BS”D
Tetsave – All dressed up to Kiruv.
Dr M Bank
A Guten
Erev Shabbos everyone. Ok – Parshas Tetsave which means,
כ וְאַתָּה
תְּצַוֶּה
אֶת-בְּנֵי
יִשְׂרָאֵל,
וְיִקְחוּ
אֵלֶיךָ
שֶׁמֶן זַיִת
זָךְ כָּתִית--לַמָּאוֹר:
לְהַעֲלֹת
נֵר, תָּמִיד.
20 And you shall command the children of
That is the start of the parsha and it is amazing that it starts
with the kindling of the Menora with the purest of
the pure, the Shemen Zayis
Zach. We will explore the Sages’ comments on this. This weeks parsha is all
about the Bigdei Kehuna –
the clothes of the Cohanim and a continuation of the Mishcan. There is an expression, you are what you wear, the
clothes makest a man. Is that in fact the case? Or is
there something else going on here? Does the radiance come from the inside or
is it the fancy suit on the outside that establishes what is going on on the inside. In essence, the radiance of the Menora could also be compared to man. So, having concluded
the commandments regarding the actual construction of the Mishcan
the Torah now focuses on those who will perform the service in the Mishcan. We learn about the oil in the Menora.
It must be the purest of the pure without the slightest bit of substance, even
the slightest bit of olive sediment. This requires absolute purity. It is a
fitting prelude to the selection of Aaron and his sons, the Cohanim,
thee priests and High Priest in the service of H’shem,
for they must remain pure throughout their lives and separate from the rest of
this nation of Cohanim “Am Mamleches
Cohanim”. They are not even permitted to allow
unauthorized people to participate in a service that they are authorized to do,
according to Ibn Ezra. Until this point, Moshe
conveyed the instructions for those who would do the work, although he had not
involvement in the actual avoda. In this particular
parsha, Moshe was “now you”, implying that he was to invove
himself personally in 3 inyanim; the preparation of
the oil, the designation of the Cohanim and the
selection of the wise and most talented people who would make the clothing and
build the Mishcan, according to the Ramban and Sforno. The importance of these 3 commandments is that the
oil represents the light of Tortah, Wisdom and
Holiness that illuminates klal Yisrael. The Cohanim are living embellishments of our Avodas Kadosh to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The construction of the Mishcan
in which the Cohanim served, demonstrated H’s
capacity to elevate man’s capacity – his avoda, to
the level of Angels in the Mishcan.
In the wilderness oil for the Menora
could not be produced in the way prescribed by the Torah, because obviously
there were no olive trees. Consequently, they had to use oil prepared before.
This oil had to be brought to Moshe Rabbeinu for his
inspection, to certify that it was absolutely pure.
כ וְאַתָּה
תְּצַוֶּה
אֶת-בְּנֵי
יִשְׂרָאֵל,
וְיִקְחוּ
אֵלֶיךָ
שֶׁמֶן זַיִת
זָךְ כָּתִית--לַמָּאוֹר:
לְהַעֲלֹת
נֵר, תָּמִיד.
20 And you
shall command the children of
The future tense of the sentence, yikhu elecha, they shall take for you in the future tense,
implies that the oil would have to be brought continuously because the
obligation to light the Menora was ongoing and not
just during the inauguration ceremony of the Mishcan.
Now we get into something incredible. The שֶׁמֶן
זַיִת זָךְ
כָּתִית--לַמָּאוֹר this is the most pure oil, pressed. This
was a unique process that was only for the Menora.
