One of the great ongoing battles in our household pits me and my wife against our children. The battle involves clothes, namely their children’s clothes. This battle will flare up in a store or a mall where the child wishes to acquire clothes. Lately the conflict erupts into a large-scale conflagration on a Shabbat morning when children begin complaining that they don’t have anything to wear. Our cold war will become a hot war when our daughter needs to get dressed for a Bat Mitzvah party and she doesn’t like the choices available to her. Thankfully, we don’t have this fight during school since everyone must wear a uniform. So five days a week my wife and I just prepare the next heated fight about clothes; knowing full well that the fight will eventually occur. Like all parents, we understand that as our children become teenagers and get dressed on their own, the clothing conflagrations will be epic in scale; a battle between the parents and the decline of morality within the western world. The fact of the matter is we have uniforms for everything. Every profession, various religious groups, and ethnic groups have uniforms. Even school children where no formal uniforms exist have uniforms. When I was in high school the preppy kids wore khakis and oxford shirts, the punks wore torn T-shirts, army boots, and multicolored hair, the ROTC kids wore a lot of army fatigues, and on game days the jocks wore a dress shirt and tie.
This Shabbat, we read from Parshah Tetzaveh, and in it we learn about the uniform of the Kohen Gadol, the High Priest. Just like last week’s Parshah was a series of instructions on the way in which a physical space becomes beautified and holy, Parshah Tetzaveh offers a series of instructions on the way in which a certain individual’s physical appearance is beautified, and glorious. From head to toe, we are told that each item of the Kohen Gadol’s priestly uniform is made of fine linen, valuable stones, gold, cotton silk turquoise wool to name just a few of the ingredients. Certainly we could understand the Parshah from a superficial perspective but to do so would be to misunderstand a deeper and perhaps more powerful message. We live in a society where “clothes make the man”, clothes define who and what we are. However Parshah Tetzaveh is teaches us something radically different. Instead of clothing making us look sharper, slimmer, better proportioned, what if clothes could express our intelligence, our emotional health, our sense of decency, the holiness that exists within our soul and the degree to which that holiness is expressed. What would such clothes look like? Such clothes would have to express the degree to which we have permitted God into our lives. Such clothes would have to express the holy magnificence of God’s presence within our lives.
The Torah is very clear as to the reason for such highly decorative, highly ornate clothing. V’Kidashti et Ohel Mo’Ed v’Et Ha’Mizbeach V’Et Aharon v’Et Banav Akadesh L’Chahen Li – I shall sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the Altar; and Aaron and his sons shall I sanctify to minister to Me V’Shachanti B’Toch Bnai Yisroel V’Hayiti Lahem L’Elohim I shall rest My Presence among the Children of Israel , and I shall be their God (Ex. 29:44-45). God’s presence will make the Tent of the Meeting holy. In other words, God’s presence will make a particular space holy. Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno (15/16th Century Italy) explains that God rests among us in order to accept with favor our prayers and service. However, God resting his Presence is not enough. The Kohanim and ultimately the rest of us need to recognize that this is our God and we need to act appropriately. We can never take God’s proximity for granted. Therefore Aaron and his son’s, serving on behalf of the people, must achieve a higher degree of holiness compared to the rest of the people. This higher level of holiness must exist both inside and outside. Any inconsistency renders the Kohen Gadol impure. If the clothes become physically dirty, then he is momentarily impure. If his heart wanders, if his mind is elsewhere, or if he has not completely given of himself to the service to God on our behalf, then he is momentarily impure as well.
Shabbat becomes a day in which our outside, the clothes we wear to shul (synagogue), match our inside, the selfless process of prayer and learning. Just like we cover ourselves in nice clothing, we cover our souls in the very beautiful and ornate vestments of prayer and study. Shabbat is the day when our physical world seamlessly fits in with the spiritual world. Even in the course of a regular day, we have the opportunity through prayer, Kashrut, study, and Gemilut Chasadim for our internal “clothing” to match our external clothing. Maybe if we explain that to children, then they will learn that clothes don’t make the person, but the person makes the clothes. In the meantime, if only we can get the kids dressed on Shabbat morning or for the next Bar/Bat Mitzvah without conflict, everything would be so much simpler!
Peace,
Rav Yitz
No comments:
Post a Comment