Tetzaveh

Parashat Tetzaveh: The Garments of the High Priest
by Rabbi Jill Hammer

Parashat Tetzaveh teaches us about the garments of the high priest who was to serve in the mishkan, the sanctuary: “These are the vestments they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a coat, a turban, and a sash.” (Exodus 28:4) There are also a headplate or tzitz, and pants, mentioned elsewhere. In this parashah, we learn of magnificent and mysterious garments, of fine materials, in rich colors. When the Jews went into exile, when the Temple was destroyed, what became of these wonderful garments?

A midrash, found in Esther Rabbah, claims that during their famous parties in Shushan, Ahasuerus and Vashti wore the garments of the high priest, garments that had been carried off during the attack on the Temple in Jerusalem. This midrash gives the royal parties of the Persian empire a sinister cast: to make a claim that the Read More >

Parashat Tetsaveh
Rabbi Isaac Mann

By Rabbi Dorit Edut

As a young girl, I was often warned when thinking about something not to wrinkle my forehead lest I end up with the multi-lined foreheads of my uncle and my grandfather, a positive physical feature for them as serious, male, patent attorneys. When I first heard that emotions and experiences could be etched into our faces as in the expression “It was written all over his forehead,” I began to periodically examine my forehead and look at others this way as well. Then this week I came upon the probable origins of all this forehead attention as I read in our Torah portion, Exodus 28:36-38:

“You shall make a frontlet of pure gold and engrave on it the seal inscription: ‘Holy to the Lord’ … It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may take away any sin arising from the holy things that Read More >

By Jill Hackell

Several years ago, at the annual Purim Ball, I won a set of tallit clips in a raffle. These were beautifully hand-crafted in silver by a jeweler in our congregation in the shape of our synagogue’s ark. And in the center, just above the doors of the ark, a little red gemstone sparkled – representing the ner tamid. This week’s parashah, which we will read on Shabbat Zakhor, the Shabbat just before Purim, continues the description of the meticulous craftsmanship that went into the building of the Mishkan and the vestments of the Kohen gadol. And it opens with the commandment to raise a ner tamid – the source for the eternal lamps that burn before the ark in our synagogues today.

In the days of the Mishkan, this lamp Read More >

Parashat Tetzaveh
By Rabbi Aryeh Meir

This week Qassam rockets fell on the Israeli town of Sderot, severely injuring two brothers. The rockets, fired by Palestinian militants from just across the border in Gaza, have been raining down upon Sderot and environs for months and years, terrorizing the populace and perplexing Israel’s leaders.

And this week, some of the people of Sderot and their supporters stopped traffic on the main road to Jerusalem and marched to the office of the Prime Minister to demonstrate their anger and frustration with the inability of the governments to end the rocket fire.

This coming Shabbat, in the synagogues of Sderot, as in every other synagogue in the world, Jews will be reading and discussing the Torah portion detailing the vestments of the Kohanim, the priests, in the ancient desert sanctuary.

What is the connection between Sderot and the vestments of the Kohanim? Among the garments of the Kohen Read More >

By Halina Rubinstein

This week’s Torah portion, Tetzaveh (Ex.27:20-30:10), is also Shabbat Zakhor, the Shabbat before Purim. We will read this portion as well as the verses that command us to remember the encounter of Israel in the wilderness with Amalek (Deut. 25:17-19), who sought to destroy them cruelly and gratuitously. Generations later, Saul’s failure to kill Agag the Amalekite king ‘ a failure that will ultimately cost him his reign– is the theme of the Haftarah reading (I Sam.15:2-34).

One of the distinct features of this Torah portion is the minute description of the priestly vestments, particularly those of the High Priest. Clothing has great significance in the Bible. The first act of hesed (kindness) was performed by God when He made garments to cover Adam and Eve after they ate the forbidden fruit that made them aware and ashamed of their nakedness. Ever since, one of the things that distinguishes us Read More >

Urim and Tummim
By Charles Lightner

Parashat Tetzaveh opens with the requirement of the ner tamid (continuously illuminating lamp), and it closes with the commandment of the ketoret tamid

(continuously burning incense). Between those two commandments the text
contains eight additional references to things that are to be done
‘continuously’ or ‘eternally.’ While it could be argued that one or two
of these commandments are symbolically observed in our day, clearly
none is observed as originally prescribed. Yet the text is filled with
references to unending practices! Perhaps these matters can be always a
part Jewish life in some way that lacks the concrete reality of the
original.

The most opaque of the matters dealt within the portion is that of the object/s called the Urim and Tummim
(Ex. 28:30). There is no universally accepted explanation of the
physical reality, the oracular function, or the mechanics of this
element of the priestly garb.

It is clear that the function was oracular. It is clear that Read More >