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Thoughts on the Parsha ~
Parshas Tzav
Change of Clothes
By: Daniel Listhaus
וַיְדַבֵּר ה' אֶל משֶׁה לֵּאמֹר: צַו אֶת
אַהֲרֹן וְאֶת בָּנָיו לֵאמֹר זֹאת תּוֹרַת הָעֹלָה הִוא הָעֹלָה עַל מוֹקְדָה עַל
הַמִּזְבֵּחַ כָּל הַלַּיְלָה עַד הַבֹּקֶר וְאֵשׁ הַמִּזְבֵּחַ תּוּקַד בּו: וְלָבַשׁ
הַכֹּהֵן מִדּוֹ בַד וּמִכְנְסֵי בַד יִלְבַּשׁ עַל בְּשָׂרוֹ וְהֵרִים אֶת
הַדֶּשֶׁן אֲשֶׁר תֹּאכַל הָאֵשׁ אֶת הָעֹלָה עַל הַמִּזְבֵּחַ וְשָׂמוֹ אֵצֶל
הַמִּזְבֵּחַֹ: וּפָשַׁט אֶת בְּגָדָיו וְלָבַשׁ
בְּגָדִים אֲחֵרִים וְהוֹצִיא אֶת הַדֶּשֶׁן אֶל מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה אֶל מָקוֹם
טָהוֹר:
“Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying: Command Aharon and his sons,
saying: This is the law of the olah-offering: It is the olah-offering
[that stays] on the flame, on the Mizbe’ach, all night until morning,
and the fire of the Mizbe’ach shall be kept aflame on it. The Kohen
shall don his fitted linen Tunic, and he shall don linen Michnasaim on
his flesh; he shall raise the ashes which the fire will consume of the olah-offering
on the Mizbe’ach, and place it next to the Mizbe’ach. He shall
remove his garments and he shall wear other garments, and he shall remove the
ashes to the outside of the camp”
-Tzav 6:1-4
The parsha opens with Hashem telling Moshe to tell
Aharon what the avodah in the Beis Hamikdash entailed. The first
task of the day seems to have been what is called the terumas ha’deshen (raising
of the ashes). The flame from the karbon olah would be alit on the mizbe’ach
(alter) all night, and first thing in the morning the kohen would
have to shovel the ashes from the mizbe’ach and put them on the east
ramp.[1]
This job had to be done every morning[2]
and on a simple level had a dual purpose of keeping the Beis Hamikdash looking
nice and clean as well as ensuring that the flame on top of the mizbe’ach would
burn bright and strong by removing the ashes.[3]
There was a second part of the terumas ha’deshen process which was
called the ho’tza’as ha’deshen. This was the removal of the pile of
ashes altogether from the Beis Hamidash. As Rashi[4]
explains, based on the Gemara,[5]
this later step was not done every day, but rather only when it was necessary,
as opposed to the terumas ha’deshen which was performed early every
morning
Right
in between the Torah’s description of the two parts of the commandment to
remove the ashes, the Torah adds as part of the process that before removing
the ashes from the mizbe’ach, the kohen should switch his
clothes. Rashi[6]
explains that the kohen was not really obligated to change his
clothes prior to doing the terumas ha’deshen, however it would be derech
eretz (proper conduct) to do so. After all, the garments which are
used to serve Hashem all day in the Beis Hamikdash should not be the
ones the kohen uses to remove ashes. It would not be respectful if he
would dirty the bigdei kehuna and then use those same clothes to do the
rest of the day’s avodah. Just like a servant of the king would change
into “cooking clothes” to wear in the kitchen in order not to ruin his dress-clothes
needed to directly serve the king, so too it is derech eretz for the kohen
to change into different clothes before removing the ashes so that his bigdei
kehunah could remain clean.[7]
At
first glance, the placement of this passuk (verse) could imply
that it is only suggested that the kohen changes his clothes on the days
when they did the ho’tza’as ha’deshen. After all, the passuk is
written between the two halves of the commandments regarding the deshen.
However, the Sefer Ha’Chinuch[8]
comments that the recommendation actually goes even on the terumas
ha’deshen. After all, any time one is working with ashes one could get
quite dirty, so why would there be any more of a reason to change for the ho’tza’as
ha’deshen and not the terumas ha’deshen?