For everything else there were other ways of dealing with it. Only oil for the
lighting had to be pressed rather than crushed. It had to be pressed gently
because this oil had to be absolutely pure without one drop or microscopic
particle or sediment. Even though such impurities could be filtered out later
through mini-pore filters and many scientific processes, the torah says explicitly that it had to be
absolutely pure from the start. The oil was made by pressing each olive gently,
until the first drop of pure olive oil emerged. That olive could then not be
used for the Menora again. Each olive produced one
drop. Can you imagine the thousands upon thousands that must have been used for
each days service in the Mishcan to keep the Menora alight. From evening until morning. The olives could
later be crushed and the remaining oil used for the meal offering. For the Menora, everything about it was miraculous. In a previous
Rashi we learnt that when Yaakov went ever (over) the Yabok
for pachim ketanim – the meforshim say that those pachim ketanim – one of them was the pach
shemen that Matisyahu found
in the miracle of Chanuka in the Beis HaMikdash. So it wasn’t a small thing that Yaakov was going
ever the Yabok to retrieve what had been left behind
in Galus so to speak. He was going there to pick up
the miraculous olive oil that continued to burn for 8 days. We see that in the Mishcan there was a supply of pure olive oil and
miraculously, when one looks into the ohr, the light
of the Mishcan – how many windows were in the Mishcan? It was made of leather and wool, overlaid on the
wooden foundation beams and cross beams. How many windows would you imagine
there were in the Beis Hamikdash?
Absolutely none. IN the Beis Hamikdash
there were certain windows whohad their light shining
from them. Inside out representing Torah being radiated to the world. The Mishcan had no mirrors. So where did the light come from in
the Mishcan? The obvious answer is the Menora but the Menora was in the
Kadesh, not the Kodsh Kedoshim.
When the Cohen Gadol went once a year on Yom Kippur
to the Kodesh Kedoshim,
where did the light come from? Where was light in the Kodesh
Kedoshim? As we see at the beginning of creation, he
was made of Or and the light shone from his face. When Moshe came down from
Sinai, after 40 days and 40 nights receiving the torah and shnei
luchos habris, the 2
tablets of the covenant, the 10 commandments, so it describes very clearly that
there were keren our, rays of light emitted
powerfully from his face to the point that wherever he was not involved in avodas H’shem he had to put a
sheet over his hand so that the light would not blind him or other people. You
can imagine how dazzling that light must have been. The light of the sun is not
a small matter. People who look directly at it could damage their eyes, maybe
forever. When we contemplate this and the avodas H’shem in the Kodesh Kodashim, it seems as though the light came from the Cohen Gadol. Not only that, but also, later on in the parsha, we
explore the Urim veTumim.
When the nevua was given over by Hakadosh
Boruch Hu, these stones of
the Urim VeTumim would
light up, giving an absolute answer from H’shem. The
Cohen Gadol would get an answer from H’shem to any question Am Yisrael had on the national
level, throughout the generations. So we see this parsha in a different light,
so to speak. It seems that it is not the begged that makes the man but the man
that radiates the begged. So, an incredible question was asked, should a person
say the brocho of Malkius,
of seeing a King of flesh and blood when Bush came to
The Cohanim and their Begadim
The four sons are specified by name, because only they and Aron were anointed as Cohanim.
This is a very amazing concept. The question is asked, who is Moshiach? We first have to analyse
what the word Moshiach means. Many people have no
idea what the word Moshiach is. They think maybe it
is somebody who can do mystical magical tricks. Maybe it is somebody who can
cast his bread upon the water, feed the world, walk on water, whatever the
miraculous nature is. These are not the requirements of the Moshiach.
What are the requirements of Moshiach? One simple
word – anointment. Anointment is not by appointment. It is not voted or by
popular opinion. There is one thing that makes true anointing – Meshicha, that is Ratzon H’shem. How many Moshiachs are
there? Moshiach ben Yosef and Moshiach Ben David.
