Earlier this week, there was a particularly
disturbing news story about three teenage British girls (15,15,16) who packed
their respective suitcases, went to the airport, boarded a flight to Turkey,
and from there planned to make their way across the border into Syria and join
ISIS. As the story broke, the parents of these teenagers were interviewed
shaking their heads, shocked that their daughters had become radicalized. Their
sibling were interviewed and they begged from their sisters to return to England
knowing that once they enter Syria and join ISIS they will never be able to
leave. Each news story showed the three girls wearing the traditional garb of
religious Muslim women including a hijab (traditional scarf head covering). If
and when they arrive in Syria and join ISIS; they will add a niqab (face
covering) and burka (a full body cloak).
At first we all thought that hijab was an expression an Islamic woman’s
extreme religious fervor. By the time the news story finished and we saw the
niqab and the burka, we realized that the hijab was actually an expression of
moderate religious fervor compared to the other two articles of clothing. Soon
after the story broke, we were in a mall and my son and I were walking in front
of two woman wearing the entire uniform: head covering, face covering and full
body cloak. We were wearing our kippot.
We heard the two woman speaking Arabic. Maybe it’s the times in which we
live, maybe it’s my own ignorance, maybe it’s a bias that has developed over
the past 15 to 20 years, maybe it’s the images that I see in digital media or
print media regarding Islamic fundamentalism, terrorist attacks, and the every
increasingly loud call for Jihad; but I held my son’s hand just a little
tighter, walked just a little quicker and was just a little bit uncomfortable.
I felt this way simple because of the clothing that these woman were wearing.
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”. Make no mistake, clothing also make the woman. Clothing
defines who and what we are, and sometimes it defines our beliefs and even the
depth and fervor of that belief. 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 (Ex. 29:44). God’s presence will make the Tent
of the Meeting holy. In other words, God’s presence will make a particular
space holy. 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 since Aaron and his sons work on behalf of the people
directly dealing with God. This higher level of holiness must exist both inside
and outside. Any inconsistency renders his the Kohen Gadol impure. If the
clothes become physically dirty, then he is momentarily impure. If his heart
wanders, if his mind is elsewhere, if he has not completely given of himself to
the process and the service to God on our behalf, then he is momentarily impure
as well.
If this was seventy five years ago
we would be uncomfortable if we saw young men in brown shirts, tall leather
boots and a swastika. If this was twenty years ago we would be uncomfortable if
we saw a group of teenagers with shaved
heads, tattoos, and symbols of Aryan Nation on their jackets. Nowadays if we
see men and woman, dressed in clothing that is not only the clothing of
religious fervor but is clothing that has been co –opted by Muslim extremists
that want to bring harm to the world. While clothing always expressed
socio-economic status, religious belief, political affiliation and gang
affiliation; now the combination has become much more toxic and dangerous to those
vulnerable young people being actively recruited in the by a perverse and evil
ideology.
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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