0:02">In Parsha Tetzaveh, the Torah commands us to create clothing, special clothing, 0:10">for Aaron and his sons, for the Kohanim. And the Torah says the reason for that clothing is 0:18">l’kavod, for honor, or litifaret, and for beauty. Now, there’s no other mitzvah in the Torah 0:26">that requires wearing special garments other than the garments of the Kohanim, the priestly garments.
0:36">So why do we need special clothing to perform a mitzvah? There’s something interesting about 0:44">clothing — it’s really a dichotomy — because there are two Hebrew words for clothing, 0:51">beged and malbush. Both of these words have derogatory 1:00">connotations. Beged is the word for “boged”, for traitor, and malbush is 1:09">same root as “busha”, embarrassment.
1:09">When was the first time we had clothing? 1:16">It was after the sin of Adam and Eve. After they sinned, God made them these clothing, 1:29">these pieces of clothing to cover their nakedness. Therefore, clothing represents 1:36">the rebellion of man against God because of the sin, that original sin.
1:45">The words representing clothing are derogatory., while the clothing 1:51">we are commanded to make for the Kohanim 2:00">are for honor and beauty.
2:00">So there’s a big difference.
2:00">What are the lessons we can 2:09">learn from this?
2:09">Well, first of all, most things in the world can be used for good or bad. So we 2:17">have this clothing, which initially had a negative connotation, but we can take that clothing, 2:24">elevate it into something holy, into a mitzvah, which is what the Kohanim do.
2:24">The Kohanim are 2:31">taking clothing, which was used to rebel against God, and are elevating that clothing and making 2:40">it into something holy, into a tool, into a vehicle of holiness, of connecting with God. 2:51">Now, one of the reasons we said for the clothing was honor. And we know that clothing represents 3:00">honor.
3:00">A judge wears a judicial robe, and that gives him honor in the eyes of those in the courtroom. 3:13">An officer wears a dignified uniform, and that gives him honor. 3:22">And as the saying goes, “clothing makes the man.”
3:22">So we know that clothing can give people honor. 3:30">The purpose of the clothing for the Kohanim was not to give honor to the Kohanim per se, 3:38">but it was to give honor to God, because the Kohanim were the channel which took 3:46">the prayers and the sacrifices of the Jewish people and channeled them to God. 3:58">They were like the pipe that brings water from one place to another.
3:58">That’s not to say that 4:06">every person doesn’t have a direct connection to God, because every person does. 4:12">But for some reason, God wanted to create these sort of conduits which would give more power to 4:22">the Jewish people and help them elevate themselves and their prayers and their offerings to an even 4:29">greater extent. So the first reason for the clothing of the Kohanim was for honor, for honor 4:37">of God and honor of the Jewish people.
4:37">And the second reason was for beauty. 4:47">And a lot of times, especially in modern days, we think of beauty as something 4:52">just very superficial. And even in the negative context, like if you were going to describe 4:59">someone and they might get insulted if you only call them beautiful, like, 5:07">what about my intellect? What about my emotions, my spirituality? Don’t just focus on my beauty.
5:16">But the Torah is saying there is value, there’s great value in beauty. It’s important for a 5:25">person to look their best. Yes, appearances are important in the Torah.
5:25">The Torah wants every 5:32">person to look beautiful, because as we know, we were all created in the image of God. 5:41">And so we want to project a beautiful image. And in fact, the Kohanim in the Beit HaMikdash 5:50">were supposed to project that, an aura of beauty.
5:50">If a Kohen5:58"> had a visible blemish, he was not allowed to serve in the temple service, 6:07">because the Kohanim need to project beauty.
6:07">It’s an important lesson for all of us, because 6:20">like being spiritual, being religious, is not a contradiction with taking care of your physical 6:29">appearance and being beautiful. There’s no mitzvah in castigating yourself and looking poor and 6:39">disheveled. 6:39">That doesn’t bring glory to God. What brings glory to God is when we can look 6:47">beautiful on our outside, but more importantly, on our inside, that we can project this aura of 6:53">tiferet, of beauty, which is a combination of inner and outer beauty. And the Kohanim 7:02">represented the best in us, the honor and the beauty.
7:02">That’s why we have to make special 7:12">clothing for them, to help them represent this honor and beauty, to help elevate 7:19">the Jewish people in their service to God.
7:19">So we all have a choice. We can use 7:28">clothing as a form of rebellion, as a way of embarrassing ourselves, 7:39">or even to cover up our embarrassment.
7:39">Or we can use clothing as a way to honor 7:47">ourselves and honor God, and also beautify ourselves, but in a way that we can beautify 7:56">our connection with God and serve him in the most honorable and the most beautiful way.8:03">
8:03">We should all merit to be able to be beautiful and honorable on the outside and on the inside.
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