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