Мусар к Шмот 28:2

I have previously referred to an allusion contained in the words: אדם כי יהיה בעור בשרו וכו'. The vestments for the priests were to be לכבוד ולתפארת, "for dignity and adornment." These were to symbolize the כתנות אור, garments of light, which Adam and Eve wore before they had to exchange them for כתנות עור garments of skin, after the sin. Onkelos translates כתנות עור as לבושין דיקר, "precious garments" (Genesis 3,21). At first glance it seems that Onkelos equates כתנות אור with כתנות עור and בגדי כהונה. There is a mystical dimension to this comparison which is rooted in Kohelet 2,13: כיתרון אור מן החושך, "as the advantage of light over darkness." The message there is that G–d makes purity emerge even out of impurity. I have dealt with this at length in one of my addresses on שבת הגדול, the Sabbath preceding the festival of Passover. You will find it in my tractate Pesachim.

פרשת שמות which describes the tortures the Jewish people experienced in Egypt, shows how these experiences led to the repentance by the Jewish people, caused them to appeal to G–d. Afflictions cleansed them of their sins. This will be explained in detail in פרשת וארא, where repentance springing from a sincere heart will be described, i.e. repentance originating in the attribute of truth, אמת. The term עבודה will be explained in פרשת בא, whereas the focus of our commentary on פרשת בשלח will, of course, be פרשת יתרו .תפלה concentrates on תורה, whereas פרשת משפטים focuses on דין. The next פרשה i.e. תרומה, emphasizes generosity of heart, i.e. gifts for the erection of the Tabernacle, part of the צדקה syndrome, whereas פרשת תצוה describing the making of the garments for the High Priest, the איש חסד, the pious man, concentrates on the גמילות חסדים aspect of our duties in this world. The first letters of these eight portions suggest four duties that we have to perform, namely תשובה-תפלה-צדקה-תורה. The "word" שובבים, hints at תשובה, as in שובו בנים שובבים, "turn back, rebellious children" (Jeremiah 3,14). How is this to be accomplished? By ת"ת, i.e. through תשובה and תפלה. At the same time, the letters ת"ת are also an acronym for the words תלמוד תורה. The same acronym with the vowel segal under the first letter, i.e. tet "giving," also suggests charity, i.e. צדקה.

The purpose of these garments was to be לשם ולתפארת, "for dignity and adornment," as stated by the Torah in Exodus 28,2. Genesis 2,28 reports: "Adam and Eve were nude; they did not experience a sense of shame." The serpent became jealous when it saw their nudity. This is the mystical dimension of all the forbidden sexual unions. The serpent had infected humans with a pollutant. The priests were warned by the Torah not to climb the altar by means of steps so as not to reveal even part of their bodies in the process (Exodus 20,23). It is a natural tendency of man to want to climb steps, to become G–d-like, the vision held out to Eve by the serpent in Genesis 3,4. This tendency became outlawed, i.e. ערוה. Adam later was מושך בערלתו tried to conceal the fact that he was circumcised, as stated by our sages in Sanhedrin 38b. The seven days of inauguration of the Tabernacle before Aaron took over in his capacity as High Priest were symbolic of the seven days of creation. On the eighth day Moses called upon Aaron; on that day he was crowned with ten crowns (Rashi on Leviticus 9,1). He was considered as if he had been created anew on that day. On that date Adam was resurrected, so to speak, because Aaron fulfilled the commandment of "sacrificing his own personality," i.e. אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן, performing an act which reversed the direction Adam had taken, when, instead of cementing his close relations with G–d, he had distanced himself from G–d by eating from the tree of knowledge and bringing death into the world. Nonetheless death henceforth would occur when someone, who was close to G–d (i.e. a priest) would fail to observe all the strictures on the performance of the service in the Tabernacle G–d had placed on the priests, just as death was the consequence of non-observance of G–d's law in the macrocosm, so now death would be the penalty for failing to observe G–d's law within the Tabernacle, the microcosm. At the creation G–d had warned with the words מות תמות; now two sons of Aaron died because they had approached G–d in a forbidden manner, as will be explained in due course.