(From Yerushalayim Ir Ha Kodesh)

The Sedra posesses a remarkable feature. Moses name does not appear. The reason is that the Golden Calf Moses petitioned G-d not to destroy the Jewish People. Here he uttered the phrase "And if not erase me from the book which you have written." If A Tzaddik (Saint) says something it must happen. Moses was "errased" from the Book. There is another reason for Moses omission from this Sedra. This Sedra also occurs at the time of Moses' birthday. This would tend to suggest that Moses should be mentioned in this Sedra it spans the date of his birth which was also 120 years later the date of his death. The actual date of Moses birthday is not stated in the Torah. The date has to be deduced. The Torah seems remarkably reluctant to recognise Moshe's life. REB ZALMAN SEROTSKIN, points out that the worlds religion's usually make the founder the central feature of the theology and the structure of the belief. The twenty fifth of December and Easter celebrate the birth and death of a certain figure and are the defining moments of that religion. The Torah is making an essential point about Judaism. Moses is NOT the most important feature in Judaism......G-D is the most important feature in Judaism. The ommision of the details odf Moses life are quite intentional. The RAN quotes the RAMBAM who points out that one of the essential conditions for being a Prophet is that a person suffers from no physical defect. Moshe had a defect, he could not speak properly. Of all the infirmites, this is the most disasterous for a prophet. His whole raison D'etre is to communicate G-ds words to the world. How then is Moses a Prophet. Surely it would have been easy enough for G-d to cure him at their first meeting at the burning bush. The RAN's point is a crucial one. It must not be said that the reason that the Jews followed Moshe out from Egypt is because he was one of history's brilliant orators he held the masses "spell bound". Jews are obliged to ignore such people! It's the message that must be true and theeore adhered to, the product not the salesman.