Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan Parshat Tetzaveh 1

good evening today we are learning par is the second um in describing the bet mikdash the first one was last week where we described the structure of the mishkan the Tabernacle and um how it was built and how the utensils are built including the Aron the holy Ark the men the shulhan the and the M plus all the walls and the roof and in this week's para we speak about the garments of kohen gadul and garments of regular kohen kohen gadul is the chief Cohan the high priest who wore eight garments and regular Coen um that's the everyone else all the other kohanim who wear four garments now the para starts and you shall command the children of Israel and they take for you pure olive oil pressed for light to make the light rise up continuously now that we mentioned the the uh building of men in last week's para now in this week's para we describe how the minur is used first of all you have to make special olive oil this oil is called pure olive oil pressed for light and I say just say that there are different qualities of olive oil the top quality is pressed for light and it's pure so there are two conditions number one is it has to be pure pure means not in spiritual Purity because everything in in the mishkan in bet mikdash um must be pure in in spiritual um um Quality however here pure means that there should be no sediment only oil pure oil and pressed for light means as opposed to pressed for to be used in uh cooking or baking because olive oil was used in the mishkan number one for lighting the Min and number two to mix with flour to to mix with flour to make um M offering flour offering and uh the oil that was used for flour offering is of the second quality that is is um not pressed for light but pressed for baking and pressed for light is the first drop or the as long as it's coming out pure the oil is not coming out with any um sediment any impurity you can use it as soon as the sediment starts to come out you can no longer use it for lighting you you can use it for [Applause] um baking and then in our times um we have a third uh kind of oil we have the extra virgin olive oil which is like the oil for minora then we have regular olive oil and then we have pames oil I think that's what it's called which they already um get by processing olives with heat or chemicals to extract the remaining oil that's the lowest quality now verse 21 more details about the menora in the tent of appointed meeting meaning the the place that is called holy there is the courtyard and then there's the structure of the mishan and within the structure of the mishan there is the holy and the holy of holies KES and KES in The KES in the Holy part we have the Min we have the table the shulhan and we have the M the golden altar so the Min is placed in the tent of appointed meeting which is the holy part outside the dividing curtain because there was a curtain that divided the holy part of the Tabernacle and the most holy the the the kesim so this is supposed to be outside in the Holy part uh that is in front of the testimony testimony is the Ark in which the the were the tablets of Ten Commandments and the original seph Tora that Moshe wrote Aaron and his sons shall arrange it meaning prepare the candles before God from evening to morning kohanim the priests would have to come in the morning clean the candle holders the oil holder um lamps clean them from Ash take out the old the wick and refill it with fresh oil and put the new Wick in and then when it gets dark uh or right before Sunset they they will go again could be a different Kohan and light the Min because it says Aaron and his sons we know from this that any kohen can light Min not only kohen not only the high priest but any kohen can light from evening to morning means the the Min has to be lit from Sunset until uh Dawn or it sometimes would be lit even longer it shall be an everlasting law for their Generations from the children of Israel and here the Everlasting um statue the the Eternal law does not mean that the Min has to be lit constantly it just means that it has to be lit every night um even though during the day it's not lit it's still considered uh constant constant doesn't mean without any uh pause it just means that it is consistent now in chapter 28 verse one and furthermore have your brother Aaron and his sons with him come closer to you from among the children of Israel so that he may serve me as the Kohan as the priest and the four sons of Aon are listed Aon elazar andamar sons of Aaron so at this point there are five kohanim in the world only five kohanim Aon and His Four Sons verse two and make holy garments for your brother Aron for Honor and distinction or Splendor and uh how are these garments made verse three explains you shall speak to all the wise men whose heart I have filled with the spirit of wisdom and they that they make Aaron's garments to sanctify him that he may serve me as a priest and these are the garments that they shall make a breastplate and eord uh that's the second one and we'll describe each one a robe a tunic of U checkered work a turban turban means a hat and a sash means a belt now these are six garments we said that Coen Gad has eight garments two garments are Miss missing and that is the sits the headplate on which it was inscribed holy to God as well as pens which are not mentioned here they will be mentioned later now what are these garments the the para will describe them but let us briefly describe what they are first of all the breastplate which is called hen um and that is a square um plate made from gold upon which you have 12 Stones 12 precious stones each Stone corresponding