Hear Our Voice

Exodus 28:2 from Parashat Tetzaveh

וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ בִגְדֵי־קֹ֖דֶשׁ לְאַהֲרֹ֣ן אָחִ֑יךָ לְכָב֖וֹד וּלְתִפְאָֽרֶת׃ 

Make sacral vestments for your brother Aaron, for dignity and adornment.

In this week’s parshah (Torah portion), Tetzaveh, the book of Exodus goes into depth about the clothing to be worn by Aaron and the High Priests as they approach their work in the mishkan, the Tabernacle.  Commanded from the outset, Moses is told to create sacred clothing that will bestow dignity and inspire pride.  That’s my reading of the verse above because these instructions focus entirely on how one is to prepare for an audience with the Holy One of Blessing.  These are not clothing to be worn “on the streets,” they are special.  They are unique.  They are for the purpose of lifting our eyes and deepening our hearts BECAUSE we are expecting to be in the presence of the Divine.  

Now I know this is taking quite a few liberties with the application of these words.  After all, one could argue, this is a truly anachronistic text from pre-modern people who were easily overwhelmed by natural phenomenon that for them, stood witness for or against them, personally.  That God or the gods author events and direct them to us based upon our behavior and what we deserve.  But I think otherwise.  I am continually impressed with the spiritual sensitivity of our ancestors for the potential of experiencing God in one’s everyday life.  The mishkan, the Tabernacle, was a real entity, whose resonance extends far beyond its physical integrity.  And the instructions passed down to us, literally for millennia, do indeed still speak and inspire, if we allow them to infuse our imagination.  

What if we awoke each morning, and asked, “where will I build the mishkans of my day?  What will I do in anticipation of a cooperative planning meeting or a gathering of disagreeable parties such that I can bring both dignity and adornment to the proceedings?  What does this look like at home as well as at work?  In my volunteer efforts and in my familial connections?  The Torah calls upon us to be a “Kingdom of Priests and a Holy People.” Navigating the world in this way creates tremendous potential for goodness; it also creates tremendous potential for making oneself a target.  In dignity and adornment, we are to carry ourselves in the world, for better and sometimes, for significant challenge.