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Parshat Tetzaveh is the only parsha without the name of Moshe Rabbeinu! Why does the Torah leave Moshe out of an entire parsha, and why specifically this week’s parsha?

Chazal connect the omission of Moshe’s name from Tezaveh with Moshe’s prayer after the sin of the golden calf, when he asks for forgiveness for the nation and then says “and if not erase me from the book that you have written”. The implication is that G-d listened to Moshe’s prayer and did just that, left him out of an entire section of his book, the Torah.

But the problem is an obvious one – G-d did forgive the people for the golden calf, and therefore the omission is deemed unnecessary!
According to the “Pnei Shabat”, the omission of Moshe’s name from Tezaveh is actually a praise of Moshe’s self-sacrifice. Hashem wanted all generations to know the great righteousness of Moshe, exemplified by the ultimate act of self-sacrifice, asking for the forgiveness of the nation, or else to be erased from the book of G-d. The parsha is a reminder of that tefilla of Moshe; it calls upon every Jew that which he or she shall  place at the center of life. It reminds the Jew that he too is a part of a whole, a member of the national community of Israel, without which, he lacks all significance in life.

It is therefore only natural that Tezaveh was chosen as the parsha for this message, for this is the only parsha that is entirely Hashem’s command to Moshe. There is no narrative in the parsha, no historical accounts, no commandments to the nation or to Aaron, only to Moshe, from the very first pasuk to the very last! This then is the appropriate setting for the reminder of the greatness of the receiver of the Torah, the humblest of all men, Moshe.