Parshas Tetzaveh
Measure for Measure
By: Daniel Listhaus
“You shall make garments of sanctity for Aharon your brother, for glory and for splendor. And you shall speak to each of the wise-hearted people whom I have invested with a spirit of wisdom, and they shall make the garments of Aharon, to sanctify him, so that he shall be a Kohen to Me.... And the cheishev with which he is beautified.... ”
-Tetzaveh 28:2-3; 8
There is no doubt that the bigdei kehunah (special clothes that the kohanim had to wear) were spectacular and royal. When it comes to discussing the cheishev, Rashi1 writes that the Kohen Gadol's cheishev was the belt above the eiphod (apron) which beautified and enhanced the Kohen, and adorned him.
There are two issues which seem to pop out from this Rashi. First, even though certainly one aspect of the bigdei kehunah was to make the kohen look prestigious, why is it that this aspect is stressed so much in the Torah and this Rashi? It sounds as if this was the most important fact of the bigdei kehunah. Second, this Rashi seems a repetitive and redundant2. Rashi explains that the bigdei kehunah beautified and enhanced the kohen. Then, Rashi adds in as as after thought that the bigdei kehunah also adorned him. Why does Rashi not list all three descriptions as part of the same series?
Another underlying question about the bigdei kehunah stems from an understanding of a story in the Gemara. The Gemara3 relates a story of a non-Jew who overheard someone teaching his talmidim (students) about the garments that the kohen gadol would wear. This man went over to Shammai and told him that he wanted to convert in order to become the kohen gadol and wear the eight pieces of bigdei kohen gadol. Shammai's immediate response was to chase him out with a stick. This man then went to Hillel and told him the same thing, that he wanted to become Jewish in order to be able to become the kohen gadol and wear the special garments. Hillel listened patiently and advised this Gentile to first learn all the halachos (laws) of being a kohen. The man did so, but when he got up to the passuk (verse), “The stranger that comes near shall be put to death”4, he was very confused. He asked Hillel, “Who does this passuk refer to?” Hillel replied, “This passuk even applies to Dovid HaMelech. Anyone who is not a kohen cannot do the avodah (work in Beis HaMikdash).” The Gemara then continues to say that despite the fact that this man's aspirations were shot, he ultimately became Jewish anyway because of Hillel's patience.
The Kli Yakar5 is bothered by this whole story. Who did this guy think he was? If he just wanted a good Purim costume, why go through the whole process of becoming Jewish and having to accept the Torah and mitzvos? He should have just went to the local costume store and bought a similar copy made in China! Was this man for real that he wanted to convert just so that he could wear the garments of the kohen gadol?
The Kli Yakar therefore answers that it must be that this Gentile heard more than just the list of special garments that the kohen wore. Rather, he also heard the rebbe describing a Gemara in Eiruchin6. The Gemara there lists the four garments of the kohen hedyot (regular kohen) and the additional four garments of the kohen gadol. The Gemara then elaborates that each of the garments acted as an atonement for different great sins.7 This man heard the rebbe learning this Gemara and had an idea. He knew that he had done horrible things in his life, and he wanted to start anew. He thought that achieving the position of kohen gadol and getting the chance to adorn these garments would grant him the absolution needed to rest his mind of guilt.
This whole concept is so hard to understand. What did the bigdei kehunah have to do with atoning sins? Could it really be that because the kohen would dress up in a certain way, that we become “off the hook” for some of the horrible things we have done?8
In order to answer these questions, let us take a step back and try to understand the role that the bigdei kehunah played in adorning the Kohen in the Beis HaMikdash.
The Malbim9 makes an incredible observation. He writes that a word used to describe the bigdei kehunah is “mada”. The word mada comes from the root meaning measurement. The reason for this is simply because one gets his clothing tailored according to the dimensions of his guf (body). The body's measurements are what one uses to deduce what the accurate size of one's clothing should be.
Similarly, one's character traits are called middos – referring to the different allocations of qualities that each and every individual uniquely possesses. People are born with different measurements of haughtiness, humbleness, embarrassment, brazenness, anger, patience, and the list goes on. Our job, as the Orchos Tzadikkim10 maintains, is to study and analyze each middah and realize where it is inside us. Then, we must work on each and every middah and qualify it in a positive way. Every middah could be directed to be used for good or bad. It is our duty to make sure that our middos are shaped in the right way.
The Malbim continues to write that the reason for the kohen to wear the bigdei kehunah – the outer measurements which cover his body, was in order to have an effect and guide the inner measurements – the middos surrounding his nefesh (soul).
Each of the garments of the kohen gadol represented some of the most difficult and important middos a person must take control of. For example, the middos which Pirkei Avos11 describe “remove a person from this world” - kinah (jealousy), taivah (desires), and kavod (honor)- are all things of which the bigdei kehunah represent their opposites.
Somehow, merely wearing the types of clothing that the kohen gadol wore, brought about these good middos from the kohen gadol, and had him thinking along pure thoughts of perfection in these areas. It is no coincidence that the sins that the bigdei kehunah atoned for were done due to lack of control in the middos that they each represented. These pure thoughts of the kohen, the representative of the entire Jewish people, when wearing the begadim, received a kaparah for the entire b'nei Yisroel.
Perhaps now we could better appreciate the aforementioned Rashi. The bigdei kehunah served multiple purposes. On the one hand they adorned the kohen – giving him a prestigious and royal look to stand out above everyone else as the one chosen to serve Hashem.12 Additionally, the bigdei kehunah were designated garments only used to serve Hashem, expressing incredible amounts of kavod Hashem. However, a third aspect of the bigdei kehunah was to effect and direct the kohen's thoughts in order to spark a kaparah.
If we put this idea with the Orchos Tzadikim, we see an incredible thing. The clothing we wear has the ability to give power to and bring forth certain aspects of the middos contained within us. The feelings that actors get when they put on different types of clothing is not as much talent as it is a demonstration of lack of control over their middos. The clothing they wear is able to export different measurements of their born-qualities, thereby creating almost new people within themselves based on their influenced temporary choice of characteristics.
The clothing we wear has an impact on the way we think and act. Let us choose carefully in order that the measurements of the guf should have a positive impact on the measurements of the nefesh; for indeed the way we dress effects our middos – measure for measure.
1Shemos 28:8
2Yes, that was on purpose, couldn't help myself.
3Gemara Shabbos 31a
4Bamidbar 3:10
5Shemos 28:29. The Kli Yakar later continues to get into a whole discussion about Achashveirosh during the Purim story when he wore the bigdei kehunah and used the keilim from the Beis HaMikdash.
6Gemara Eiruchin 16a
7The Gemara lists the following begadim and that for which they atoned:
- Kesones (tunic) – shfichus damim (murder/bloodshed)
- Michnasa'im (pants) – giluy arayos (immorality)
- Mechaperes (turban) – gasei haruach (arrogance)
- Avneit (belt) – hirhur lev (improper thoughts of the heart)
- Choshein (breastplate) – dinim (incorrect judging)
- Eiphod (apron) – avoda zarah (idol worship)
- Me'il (jacket) – lashon harah (evil speech)
- Tzitz (head-plate) – ma'aseh azei panim (brazen acts)
8Gemara Berachos 28a
9Shemos 28:15
10He writes this in his introduction to the sefer as well as throughout the text when discussing the various character traits.
11Avos 4:28
12S'forno; Shemos 28:2
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