What is the difference between these two? Moshiach ben Yosef is Moshiach
in Galus. At the end of days, Moshiach
Ben Yosef’s reign, guidance and leadership over Am
Yisrael wil come to an end. At that stage the Malchius will go to Moshiach ben David from the tribe
of Yehuda, not from the Tribe of Yosef. These are
some of the secrets as to how Am Yisrael has navigated through Galus, through the generations, and both these things are
understood through Tenach. There is a third Moshiach too, lurking modestly in the Torah. We see in this
weeks’s parsha that the Cohen Gadol is mashuach- anointed. So this is the essence of H’shem’s choice for us, the choice of anointment by birth,
by avodas H’shem and even
the bigdei Kehuna are
anointed. There is tremendous kedusha in the begadim and this was imparted to the Cohanim
that wore them. They had no time out. For them it was 100% pure avodas H’shem. The clothing serves
the man that serves H’shem. [15.49]. So four sons are
specified by name because only they and Aron were to
be anointed as Cohanim. Any son born to them later
would be a Cohen automatically, but not Aron’s already
living grandsons, such as Pinchas, would remain Leviim. Later on H’shem appointed
Pinchas in his own right to be cohen
through his own avodas H’shem.
ב וְעָשִׂיתָ
בִגְדֵי-קֹדֶשׁ,
לְאַהֲרֹן אָחִיךָ,
לְכָבוֹד,
וּלְתִפְאָרֶת.
2 And thou shall make holy garments for
Aaron your brother, for glory (kavod) and splendor (tiferes).
What do you make of this duality – for kavod
and tiferes, glory and splendid. Why both? The Ramban
brings forward an amazing idea, the vestments were to honour the cohanim because the garments were similar to those of
royalty. If you saw a King and approached him on his throne, and he had
magnificent royal clothing, could you imagine him bare foot? What would the
King tell you? All the magnificent clothing of the cohen
– but did he have shoes? The Cohanim and cohen gadol did not have shoes.
They walked bare foot in the Mishcan and in the Beit HaMikdash. This was a
tremendous statement. How would you feel at a royal banquet where you had
magnificent food and drank very well, but sat with no shoes and socks. It is a
tremendous humility and it is exactly what it is meant to be derived from.
According to the Sforno the garments were for the
glory, not of the Cohen Gadol, but the glory of H’shem. That light that radiates from the Mishcan was not the light for man but the light to inspire
man for the glory of H’shem. It was also to lend
glory to the avoda of the Cohen Gadol
as teacher of the nation so that he would be revered by the tribes whose names
he wore on the Hoshen Mishpat.
Glory accrues to a person because of H’shem’s
blessing of that person’s talents. It is something inherent in the person.
Splendor refers to what is earned through his own accomplishments. The clothing
symbolize both. The glory due to the cohanim is the
result of their having been chosen by H’shem to serve
in the Mishcan and the spiritual splendor that would
result from the perfect avoda would be a light unto
For the
It was not a simple matter. In addition many commentators speak at
length of the spiritual symbolism of the vestments of the Cohen Gadol, the High Priest and the regular cohanim.
They could only serve wearing the garments radiating the sacred nature of what
they were doing, suggesting also that jews who pray
and involve themselves in mitzvos, our avodas H’shem, each one the way H’shem made him, should take tremendous care to dress with
dignity, conduct himself with respect for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the creator of the
universe before whom we stand. The special concept of buying clothing for Shabbos and Yom Tov, and the
responsibility is that a person who has lichluch,
disgusting stains on his clothing, is worthy of death. So we see the
responsibility of the way we represent our avodas H’shem in this world.
The Cohen Gadol usually wore eight
garments called the Shmona Begadim
or Bigdei Zahav, the golden
clothes of the Cohen Gadol worn during very specific
parts of the Yom Kippur service. The Cohen Gadol wore
4 vestments made of white linen called bigdei lavan. The ordinary cohanim, the cohen hedyot wore the same 4
vestments all the time during the service. There was a sash that the ordinary
Cohen also wore, made of wool. The garments of all the Cohanim
were perfect for the job, exactly according to the description. They were made
by the nation and had been contributed by the people for the avodas hamishkan (Avoda Zara 75). This demonstrated
that the Cohanim were not private individuals engaged
in individual endeavor of personal greatness to raise themselves. Their own
personalities were completely cancelled and they were representatives of the
nation of
The Menora reflected the face of the
Cohen Gadol in the Kodesh Kedoshim radiating the light of Torah. How many senses does
a man have? 5 senses. If we contemplate which part of the human body can
experience all the five senses? Which part of the human body embellishes the
five senses of man? The head, comprising sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. From where do these 5 senses come? Lets
explore for a moment the orifices made to the brain – the kodesh
kedoshim, so to speak. How many orifices are there
for the 5 senses? 7. How many containers are there for the menorah – 7. This is
the remez that each human has on his face the light
of Torah. We can radiate like the light of the Menora,
the light of Tora to the world. “In all your ways,
serve me”, H’shem commands us. In doing this we
elevate ratzon atem to ratzon h’shem, our own desires to
H’shem’s desires. When we graduate o do that, H’shem’s desire aligns with us.
