Tetsaveh Beautiful Rabbinical Lie

ואתה תצוה, “and you are to issue instructions, etc.” Moses has not been mentioned by name in this portion, seeing that he had said to G’d that He should erase his name from His Book. (Exodus 32,32) Although Moses had said this conditionally, i.e. if G’d were to kill the Jewish people as punishment for the sin of the golden calf, we have a rule that a curse of a sage, even if uttered only as something conditionally, is taken by G’d at face value. (Zohar Chadash, 60)

Other commentators explain the absence of the mention of Moses’ name here as due to the subject matter following being the priestly garments of Aaron, the High Priest. Originally, Moses himself had been slated to be the High Priest. The fact that this honour was now being given to Aaron, might have produced a certain amount of regret on Moses’ part if he had heard his name mentioned as being part of transferring this rank to his brother. To forestall as much as possible any feelings of sorrow on Moses’ part, the Torah referred to him anonymously.

When Aaron was walking down the road, and he came upon a wicked person, he would wish him Shalom. The next day, when that man wanted to sin, he would say: Alas! How will I be able to look Aaron in the face; I will be so embarrassed when he wishes me Shalom. And so this man would stop himself from sinning.
Similarly, when two people were fighting with one another, Aaron would go and sit next to one of them and say: My son, look at the anguish your friend is going through! His heart is ripped apart and he is tearing at his clothes. He is saying, How can I face my old friend? I am so ashamed, I betrayed his trust. Aaron would sit with him until his rage subsided. Then Aaron would go to the other person in the fight and say: My son, look at the anguish your friend is going through! His heart is ripped apart and he is tearing at his clothes. He is saying, How can I face my old friend? I am so ashamed, I betrayed his trust. Aaron would sit with him until his rage subsided. When the two people saw each other, they would embrace and kiss one another. And that is why it says (Numbers 20:20), “And the entire House of Israel wept for Aaron for thirty days” [after his death].

As Rabbi Yoḥanan said: One who whitens his teeth to his friend by smiling at him is better than one who gives him milk to drink, as it is stated: “And his teeth white [leven shinayim] with milk” (Genesis 49:12). Do not read this expression as leven shinayim; rather, read it as libbun shinayim, the whitening of teeth. Likewise, the phrase: With milk, can be read as: Than milk.

And now I will begin to speak about that which I intended: You should know that just like the blind man does not grasp appearance of colors and the deaf man does not grasp the sound of voices and the eunuch sexual desire, so too bodies do not grasp spiritual pleasures.

(Another interpretation:) Why did Israel weep for Aaron for thirty days? [(Both women and men.)] Because he always judged fairly. How do we know this? For he never said to a man or woman: You have disgraced yourself. That is why it says that the entire House of Israel wept for him. But with Moses, who would chastise them with harsh words, it merely says (Deuteronomy 34:8), “The children of Israel wept for Moses.” And also, how many thousands in Israel were named after Aaron! Because if not for Aaron, they would never have come into the world. For he would bring peace between husband and wife, and then they would come back together, and would name their first child after him...

At that time, Moses asked to die as Aaron had died, because he saw the great honor Aaron was given at the funeral procession, with rows and rows of angels eulogizing him.

Hillel used to say: be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving mankind and drawing them close to the Torah.