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By Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky,
B'nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica

Translated by Inés Baum - Proofreading by Ellen Zindler

This week’s parashah is almost entirely devoted to the subject of priest clothing. The clothes that Aaron and his sons would use to serve in the Sanctuary are described minutely, and the stately garment of the High Priest is especially detailed.

The level of detail in the account has caused countless interpretations: Maimonides thinks that the priest’s garments were meant to bring them respect, even in those people who only pay attention to the external appearance of men (Guide to the Perplex 3:45). Nachmanides maintains a similar opinion, adding that, in biblical times, the kings and their families were in the habit of using clothes similar to those of priests (see his commentary on Exodus 28:2). Other sages prefer to interpret the description of the priests’ garments allegorically, attempting to show that, behind the numerous details that appear in the text, profound religious and spiritual meanings are hidden.

The question of why the Torah devotes so much space to describing something as daily and mundane as human clothing, even when referring to such special men as priests, lies behind these different explanations. Shouldn’t the Torah occupy itself with higher and more heavenly themes? Wouldn’t we expect our most sacred book to devote itself to the facts of the soul? Shouldn’t religious mitzvot regulate our ethical and moral qualities, instead of legislating over our way to dress, as is the case?

There is no doubt that the Torah’s purpose is to make us better people, more sensitive to human suffering, more aware of everyday miracles, more permeable to God’s message. But it does so precisely through our daily works. The Torah establishes a daily routine that has much to do with our body and what we make of it. Let us recall for a moment the best known Jewish mitzvot: to eat kosher, wear Tefilin or Talit, rest on Shabbat and holidays, give tzedakah, visit the sick, comfort the bereaved... all these rules refer to specific physical acts. The Torah proposes a plan by which we devote ourselves daily to the service of God, to sanctifying the profane. As Abraham J. Heschel wrote: “Judaism teaches us how even the gratification of animal needs can be an act of sanctification… the giver of life did not ask us to despise our brief and poor life, but to embellish it; he did not ask us to forgo it, but to make it holy” (Man is Not Alone, chapter 25).

For these reasons, I believe that we should not be so surprised because the Torah devotes so much space to describing priestly clothing. In fact, we should rather be surprised by the possibility of not finding religious precepts concerning our own clothing.

Each day, when we rise and dress, we bless God saying malbish arumim, “the One who clothes the naked”: also when dressing, we may bring some holiness to this world.

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Forwarded by Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik, from Kol Shearit Israel Congregation, Panama.
Translated by Inés Baum and proofread by Ellen Zindler, from B’nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica.

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