We explore the secrets now of the bigdei
kehuna. We look into it, the concept of all dressed
up to kill, because in essence the Cohen Gadol is all
dressed up for Kiruv. The Gemora
in Erchin says, just as the korbanos
atone so too does the bigdei kehuna.
This is why the torah juxtaposes the parsha of the bigdei
Kehuna with the korbanos.
The Choshen, the stones of testament atone for the
perversions of justice which is why it is called the Choshen
Mishpat, the Tikun for Mishpat. The Ephod is a tikun for
idolatry, as the pasuk says in Hoshea,
“there is no ephod or terafim (forbidden images). The
meil atones for loshon hora, hinted at in the posuk “his
voice will be heard when he enters the kodesh” – it
is something that makes a noise, which comes to atone for something that made a
noise – the tongue that made a noise with its wagging and loshon
hora. The tikkun for this
is the bells and rimonim of the bigdei
kohen gadol. Specifically loshon hora spoken in public. The
ketores, incense, atones for discreet loshon hora not spoken in public.
The kutones is a kapara for
murder. So the posuk says in Vayeshev
“ and they dipped the shirt in blood”. The mitznefes
atones for arrogance, as it is located on top of the head of the Cohen Gadol and it says Kodesh LaShem. There is no time during the avod
of the Cohen Gadol that this crown that the Cohen Gadol wears is his own crown. It is the crown testifying
that he is the exclusive property of HaKadosh Boruch Hu, pleading for the life
of the nation. The Avnet is a tikun for bad thoughts. As the Sages point out, the Avnet
measured 32 amos, the gematria
of lev, heart. The ultimate good is a Lev Tov. The Tzitz atones for
chutzpa, arrogance. The Torah writes, “it shall be on the forehead of Aron”, while the posukl in Yirmiya states “you had the forehead of a prostitute”. It
says that children bron of a mother in Nida have the invisible signs of arrogance, chutzpa. It
says that at the end of days that will be a generation of chutzpa, where people
will not honour their elders, authority will be ignored and the arrogance of
the authority will lead them to ignore even H’shem,
in their desecration of their privileged position. The breaches atoned for
adultery and the legs that run to do evil, according to Rabbeinu
Behaya. So it is an incredible insight. Each aspect
of the bigdei kehuna
represent another aspect of the tikun and kiruv of Am Yisrael in the world.
I would like to explore now the concept of the Urim
and Tumim which is an incredible exploration into
outer space and inner space. The breast place was folded in half to form a
pouch into which Moshe slid a piece of paper containing the name of H’shem that is forbidden to be spoken except for by the Kohel Gadol on Yom Kippur.
According to the Ramban, the name was called Urim
after the name Or, which means light. It was special light that came to the
world through the name which caused the indidvudal
letters on the choshen mishpat
of each tribe’s names, on the breast plate, to be lit up and it was called Tumim, from the word, Temima, or
completeness. Read in the correct way, these letters represented true and
complete answers to matters of national importance (Rashi
to Yoma 73b). The Rmaban
gives the example how this happened. When the people crossed the Yarden to enter the land, the question arose, which tribe
should begin the war against the Midianites. Pinchas, the Cohen Gadol, entered
the Mishcan and asked the question. The name Yehuda
lit up and also, the letters yud, ayin,
lamed and heh. The Cohen had to know what this
combination of letters had to mean. It could be read in a number of ways
forming different words. A Nevuah gave him the wisdom
to read the letters which were impossible to read otherwise. When it was put together it was understood
that Yehuda should go first to wage war, according to Shotim
1,1 – 1,2. The Vilna Gaon gives a classic example of
how the message of the Urim VeTuim
could be misunderstood. If the Cohen did not have pure siyata
dishmaya he vould not read
the message. Hanah, the mother of Shmuel,
was davening a heartfelt tefillah.