to One Tribe of the Jewish people and the color of the stone is the color of the tribe the color of their flag and uh each stone is engraved with the name of the tribe inside this uh breastplate this breastplate really was made as a rectangle um from different kinds of wool woven and then it had gold on it upon which were set the stones and this breastplate which is rectangle rectangular was folded in half to produce a square a folded square and inside the um Square you had name of God and the this hen this uh breastplate had special power a Coen the the high priest who wore it could ask a question that the king or the the son hin needed to ask God and the stones and the letters on the stones that were engraved on on the stones would light up and kohen Gad would look at the letters it was like a screen with the letters lighting up and he would assemble the message from the letters that light up and uh it was a short answer should we go to war the answer would be go and be successful or should we go to war and the answer would be no and so on and so for the the king or the Sanhedrin could ask kohen these questions important questions that are National um for National Security and then um Cohen would ask the the the Mish which was also called the is the name of God that was placed inside the the breastplate and the The Shining stones and the letters on the stones would give the answer together there were 50 letters on the stones um now next next garment is aod aod is sometimes trans translated as an apron because it was a garment that had straps connecting to the uh hosen to the breastplate and under the breastplate was um an apron like um garment that went around the waist of the kohen attached with a belt and it was attached to the breastplate and the breastplate was attached to the shoulder straps which connected to the back of the aot of the apron the next one was a uh robe which was made from um blue wool the next one was the the tunic of checkered um work it was like an undershirt and he had a hat and a belt and plus as we mentioned he had pants um and the golden head U headplate with the name of God on it these were the garments of kohen GAD regular kohanim had only four garments and that is they had a hat they had the robe the the shirt that was a long shirt went up to knees they had the pants and a belt these were the four simple garments of regular Cohen now we go to verse 5 uh the materials that are necessary to construct these garments are listed they shall take the gold the blue wool the purple wool and the Scarlet wool and linen and they shall make now we start with the first garment the EOD the apron they shall make the eord of gold golden thread which they mixed together with uh blue wool purple wool and red wool together with linen Twisted in into a six ply thread Weavers work it shall have attached two connected shoulder pieces at both its corners and it shall be entirely connected and uh on top of the shoulder straps there were two settings of gold onto which there were placed Stones precious stones and on those stones there were listed the tribes of Israel six tribes on one stone and six tribes on another Stone and each one as we said there were together 20 five 50 letters so each uh Stone had 25 letters each and the names of the Jewish um tribes were perfectly divided so that the six tribes are made up of 25 letters and the other six tribes are also made up of 25 letters verse 8 speaks about the belt with which the apron was attached the band of its belt shall be woven together with it gold together with blue wool purple wool and red wool and L Twisted into a six ply thread then take two sham stones and engrave upon them the names of the sons of Israel these are the stones that go on the shoulder straps verse 10 six of their names on one stone and the names of the remaining six tribes on the second stones stone according to their birth now verse 12 and you shall put the two stones on the two shoulder straps of the EOD as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel Aon shall bear their names before God on his two shoulders as remembrance this way wherever the high priest would go into the holy or into the holy of holies he would carry the names of the Jewish tribes with him both on his shoulders and on his heart and through that he would achieve atonement for the Jewish people now we speak about the settings for those stones and the chains verse 13 also make settings of gold and two chains of pure gold which are used to attach the shoulder straps to the breastplate that hold it in place um and you shall place the chains on the settings now in verse 15 we speak about the second garment and that is the breastplate of judgment and make a breastplate of Judgment of woven material like the work of the EOD it's made in similar fashion of different kinds of um materials Twisted into one thread and then it is woven now um verse 16 it shall be square doubled as I explained it's made as a rectangle and then folded over its uh length is called zerat which is this much and its height is also this much um verse 17 describes the stones that are attached there are 12 Stones one for each tribe and each one is different different color and different variety of precious stone and each one has the name of the particular tribe now uh the the 12 names of the stones usually are not translated because they are different opinions what these stones are they are um mentioned in Hebrew and we're not sure what they are in um English there are various opinions so one of them is a diamond one is uh Ruby one is emerald and topas and various different kinds of stones but there there are disagreements and therefore we will just name