As
mentioned above, the terumas ha’deshen seems to have been the first
activity of the day.[9]
If so, an interesting question comes to mind. If according to the Sefer
Ha’Chinuch the kohen should change out of whatever he came to the Beis
Ha’mikdsh in and put on an old pair of clothes before performing the
terumas ha’deshen, which was done first thing in the morning, why was
there a need to change at all? Why couldn’t the kohen just come to the Beis
Ha’mikdash in his old clothes, do the terumas ha’deshen and ho’tza’as
ha’deshen (if being done that day) and then change into his bigdei
kehuna afterwards? Why should the kohen get dressed into one set of
clothes in the morning, go to the Beis Ha’mikdash and change into other
clothes right away to do the terumas ha’deshen? Why not just show up in
his change of clothes, do the “dirty work”, and then don his bigdei kehuna afterward?[10]
Perhaps
we could learn from the Torah’s assumption that the kohen would come to
the Beis Ha’mikdash in clothing other than what he would wear for terumas
ha’deshen, that indeed the kohen has to come in other
clothing and cannot walk the streets of Yerushalayim to the Beis Ha’Mikdash in
his old clothes worn during the terumas ha’deshen, despite its
convenience and display of z’rizus (zealousness) to want to
perform the mitzvah immediately.[11]
There was certainly a need to change once arriving at the Beis Ha’mikdash
because the kohen could not wear those clothes in the streets. The Torah
is able to assume that the kohen would not arrive to the Beis
Ha’mikdash already in his old clothes because how could a tzelem Elokim,
a talmid chochom, and a kohen walk through the streets of
Yerushalayim with clothes that are old and dirty and worn for precisely that
reason to take out the ashes? Of course the kohen would, should, and must
come in regular clothes and only change once it is necessary.
This
idea could also explain why immediately following the aforementioned Gemara which
says the parable of a servant cooking for king who would change before serving
the king, that the Gemara brings statements from Rebbe Chiya bar
Abba in the name of Rebbe Yochanan: “It is a disgrace for a Torah
scholar to go out with patched shoes into the marketplace” and “Any Torah
scholar who has a grease stain on his shirt is chayav meesah”. Although
the Gemara qualifies these statements, the underlying
concept is clear: A human is a representative of Hashem and created in His
image. This is not just a reason for others to respect a fellow person, but
also a reason for a person to respect himself.
Interestingly, it would appear as if Hashem is even
more careful at times when it comes to our kavod than
to His. Although we are learning that the Torah is assuming with absolute
certainty that the kohen
will not and should not wear his dirty
clothes through the streets of Yerushalayim, let us recall what Rashi said about changing his clothes. It is derech eretz to change clothing into something else if you may
get dirty so that you do not have to serve the king with your good clothes that
you dirtied. However, Rashi
makes clear that changing clothing was
not part of the obligation. It is proper derech eretz, but
not a chiyuv. So great is the Torah’s appreciation and care for
each individual’s tzelem
Elokim.
Our job is to realize this for ourselves. When one
respects a fellow person, he is by extension also showing respect to Hashem;
and when a person respects himself, he is also respecting Hashem. Part of this
realization includes understanding that it is a two way street. On the one
hand, acting in certain ways, speaking in certain ways, and dressing in certain
ways are totally inappropriate for people of great stature, but unfortunately
do not seem out of place now-a-days for a typical person. However, on the other
hand, there is a concept of “self fulfilling prophecies” where a person could
start to fill the role of who he is acting, speaking, or dressing like.
In the past,[12]
we have mentioned an incredible Malbim. The Malbim
writes that although the classic word
for clothing in Hebrew is beged, the Torah when describing the bigdei kehuna[13] uses the word “middo/middah/mod”. The reason for this, as the Malbim explains, is because just like the body has an
outer layer of clothing to dress it, so too a person’s nefesh has an inner dressing of middos (character traits). The bigdei kehuna played
a more fundamental role than merely being beautiful clothing to serve Hashem
in. They were designed to play the role of influencing the mindset of the kohen so that his inner-self, his nefesh, could be properly dressed to serve the King. A
person who dresses respectably not only shows proper respect to himself and the
tzelem Elokim he represents, but also influences his nefesh to dress respectably with good middos. Whereas, a person who dresses undignified is not
only not showing proper respect for himself, but could even begin to
deteriorate and end up playing the role that he is speaking, acting, or
dressing like.
The Orchos Tzadikkim[14]
discusses the difficult balance between what we could term self-esteem and ego.