Eli, the Cohen Gadol thought that she was drunk. He
sat the letters ש כ ר ה. Hanna corrected him, pointing out that
the letters read כשרה - keshera or ke Sarah. The Ramban
says that only Moshe had the spiritual level to know what had to be done, This
is why the Urim veTumim is
not mentioned in the vestments that were made by an artist or group of people.
Now we hyave an idea of the holiness of the Urim VeTumim and the Choshen Mishpat. Not only did the
person wearing them have responsibility, but so too did the person seeing them.
The message could only be understood through a form of nevuah.
During the last years of Bayis Rishon, King Josia realised that Eretz Yisrael was a bout to be conquered.
There was great fear about the holliest places and
objects falling into the hands of
The Source of the Brochos
In posuk 29,1
א וְזֶה
הַדָּבָר
אֲשֶׁר-תַּעֲשֶׂה
לָהֶם, לְקַדֵּשׁ
אֹתָם--לְכַהֵן
לִי: לְקַח
פַּר אֶחָד
בֶּן-בָּקָר,
וְאֵילִם
שְׁנַיִם--תְּמִימִם.
1 And this
is the thing that you shall do to them to make them holy, to minister to Me in
the priest's office: take one young bull and two rams without blemish,
The Daas Zekeinim
cites the following Medrash Tanchuma
– why 3 animals? This is way beyond our comprehension, in the domain of
infinite wisdom. This corresponds to the 3 Avos, the
three forefathers. The bull corresponds to Avaraham,
about whom it is written, “and to the herd Avraham ran”. The two rams correspond
to Yitzhak and Yaakov. The Matza loaves correspond to
Sarah, whom Avraham Avinu instructed to collect 3 seah
of meal – fine flour and 3 kinds of offering, the matza
loaves, the challa matza
and the wafer matza representing the 3 seah that he told her to take. Later in posuk
23, the Torah uses the word halas Lechem,
implying that it is through the korban that our bread
is blessed. So we see the remez here, measure for
measure. In our avodas H’shem
showers us in infinitely greater
proportions. Abbar Bar Sabba
said that when they brought the korbanos, a person
would take 1 seah of wheat to be ground, and when he
got home he would find that he had 1 seah of fine
flour, 1 seah of medium flour and 1 seah of oatmeal. Nowadays, when we do not have the Beis Hamikdash, all that ends up
at the end of seah is 1 seah,
and just a remez of something extra. In the merit of
the Nesachim – the drink offerings, the wine is
blessed. The Midrash tells the story of a student in
Yerushalayim, the residents of another town through which he was passin, reconginising his
talents, they offered him 3 gold seahs if he would
remain there and serve the community as their rabbi. In reply he told them
about his precious vine which produced 600 barrels of wine every year. Just
contemplate that in terms of the avodas H’shem and the blessings that provided him with an income
that far exceeded whatever they could ever have offered him. The Medrash continues, in the merit of the bikkurim,
the first fruit of the land, all the fruit of the land is blessed. The supports
Rav Elazar who was once sitting under a fig tree. He
saw dew fall on the tree, and honey cme out of it
which was dripping onto the ground. The wind mixed the honey with earth. He saw
a goat that arrived and the milk dripped onto the earth ad mingled with the
honey. He immediately called his talmidim and showed
them a touch of olam haba –
Eretz zavat halav udvash. The land of milk and honey. All of these ceased.
Everything ceased as the posuk says in Hagai, you eat but are not satiated, drink but do not
become inebriated, dress but do not feel war, you sow a lot and reap a little.