them in Hebrew the first one is and verse 18 in the second row you have and yalom in the third row leem and and in the fourth fourth row andash they shall be enclosed in gold in their settings now in the commentaries they explain each Stone what is the color of it what is the special quality of it and what can we learn from its name the the the character trait of a tribe is described by the stone verse 22 and you shall make on the breastplate and chains at the edges of pure gold not only the breastplate was attached to the um a fod with gold chain to its shoulder straps but it was also attached at the bottom to attach it to the so that it shouldn't move up and down and it shouldn't move sideways it was Secure on the heart of kohen GAD verse let's go to verse um 29 thus shall Aaron bear the names of the sons of is isra with a breastplate of judgment over his heart when he goes into the sanctuary as a remembrance before God at all times so this is the second remembrance of the Jewish people one is with his shoulder um Stones upon which the are engraved the the names of the tribes and the second remembrance are the 12 Stones on the breastplate upon which also are engraved the the names of 12 tribes verse 30 explains about the you shall put theim into the breastplate of judgment and theim is the name of Hashem that they uh put in it and that's what gives it the special power to give answer to give prophetic answer so that they will be over aon's heart when he comes comes before God let Aaron bear the Judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before God at all times whenever the Torah mentions Aaron specifically it means that this can only be done by kohen by the high priest when it mentions Aaron's sons we know that this Mitzvah can be done by his by regular kohanim as well so here for example it mentions only Aaron so from here we learn that these garments can be worn only by the high priest now verse 31 we describe the and make the robe of the EOD all of blue wool which is called it was pure blue wool uh robe verse 32 and the opening of its top shall be turned inward it it should have a hem the opening shall have a woven border all around it it shall be like the opening of a coat of male like the the the metal protective armor that does not have a um any any Stitch so that it shall not be torn it was reinforced and from here we learn that there is a Prohibition to tear or to to rip any Priestly garments the kohanim have to take care of them not allow them to be torn now we describe the Hem of this robe in verse 33 and you shall make on its bottom hem on its bottom hems pomegranates of blue wool purple wool and Scarlet wool all around the Hem and golden Bells between the pomegranates all around so at the very bottom of the robe he made little um wool pomegranates of colorful wool and little golden Bells why verse 35 Aaron shall wear it when he performs the service it's sound shall be heard when he goes into the sanctuary before God and when he goes out so that he will not die when kohen Gad goes into the holy of holies Into The KES aashim on yum kipur he announces his coming by the sound of these bells it's done just as um um etiquette as um the proper behavior that before you come into a room you have to announce your coming we have a rule in that before you enter a closed room you must knock before opening the door even if it is your own house that's what the says and we learn it from uh this garment that before you barge in you have to first knock for two reasons number one not to scare people who are inside and number two not to embarrass them because maybe they are doing something they don't want you to see or they're not dress properly and therefore you have to first knock and then enter again even if it is your own house before coming in you have to announce now you don't necessarily have to knock but you have to make some kind of noise noise so that people on the other side uh realize that someone is about to come now in verse 36 we mention the Garment that we didn't uh list above and also make a sits sits is a head plate of pure gold and engrave upon it holy to God or some say the sanctuary belongs to God kesem it is Holy for God now two interpretations either Coen is dedicated to God and his service is dedicated to God Alone Y no one else or the meaning is the whole Sanctuary the entire mishkan the entire bet mikdash is dedicated to God Alone there is no mundane talk in the sanctuary there's no business in fact uh anyone who enters the temple anyone who enters bet mikdash they're not allowed to bring a wallet or a money belt because the sanctuary is not a place of business and from here we learn that when we are in a synagogue we're not allowed to speak about business we're not allow allowed to speak about anything mundane and we're not allowed to uh do business transactions for example you should not bring your checkbook and start uh balancing your checkbook in the um in the synagogue you should not do your math or English homework in the synagogue um if you need to do your mundane activity you have to go to a side room so that you're not the main prayer hall now verse 38 describes what um the sits is used for it shall be on Aaron's forehead and thus Aaron shall remove the crookedness of the Holy things that the children of Israel dedicate to the sanctuary which means when the Jewish people bring offerings through the kohanim if there are any mist mes made for example if sometimes an offering is um is made is becomes impure or the kohen becomes impure and there thereby disqualifies the offering or the offering um the blood is spilled or other blemishes the the this mistake will be rectified by Coen wearing the s