Komentaryo sa Exodo 28:43: Rashi, Chizkuni, Da'at Zekenim & Tur HaArokh

והיו על אהרן AND THEY SHALL BE UPON AARON — “they” means all these garments (not only the breeches which are the last-mentioned garments); upon Aaron shall be those which are proper to him,

ולא ישאו עוון ומתו, “so that they do not incur guilt and die.” Rashi comments on this phrase: “from this verse we learn that appearing in the Temple without the appropriate garments is a capital offence.” The Talmud in Sanhedrin folio 83 explains it simply: when a priest wears the priestly garments (in the Temple) he is considered as a priest. When he does not, he is considered as a nonpriest who is forbidden to enter the Temple on pain of death. Even omitting his belt, avnet, is considered as being disrobed. There is a dissenting view which limits the death penalty only to priests appearing without trousers.

ולא ישאו עון ומתו, “so that they will not bear iniquity and die;” Rashi states that we derive from this verse that if the priests do not wear any of the garments they are supposed to wear while performing service in the Temple, they have become guilty of the death penalty. Rabbi Yitzchok, son of Rabbi Avraham of blessed memory, questioned this statement by Rashi on the basis of what we learned in the Talmud, tractate Sanhedrin folio 83, where the Talmud derives this rule from Exodus 29,9, from the words: והיתה להם כהונה לחוקת עולם, “and they will remained consecrated as priests perpetually. The Talmud there understands these words as applying to when the priests wear their priestly garments. When they do not wear those garments, they are treated as if ordinary Israelites, who if they dare to enter the holy Temple become guilty of death. (Numbers 1,51) In order to answer the query by Rabbi Yitzchok, we are forced to say that our verse here adds the new dimension that even the trousers (though meant to cover the private parts) of the priests are considered as part of their uniform and their not wearing same as prescribed already makes them guilty of the death penalty.

ועל בניו AND UPON HIS SONS, those prescribed for them.

בבאם אל אהל מועד WHEN THEY COME INTO THE APPOINTED TENT — into the Temple, and similarly when they come into the Tabernacle.