When the Menachos cease, you will eat and certainly
not be satisfied, when the lechem hapanim
cease. You will drink and not become inebriated – when the nesachim
ceased. ‘Did not become warm’ – when the bigdei kehuna stops. As the
navi writes “there are no figs on the fig tree’, Yirmiyahu
said. ‘the sheep are cut off from the fold. There are no foals in the stable’ (Habakuk). There are no figs on the fig tree – when the bikurim cease. The sheep are cut off from the fold, when
the korban tamid ceases.
There are no bulls in the stable when the bulls of Sukkos
are not offered. When Moshiach comes h’shem will resote everything to
its former glory. As Yechezkel hanAvi
writes, ‘and you mountains of
Exploring this, in conclusion, the Haftora
brings forward an amazing idea, that the Bnei Yisrael
are actually the Beis Hamikdash
(adapted from Mayanei HaTorah).
Inform Bnei Yisrael of the house – the Bayis Hadash. Let them be ashamed
of their sins, according to Yechezkel (43, 10). This
is commenting on the use of the word ‘es’ in ‘Haged es Beis
Yisrael es habayis’. He should rather have said ‘el’ Beis Yisrael. This implies that Beis
Yisrael are themselves the Beis Hamikdash. It is in them that the schechina
rests. The posuk says, Shachanti
besocham – make for me a dwelling and I will dwell in
the midst of Bnei Yisrael – in the heart of each of Bnei Yisrael. They will reach a level where they are worthy
of my blessing in their midst. Then there is no doubt that they will be ashamed
of their previous sins to the extent that the schechina
will truly once again be able to return to their hearts.
Am Yisrael and the building of the Third Beis
Hamikdash.
‘They shall guard the
knowledge of all the statutes and they shall make it” (43, 11). So great will
am Yisrael’s faith in the Meshiach
be, that they will prepare by acquiring for themselves all the laws and
statutes of the Beis HaMikdash.
Then, says Tosfos Yom Tov,
they will certainly merit in building the Beis HaMikdash. They will
just do it. If they become ashamed of all that they did, them and their
forefathers, they will make known the form that H’shem
revealed to them, the form of the Beis HaMikdash and its design. Write it down before their eyes.
They shall safeguard its form and fuflfil them. This
shall be the Bayis Hadash.
The prophecy of Yechezkel with regards to the design oif the Beis Hamikdash
that will coincide with the coming of Moshiach, Rashi explains, could have been fulfilled when Bnei Yisrael returned from Bavel.
They merited it by doing Teshuva. On the sis thatthey
performed in Bavel. The reality is that when Achashverosh
conquered the Beis Hamikdash,
they took all the vessels from the second temple. After the time predicted for
Am Yisrel to return, 70 years, Belshatzar
put on the bigdei kehuna
and invited Am Yisrael to have a big banquet with the keilim
of the Beis Hmikdash. Ths was repeated with Achashverosh.
Mordechai HaYehudi warned
them, do not go. Do not be a partner in that evil counsel for it shall surely
bring catastrophe upon the nation. Unfortunately, those that did not listen saw
the rise of Amalek and only by a miracle, the fall of
Amalek. However, not the complete destruction. Esther
hamalka requsted of the
King, which is a remez to requesting from Hakadosh Burch Hu ‘do tomorrow as
you did to them today”. They were hung on that day. Is this a joke – that they
should be hung again? Obviously an earthly King cannot guarantee what will be
in the future – tomorrow is a remez to the future. In
real terms it was a hint, what you did to the sons of Haman today, the sons of Amalek, that will be what you should do and what was in
fact done the year after the Holocaust. In 1946 10 of ‘Haman’s sons’ were
judged at the Nuremberg Trial. For the first time, instead of putting them
before a firing squad, the US Army hanged them. The last one to be hung, Streicher, cried out – you are giving the Jews their Purim
Fest.
That was on Shmini Atzeret,
the day of judgement for the children of
May we all experience the true light of the Geula,
the true light of Shabbos and may we soon experience Moshiach Tzidkeinu, beis Hamikdash, bimheira veyameinu ve haGeula Shleima.
Have a great Shabbos.