The Tribes of Israel

(1) You shall bring forward your brother Aaron, with his sons, from among the Israelites, to serve Me as priests: Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron. (2) Make sacral vestments for your brother Aaron, for dignity and adornment. (3) Next you shall instruct all who are skillful, whom I have endowed with the gift of skill, to make Aaron’s vestments, for consecrating him to serve Me as priest. (4) These are the vestments they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a fringed tunic, a headdress, and a sash. They shall make those sacral vestments for your brother Aaron and his sons, for priestly service to Me; (5) they, therefore, shall receive the gold, the blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and the fine linen. (6) They shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen, worked into designs. (7) It shall have two shoulder-pieces attached; they shall be attached at its two ends. (8) And the decorated band that is upon it shall be made like it, of one piece with it: of gold, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen.

(9) Then take two lazuli stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel: (10) six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. (11) On the two stones you shall make seal engravings—the work of a lapidary—of the names of the sons of Israel. Having bordered them with frames of gold, (12) attach the two stones to the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, as stones for remembrance of the Israelite people, whose names Aaron shall carry upon his two shoulder-pieces for remembrance before ה׳.

(13) Then make frames of gold (14) and two chains of pure gold; braid these like corded work, and fasten the corded chains to the frames. (15) You shall make a breastpiece of decision, worked into a design; make it in the style of the ephod: make it of gold, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen. (16) It shall be square and doubled, a span in length and a span in width. (17) Set in it mounted stones, in four rows of stones. The first row shall be a row of carnelian, chrysolite, and emerald; (18) the second row: a turquoise, a sapphire, and an amethyst; (19) the third row: a jacinth, an agate, and a crystal; (20) and the fourth row: a beryl, a lapis lazuli, and a jasper. They shall be framed with gold in their mountings. (21) The stones shall correspond [in number] to the names of the sons of Israel: twelve, corresponding to their names. They shall be engraved like seals, each with its name, for the twelve tribes. (22) On the breastpiece make braided chains of corded work in pure gold. (23) Make two rings of gold on the breastpiece, and fasten the two rings at the two ends of the breastpiece, (24) attaching the two golden cords to the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece. (25) Then fasten the two ends of the cords to the two frames, which you shall attach to the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, at the front. (26) Make two rings of gold and attach them to the two ends of the breastpiece, at its inner edge, which faces the ephod. (27) And make two other rings of gold and fasten them on the front of the ephod, low on the two shoulder-pieces, close to its seam above the decorated band. (28) The breastpiece shall be held in place by a cord of blue from its rings to the rings of the ephod, so that the breastpiece rests on the decorated band and does not come loose from the ephod. (29) Aaron shall carry the names of the sons of Israel on the breastpiece of decision over his heart, when he enters the sanctuary, for remembrance before ה׳ at all times. (30) Inside the breastpiece of decision you shall place the Urim and Thummim, so that they are over Aaron’s heart when he comes before ה׳. Thus Aaron shall carry the instrument of decision for the Israelites over his heart before ה׳ at all times.

ואפוד AND AN EPHOD — I have heard no tradition nor have I found in the Boraitha any description of its shape, but my own mind tells me that it was tied on behind him; its breadth was the same as the breadth of a man’s back like a kind of apron which is called pourceint in old French which ladies of rank tie on when they ride on horse-back. ....

R. Yosef Bechor Schor (12th cent.) proposes a rationalistic and practical explanation for the function of the Urim VeTumim. He says that behind the name of each tribe on the Choshen was placed a piece of paper on which it was written the exact boundaries of the territories allotted to this specific tribe. In the future, whenever a conflict would arise between the tribes over the precise boundaries, the high priest would easily solve the disputation by looking up the original boundaries recorded in the Urim VeTumim.

See: thetorah.com The Urim VeTumim Yoel S https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-urim-vetumim

Rabbi Neḥemya said: The Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: ‘Go and appoint a High Priest for Me.’ [Moses] said before Him: ‘Master of the universe, from which tribe?’ He said to him: ‘From the tribe of Levi.’ [Moses asked:] ‘With what will I anoint him?’ He said to him: ‘With the anointing oil.’

At that moment, Moses was joyful; he said: ‘My tribe is so beloved before the Holy One blessed be He.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘By your life, it is not your tribe, but it is your brother; that is what is written: “And you, bring [Aaron your brother] near to you” (Exodus 28:1). His anointing with the anointing oil, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “You shall take the anointing oil […and anoint him]” (Exodus 29:7). However, his service is not service and he has liability unless the names of the tribes are engraved on his two shoulders, as it is written: “Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders as a remembrance” (Exodus 28:12). “Six of their names [on one stone and the names of the six that remain on the other stone]” (Exodus 28:10). Rav Beivai said: Had they been missing one letter they would not have served their purpose. Rabbi Oshaya taught: Even one dot.

Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai taught: There are three crowns; the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, and the crown of kingship. The crown of priesthood, Aaron merited it and took it. The crown of kingship, David merited it and took it. The crown of Torah is available for [all] generations. Anyone who acquires Torah it is as though he acquired [all] three of them. Anyone who did not acquire Torah, it is as though he did not acquire any of them.

Rabbi Bon said in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani: We found that the Holy One blessed be He went a distance that takes five hundred years to traverse to make a name for Himself, as it is written: “[Who is like Your people, like Israel…] whom God went to redeem to Himself for a people and to make a name for Himself […nations and their gods]” (II Samuel 7:23). Rabbi Yosei HaGelili said: A nation and its gods. Rabbi Akiva said to him: You have rendered the sacred profane. The Israelites said before the Holy One blessed be He: ‘You redeemed Yourself, as it were, as it is stated: “Whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, nations and their God”’ (II Samuel 7:23). It is written: “Whom God went [halakh] [to redeem] for Himself [a people]” (I Chronicles 17:21), and later it says: “Whom God went [halekhu] [to redeem for Himself for a people]” (II Samuel 7:23). Halakh, this is the Holy One blessed be He; halekhu, this is Moses and Aaron.

Serve as stones of remembrance for the children of Israel, a memorial and symbol that the priest ministers in the name of the tribes of Israel. This shall be the ‘dominion’ upon his shoulder (compare Isa. ix 5) ; and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for remembrance.

And the stones shall be according to [y ’al, literally, ‘on’] the names of the children of Israel: twelve stones according to the number of their names — that is, of the tribes — and on each of them shall be inscribed the name of a tribe; like the engravings of a signet (v. 11), every one according to his name, that is, every tribe would appear according to its name. So shall the twelve stones be correlated to the twelve tribes.

The symbolism of the engraving of the names on the stones of the pouch has the same significance as the engraving of the names on the söham stones of the shoulder-pieces of the ephod (vv. 9 f. ; compare v. 29, below); the duplication, however, should occasion no surprise, for in such matters repetition is not eschewed. To this day, it is customary in synagogues to depict the tribes in a number of illustrations: on windows, lamps, the doors of the holy ark, and the like. Moreover, the second set of engravings is not redundant: the names inscribed on the soham stones face upward, and are only before the Lord (y. 12), and it is not easy for a person standing in front of the priest to read them. To be read easily, the names must be engraved on an upright plane confronting the eyes, like those on the priest’s breast; these are not only ‘before the Lord’ (v. 29) but also before men.