YAVNEH STUDIES IN TETZAVEH Israel Miller

The parasha Tetzaveh concerns itself with the kohanim, the priests who were to minister in the Sanctuary which was described in detail in the preceeding Torah portion. In the Jewish tradition, priesthood was not a matter of social status but rather of function. The kohen was the teacher, he was to care for the lights kindled in the menorah, for light was a symbol of learning and enlightenment, and his supreme function was to teach the people “the difference between holy and profane, and to make known to them the difference between what is clean and unclean” (Ezekiel 94:23). The last of the prophets put it well when he said, “The priest’s lips are ever to keep knowledge, and the Torah are they to seek from his mouth” (Malachi 2:7).

When the Torah describes the Children of Israel as a “Kingdom of Priests,” it follows that the function of the nation as a whole was to minister in God’s Sanctuary (the World) as teachers of the Torah. Israel is also called “a holy nation,” and holiness makes both ritual and ethical demands upon man. It is these norms of behavior and belief which are the content of Israel’s teachings. A Torah life is thus the testimony of our people to the “priestly” nature of our being.

The kohen and his function have been much misunderstood. Critics and essayists have differentiated between the Priest and Prophet, with the latter usually emerging on a higher plane. Modernists particularly have contended that the prophets were the exponents of a higher religious expression and were contemptuous of ceremonial and ritual. Priests, on the other hand, were concerned with the externalities of form rather than with moral values, “religious formalism” or “empty and barren ceremonials” which lowered religion to a baser expression. Since, as was cited, we are a “Kingdom of Priests,” the indictment is an unusually harsh one, for we are all included in the accusation.

A surface reading of our parasha and rabbinic sources might seem to bear out this indictment. Our Torah portion places much emphasis upon the begdei kehunah(the vestments of the priests). The minutely described priestly garments were not merely a symbol of office or an aesthetic adornment, they were an essential requirement for the performance of the duties of the kohanim. Most authorities (Rambam, Smag, Chinuch) agree that the donning of the garments for the avodah is a positive commandment counted among the 613 mitzvoth. All are as one in accepting the Talmudic dictum that unless fully clothed with the priestly garments the kohen did not have the character of a priest and was considered a zar (non-priest).

An astute student of the Torah, however, would immediately understand the moral and spiritual strivings symbolized in these outer manifestations. He would have discerned in the basic verse “and you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for splendor and for beauty” (28.2) the key words bigdei kodesh (holy garments). The Torah is not speaking of beautiful external adornment, but of the beauty of holiness. Clothing is a symbol of man’s higher nature; it distinguishes man from the lower animals and gives him special dignity and purpose. The Psalmist speaks of God as having “clothed Himself with majest, He has clothed Himself with strength.” (93.1) The Prophet Isaiah speaks similarly, “For He clothes Himself with righteousness as armour, and the helmet of salvation is upon His head, and He puts on the garments of retribution as clothing, and wrapped Himself in zeal as in a cloak” (59.1 7). And thus he speaks of men, “For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation and has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” (61.10)

There is no conflict between Priest and Prophet. Holiness, splendor, beauty and function become one when they are combined for higher purposes. The kohen dons his vestments as did the High Priest Aaron “to sanctify him, that he may minister unto Me in the priests office.” The priest in his divine ministrations and the prophet as the servant of God cherished common ideals and enunciated in deed and word common principles. The genuine priest did not exalt external observances at the expense of moral values, nor did the true prophet exalt the ethical at the expense of the ritual. The separation of external observances from inner piety and moral integrity was not countenanced by either. Nor would either accept a life without devotional practices, ceremonial laws, or public worship.

The kohanim as teachers and the prophets as preachers were one in their pedagogic function. The people of Israel should emulate them in accordance with their function as a “kingdom of priests of a holy nation,” combining the ethical and the ritual.

Rabbi Israel Miller, president of the American Zionist Council and past president of the Rabbinical Council of America, is Hillel Counsellor at Hunter College in New York.

