There are moments when I stop and ask myself an uncomfortable question: Why do I feel disconnected? Why does it sometimes feel like I’m not living in concert with my own truth? I know what I believe. I know what matters to me. And yet, there are times when my life doesn’t fully reflect that knowledge. It can feel like I’m living a version of myself that’s slightly misaligned, doing the right things, but not always from the deepest place.
This week’s Torah portions, Tetzava and Parshas Amalek, speak directly to this inner struggle. Amalek isn’t just an enemy from our past; it represents a force that creates disconnection. Amalek separates the head from the heart, knowledge from feeling, belief from action. When Amalek is at work, our Judaism becomes intellectual and distant, something we understand and even defend, but don’t always live. We stay cerebral, and our faith never fully reaches our emotions or shapes our behavior.
That’s why Parshas Tetzava places such emphasis on the oil for the Menorah. The Torah tells us that the Jewish people brought the pure oil specifically to Moshe, even though Aaron would light the Menorah. Oil represents faith at its deepest level, pure, potent, and essential. Moshe, the leader of the Jewish people, didn’t kindle the flame himself, but he was the one who received the oil and revealed its true nature.
Moshe taught that what we “know” about G-d is not merely intellectual knowledge. It doesn’t begin in the mind; it begins in the soul. Faith is not something we acquire from the outside; it is the essence of who we are. Moshe reminded the Jewish people of that inner truth, allowing what they already knew to emerge from within. And when knowledge is recognized as soul-deep, it can flow naturally into our emotions and express itself through our actions. Moshe then brought that oil to Aaron, who transformed inner faith into visible light through the Menorah.
This is our call to action. Don’t allow your faith to remain abstract or confined to your thoughts. Bring it into how you live, speak, choose, and connect. Let what you know to be true shape your inner world and shine outward. When our faith becomes real and lived, we weaken Amalek and illuminate not only our own lives but the entire world around us.