Chasidut su Esodo 28:2
וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ בִגְדֵי־קֹ֖דֶשׁ לְאַהֲרֹ֣ן אָחִ֑יךָ לְכָב֖וֹד וּלְתִפְאָֽרֶת׃
E farai abiti sacri per Aronne tuo fratello, per onore e per maestà.
Kedushat Levi
It is this thought that Moses expressed in our verse when he said: “and Hashem has guaranteed you this day that this nation be a precious nation for Him, etc.”.
If you were to ask that if G’d, Who is all knowing, obviously knew all this in advance, why did He bother to create the gentile nations altogether? The answer is that G’d created the other nations לשם ולתפארת ולתהלה, “for His name, glory and splendour,” so that He would be able to glory in Israel’s accomplishments by comparison. If there were no inferior people who had started out with the same attributes as the Israelites, Israel’s accomplishments would not be appreciated as outstanding. The word: תפארת, “splendour,” is an alternate adjective used in connection with the garments of the High Priest, (Exodus 28,2) a garment worn externally, meant to reflect the inner beauty of the wearer. When the prophet Micah 7,19 speaks of G’d יכבוש עונותינו ותשליך במצולות ים, “squeezing out our sins and throwing them into the depths of the ocean,” the image before the mental eye of the prophet was that of the person laundering dirty linen, and seeing that not only the dirt has disappeared but the result being something splendid, תפארת. Showing someone how a person thoroughly soiled by his sins, has become rehabilitated is surely reason for the owner of that “garment” to boast about the “reincarnation” that has occurred, especially when it was spontaneous. This is also the meaning of Rosh Hashanah 17 where the process of removing sins is described as occurring מעביר ראשון ראשון, usually translated as “removing the sins in the order in which they have been committed starting with the first.” Our author understands this to mean that G’d had used the first sin committed by the repentant sinners as something to decorate Himself with as His first garment. It is appropriate therefore that once the sinner turns penitent, that not the last, but the original sin he has committed should be “turned inside out,” by being converted into a merit.
[When a sinner persists in sinning, the “garments” in which G’d wraps Himself, far from becoming something splendid, become symbols of His progressive distancing His essence from such a sinner, of course. Ed.]
If you were to ask that if G’d, Who is all knowing, obviously knew all this in advance, why did He bother to create the gentile nations altogether? The answer is that G’d created the other nations לשם ולתפארת ולתהלה, “for His name, glory and splendour,” so that He would be able to glory in Israel’s accomplishments by comparison. If there were no inferior people who had started out with the same attributes as the Israelites, Israel’s accomplishments would not be appreciated as outstanding. The word: תפארת, “splendour,” is an alternate adjective used in connection with the garments of the High Priest, (Exodus 28,2) a garment worn externally, meant to reflect the inner beauty of the wearer. When the prophet Micah 7,19 speaks of G’d יכבוש עונותינו ותשליך במצולות ים, “squeezing out our sins and throwing them into the depths of the ocean,” the image before the mental eye of the prophet was that of the person laundering dirty linen, and seeing that not only the dirt has disappeared but the result being something splendid, תפארת. Showing someone how a person thoroughly soiled by his sins, has become rehabilitated is surely reason for the owner of that “garment” to boast about the “reincarnation” that has occurred, especially when it was spontaneous. This is also the meaning of Rosh Hashanah 17 where the process of removing sins is described as occurring מעביר ראשון ראשון, usually translated as “removing the sins in the order in which they have been committed starting with the first.” Our author understands this to mean that G’d had used the first sin committed by the repentant sinners as something to decorate Himself with as His first garment. It is appropriate therefore that once the sinner turns penitent, that not the last, but the original sin he has committed should be “turned inside out,” by being converted into a merit.
[When a sinner persists in sinning, the “garments” in which G’d wraps Himself, far from becoming something splendid, become symbols of His progressive distancing His essence from such a sinner, of course. Ed.]
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Kedushat Levi
Exodus 28,2. “you are to make sacred garments for your brother Aaron , for dignity and adornment. Next you shall instruct all who are skilful and whom I have endowed with the gift of skill, to make Aaron’s vestments to sanctify him, etc.” Judging from the apparent repetition in these two verses, i.e. Moses was commanded to sanctify his brother Aaron, and then the craftsmen were commanded by Moses, that Aaron was to be attired in these vestments to be made in honour of G’d; apparently Aaron was to serve as a vestment for G’d, Who, when on earth, must garb Himself in a manner that prevents harm coming to the people among whom He “dwells.” We have a concept according to which the souls of the righteous serve as vessels harboring celestial attributes. This is the meaning of: ועשית בגדי קודש לאהרן אחיך, that Aaron’s soul was to serve as sacred vestments for celestial attributes. The words: לכבוד ולתפארת, refer to these celestial attributes of G’d. However, the people described as חכמי לב, “endowed with wisdom,” were employed to construct garments for Aaron’s body. This is why in this connection (verse 3) we have the word אהרן, whereas previously in verse 2 the Torah spoke of לאהרן, “for something that was part of Aaron,” referring to Aaron’s soul rather than to his body.
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