YAVNEH STUDIES IN PARASHAT HASHAVUA, edited by Joel B. Wolowelsky, was a 1969-72 project of YAVNEH: THE RELIGIOUS JEWISH STUDENTS ASSOCIATION. The bios here are as they were at the time of the original publication.
For a history of YAVNEH, see Benny Kraut, The GreenYAVNEH STUDIES IN TETZAVEH
Israel Miller
The parasha Tetzaveh concerns itself with the kohanim, the priests who were to minister in the Sanctuary which was described in detail in the preceeding Torah portion. In the Jewish tradition, priesthood was not a matter of social status but rather of function. The kohen was the teacher, he was to care for the lights kindled in the menorah, for light was a symbol of learning and enlightenment, and his supreme function was to teach the people “the difference between holy and profane, and to make known to them the difference between what is clean and unclean” (Ezekiel 94:23). The last of the prophets put it well when he said, “The priest’s lips are ever to keep knowledge, and the Torah are they to seek from his mouth” (Malachi 2:7).

When the Torah describes the Children of Israel as a “Kingdom of Priests,” it follows that the function of the nation as a whole was to minister in God’s Sanctuary (the World) as teachers of the Torah. Israel is also called “a holy nation,” and holiness makes both ritual and ethical demands upon man. It is these norms of behavior and belief which are the content of Israel’s teachings. A Torah life is thus the testimony of our people to the “priestly” nature of our being.

The kohen and his function have been much misunderstood. Critics and essayists have differentiated between the Priest and Prophet, with the latter usually emerging on a higher plane. Modernists particularly have contended that the prophets were the exponents of a higher religious expression and were contemptuous of ceremonial and ritual. Priests, on the other hand, were concerned with the externalities of form rather than with moral values, “religious formalism” or “empty and barren ceremonials” which lowered religion to a baser expression. Since, as was cited, we are a “Kingdom of Priests,” the indictment is an unusually harsh one, for we are all included in the accusation.

A surface reading of our parasha and rabbinic sources might seem to bear out this indictment. Our Torah portion places much emphasis upon the begdei kehunah(the vestments of the priests). The minutely described priestly garments were not merely a symbol of office or an aesthetic adornment, they were an essential requirement for the performance of the duties of the kohanim. Most authorities (Rambam, Smag, Chinuch) agree that the donning of the garments for the avodah is a positive commandment counted among the 613 mitzvoth. All are as one in accepting the Talmudic dictum that unless fully clothed with the priestly garments the kohen did not have the character of a priest and was considered a zar (non-priest).

An astute student of the Torah, however, would immediately understand the moral and spiritual strivings symbolized in these outer manifestations. He would have discerned in the basic verse “and you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for splendor and for beauty” (28.2) the key words bigdei kodesh (holy garments). The Torah is not speaking of beautiful external adornment, but of the beauty of holiness. Clothing is a symbol of man’s higher nature; it distinguishes man from the lower animals and gives him special dignity and purpose. The Psalmist speaks of God as having “clothed Himself with majest, He has clothed Himself with strength.” (93.1) The Prophet Isaiah speaks similarly, “For He clothes Himself with righteousness as armour, and the helmet of salvation is upon His head, and He puts on the garments of retribution as clothing, and wrapped Himself in zeal as in a cloak” (59.1 7). And thus he speaks of men, “For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation and has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” (61.10)

There is no conflict between Priest and Prophet. Holiness, splendor, beauty and function become one when they are combined for higher purposes. The kohen dons his vestments as did the High Priest Aaron “to sanctify him, that he may minister unto Me in the priests office.” The priest in his divine ministrations and the prophet as the servant of God cherished common ideals and enunciated in deed and word common principles. The genuine priest did not exalt external observances at the expense of moral values, nor did the true prophet exalt the ethical at the expense of the ritual. The separation of external observances from inner piety and moral integrity was not countenanced by either. Nor would either accept a life without devotional practices, ceremonial laws, or public worship.

The kohanim as teachers and the prophets as preachers were one in their pedagogic function. The people of Israel should emulate them in accordance with their function as a “kingdom of priests of a holy nation,” combining the ethical and the ritual.