"And you shall command the Children of Israel" (Exodus 27:20). Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk, in Parashat Tetzaveh, asks a question that cuts to the heart of what tzaddik (a righteous person)im (the righteous) actually do: how can a righteous person perform wonders—healing the sick, freeing the imprisoned, revealing Torah secrets—when "there is nothing new under the sun"?
The answer lies in creation's architecture. When God said "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3), light was created in its place above. Everything made below is a copy; the root remains in the upper worlds. Every miracle, every healing, every new insight—the root already exists. The tzaddik does not create from nothing. The tzaddik shakes the root above, causing it to manifest below.
King David expressed this: "Great deeds have You accomplished, God... Your wonders and Your thoughts are upon us" (Psalms 40:6). "Your wonders"—the healings and deliverances. "Your thoughts"—the Torah secrets. They are "upon us"—accessible to us, because the roots are already in place.
God tells Moses: "And you shall command"—tetzaveh, related to the word for directing blessing and abundance. God is saying: you, too, can direct blessing upon Israel by shaking the supernal roots. "They shall take to you pure olive oil"—the olive oil symbolizes the great, pure flow of divine abundance. The verse says "to you" rather than "for them" because when the tzaddik sees Israel flourishing, it gives the tzaddik as much pleasure as if the abundance were their own.
Rebbe Elimelech adds a second reading: the passage also teaches how to give rebuke. A person who wants to reprimand others must first be holy in all aspects—body, spirit, and soul (Nefesh, Ruach (spirit), Neshamah (the higher soul)). Only then can they rebuke without transferring sin.