetzaveh and Purim: Carrying Each Other

We carry each other in our hearts, and there is no greater divine service than this.

This was the service of the kohen gadol. He wore a breastplate and two stones on his shoulders and in both places, on his heart and on his shoulders, the names of the children of Israel were inscribed. The Torah says specifically that he “carried” (nasa) the names of the children of Israel “on his heart as a reminder before God at all times” (28:29). He carried them – no, he carried us – in his heart, and as a burden on his shoulders, all the time. Where did he carry us? Lifnei Hashem. Before God. This was his divine service – to be mindful of the people, to help shoulder their burdens, to keep their troubles in his heart, to remember them and think of their needs.

There is no longer someone bringing our needs before God at all times, but we, each of us, serves as a kind of kohen gadol, for one another. When we pray in our daily Amidah and include the names of the sick, we are not just reminding God to pay attention, but reminding ourselves. We inscribe their names on our own hearts just as the Kohen Gadol had them inscribed on his breastplate. Their names, their burdens, are ours to carry.

On Purim, what we celebrate is not just our redemption, but our redemption by means of the caring and efforts of fellow Jews. Esther could easily have hidden away in the castle, as Mordecai implies, and ignored the problem, but she carried the burden of her people. This was not Egypt, where God would do the work. This redemption required the real effort of the people.

Our means of celebrating is also peculiarly inter-personal. On Sukkot the mitzvah is for you to sit in your own sukkah and shake your own lulav, and on Pesah, for you yourself to eat the matzah. But on Purim two of the mitzvot are about caring for each other’s needs – matanot la’evyonim, gifts to the poor and mishloach manot, gifts to one another. You have an obligation to feed one another. The give and take symbolizes the give and take of our care for each other, the way that our fates and hearts are intermingled. We are responsible for each other’s meals. We are responsible for each other’s well being.

Carrying food to one another, carrying each other’s names and burdens – these, too, are the service of God.