Parashat: Tetzaveh

Parashat: Tetzaveh
Exodus 27:20–30:10

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

—Exodus 28:2

This week’s Torah portion is full of details about the Priestly dress that Aaron and his sons are to wear. At first glance, it might seem odd that so much attention is paid to the physical garments the priests are meant to wear — after all, shouldn’t we be more concerned with their character and behavior than with their clothes? Nineteenth-century scholar Rabbi Leibush ben Yehiel Michel Weisser, known as the Malbim, reads this tension into the parsha, writing about this verse: “Behold, the garments that God commanded to make were ostensibly outer garments, such that their makeup is discussed — how the craftsmen are to make them with their work. But they really indicate inner clothes that the priests of God should make — to clothe their souls with thoughts and traits and proper tendencies, which are the clothes of the soul; and the craftsmen did not make those garments.” This Shabbat, perhaps take some time to reflect on this question: how can you cultivate an inner wardrobe that clothes your soul in splendor?

—Rachel Petroff Kessler