On the one hand, even a slight understanding of what it means to be born as a
person who is an equilibrium of gashmiyus (physicality) and ruchniyus
(spirituality) and the potential that every single individual has, is reason
enough to filled with enormous pride. Add to that the fact that we are blessed
with all that we are blessed with and the fact that we have the privilege of
being Jewish, the delight becomes exponentially more. On the flip side,
arrogance is improper and we are challenged to constantly remember the fact
that life is short and as much as we could accomplish, it is all just a drop in
the ocean. Uncalled-for arrogance and self promotion may be wrong, but personal
self-esteem and self-respect, as well as respect for others, is more than
proper, it is required.
The
Orchos Tzadikkim brings a story if Hillel who left the Beis Medrash.
His talmidim (students) asked him, “Rebbe, where are you going?”
“To do a Mitzva”, Hillel responded. “What Mitzva?” his students
inquired. “To wash myself” “Rebbe, is this a mitzva?” “Of course!”
answered Hillel. “The statues in the king’s palace get washed every day,
certainly we who are living expressions of tzelem Elokim!
Let
us take a lesson from the kohen who was expected to not come to the Beis
Hamikdash already in his “cleaning clothes” and appreciate the potential
that we have and the respect we owe to ourselves for that and for being living
expressions on Earth of tzelem Elokim. With this in mind may Hashem help
us choose the correct middos we wear, say and act in order that it
postiviely effects our nefesh and inner middos.
[1]
Rashi Vayikra 6:3
[2]
See end of Rashi Vayikra 6:4
[3]
See Sefer Ha’Chinuch – mitzvah 131
[4]
Rashi Vayikra 6:4
[5]
Tamid 28b
[6]
Rashi Vayikra 6:4
[7]
Gemara Shabbos 114a
[8]
Sefer Ha’Chinuch – mitzvah 131
[9]
This is implied also by the order of mishnayos in Yoma (See 1:8). Also
see Gemara Yoma 33a and Tosfos there “Abeyei”. The Sefer
Ha’Chinuch writes that the terumas ha’deshen was done regularly at amud
ha’shachar. On mo’adim it was performed at the end of the night
right before morning. And on Yom Kippur it was done as early as chatzos
(midnight).
[10]
Although when detailing the commandment
the passukim clearly say that the kohen dressed in his
clothing, did terumas ha’dehen, should change his clothes (which we said
is really going on even the first part), and then hotza’as ha’deshen
– clearly indicating that the kohen would have to change, there are two
possible refutes to this question.
1. There was a lottery drawn to decide which kohen would get
to do the terumas ha’deshen. If so, then the kohen would not necessarily
know that he would be doing it (depending on when they would decide) until he
arrived at the Beis Ha’mikdash. So although he should have always had a
change of old clothes ready, there would be no reason to dress in them in the
morning because for any given individual, chances are that he would not be
picked to do the terumas ha’deshen. However, even with this being true,
the question remains in two circumstances. First, when Aharon HaKohen
himself was commanded in this week’s parsha and was the kohen to
do everything in the Mishkan. Second, before the lottery was instituted,
the mishnayos in Yoma describe that it used to be that whoever
made it up the ramp of the mizbe’ach first would get to do the terumas
ha’deshen – until there was an unfortunate incident. Before the lottery
system was adopted, there would have been even more of a reason to show up
already wearing the “teruams ha’deshen clothes” in order to not waste
any time trying to get to the mizbe’ach first while still fulfilling the
mitzvah to its fullest with derech eretz in mind. So why does the
Torah assume that the kohen would not already be wearing his old
clothes, that it has to write that the kohen should change into old
clothes before performing the terumas ha’deshen?
2. The hotza’as ha’deshen was not necessarily done right
after the terumas ha’deshen, it could have been removed later on in the
day. So perhaps indeed the kohen would arrive in old clothing to do terumas
ha’deshen, then afterward change into his bigdei kehuna,
and then later, when doing the ho’tza’as ha’deshen, change back into
the old clothes and then back into the bigdei kehuna afterward.
[11]
I believe it is a dispute what these clothes were; if they were an old set of bigdei
kehuna or if they were ordinary clothes, If they were bigdei kehuna then
it could be that their kedusha would disallow them to be worn outside
the Beis Ha’mikdash.
[12]
See ThoughtsOnParsha Parshas Tetzaveh 5772 – Measure for Measure
[13]
For example in Parshas Tetzaveh as well as in our Parsha – Tzav 6:3
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