Let’s begin with a story. A man goes to a tailor to try on a newly made custom suit. The first thing he notices are the sleeves being too long.
“No problem,” says the tailor. “Just bend them at the elbow and hold them out in front of you. See, now it’s fine.”
“But the collar is up around my ears!”
“It’s nothing. Just hunch your back up a little…like this.”
“But I’m stepping on my cuffs!” The man cried in desperation.
“Nu, bend your knees a little to take up the slack. Look in the mirror, the suit fits perfectly.”
Twisted up like a pretzel, the man limped out onto the street. Two women saw him go by.
“Oh, look at that poor man,” said one.
“Yes,” said the other, “but what a beautiful suit!”
Do the clothes make the person or does the person make the clothes? We make a lot of assumptions about people based on the way they dress. For example, when we see someone wearing a blue uniform, a gun and a badge we assume that person is a police officer. When we see someone wearing a white lab robe, we assume they are in the medical practice. In this week’s Torah portion, Tzav, Aaron and his sons are appointed to be the cohanim, the high priests, over Israel. From Leviticus 8:7 – 9, the priests’ clothing is described. They wear beautiful robes, a breastplate, and the urimand thumim– a decorative front piece that no one knows exactly how it looked. Did these clothes define the priesthood?
The question becomes very significant, because at a certain point, especially during the time of the second Temple, there were many official members of the priesthood no longer taking seriously the rites and duties, originally commanded to Aaron and his sons. The Talmudic book of Yoma describes numerous times priests, over hundreds of years, became more politicized by their desire to be a High Priest. Their concern was no longer the theological duty of doing rituals the Torah taught about helping to strengthen God’s presence. They focused on holding a corrupt high position. One of the reasons the Greek/Syrian emperor Antiochus intervened in the occupied Jewish state in the 2ndcentury BCE, was the fight between two Jewish men each claiming to be the High Priest of the Temple. This is part of the actual story told in the book of I Maccabees, leading to Chanukah. So again, were these men truly priests, or frauds?
The same question can be asked about other professions. If a police person shoots and kills an innocent African American, a frequent occurrence, are they still truly a policeman? If a doctor fails to respond to the needs of a patient, not making an error – that is human, but ignores a patient or treats them in a cold, nasty way, are they really a doctor? Here is a deeper question. How much do we judge a person, about their goodness and professionalism, through their appearance?
An interesting perspective was taught by Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Just like the tent of meeting, where the priests had an inner alter and an outer alter, so too do people have an inner alter and an outer alter. The outer is dressed up by the clothes we wear. It is the face we expose to the world. This is our surface personality. But inside, each of us has an “essential core.” Just as sometimes we judge other people by what is only on the outside; sometimes we try to make other people judge us only by what is on the outside. We hide what is inside of us behind the beautiful clothes. Sometimes it is better to keep what is inside hidden. But many times that results in a disservice to the people around us. It is wrong, Schneerson taught, to keep our inner selves as a private possession. Rather, it should be part of what the world sees, part of our “clothes.”
As mentioned in last week’s Torah commentary, the inner self is the place within us where God dwells. Each of us can potentially bring a bit of divine presence into the world, when we do a mitzvah: study, prayer, ritual, moral deeds, caring, loving acts, or work for justice. Unfortunately, today’s technology provides a way through which we might display what is on our inside ends up in a “twisted suit.” I am referring to social media.
Watching the posts, and even worse, the comments on Face Book, demonstrates the “twisted suits.” When people share their beliefs, whether in religion or politics, the discussion in the comments often takes an evil, nasty turn. The name calling and condemning of someone for expressing a particular view is just plain low class and wrong. It is totally fine to disagree, but the wording is so often terrible. The ugliness of social media is highly exemplified by political discussions. Part is the meanness, and a large part is also the sharing of falsehoods instead of true facts. All of this denigrates a media that has the potential to provide situations for communicating divine presence.
How can social media raise divine presence through what we share from our insides? Show how you care for others. Celebrate special occasions for love ones. Teach about your beliefs in a way that does NOT condemn others, but shows what is inside of your soul. The posts can be serious, entertaining, or humorous. If you care more about healing the world, you will not tear others down. Instead, openly explain how you have reached your belief. The superficial way people are judged and condemned in social media are the labels of “liberal” and “conservative.” True liberalism is acting with an open mind to listen to other perspectives and accepting a truth that might be opposite your opinion. Don’t necessarily agree with other opinions, but think about them. True conservatism is about respecting individual rights and knowing how and when it is best to limit government intervention. It is about preserving things of value and holiness with respect for authority. The Talmud teaches that there are multiple perspectives God considers worthy. God cares more about how we interact than a particular method to solve a problem.
In this difficult time we will increase God’s presence through caring, not condemning. We need to stop twisting our clothes. We need to open our souls to each other. That is how we will rebuild our world in a better way.
Read Full Post »
The Jewish Observer 
How Important Is Our Clothing?
Posted in Torah commentary, tagged priestly clothing on March 30, 2020| Leave a Comment »
Let’s begin with a story. A man goes to a tailor to try on a newly made custom suit. The first thing he notices are the sleeves being too long.
“No problem,” says the tailor. “Just bend them at the elbow and hold them out in front of you. See, now it’s fine.”
“But the collar is up around my ears!”
“It’s nothing. Just hunch your back up a little…like this.”
“But I’m stepping on my cuffs!” The man cried in desperation.
“Nu, bend your knees a little to take up the slack. Look in the mirror, the suit fits perfectly.”
Twisted up like a pretzel, the man limped out onto the street. Two women saw him go by.
“Oh, look at that poor man,” said one.
“Yes,” said the other, “but what a beautiful suit!”
Do the clothes make the person or does the person make the clothes? We make a lot of assumptions about people based on the way they dress. For example, when we see someone wearing a blue uniform, a gun and a badge we assume that person is a police officer. When we see someone wearing a white lab robe, we assume they are in the medical practice. In this week’s Torah portion, Tzav, Aaron and his sons are appointed to be the cohanim, the high priests, over Israel. From Leviticus 8:7 – 9, the priests’ clothing is described. They wear beautiful robes, a breastplate, and the urimand thumim– a decorative front piece that no one knows exactly how it looked. Did these clothes define the priesthood?
The question becomes very significant, because at a certain point, especially during the time of the second Temple, there were many official members of the priesthood no longer taking seriously the rites and duties, originally commanded to Aaron and his sons. The Talmudic book of Yoma describes numerous times priests, over hundreds of years, became more politicized by their desire to be a High Priest. Their concern was no longer the theological duty of doing rituals the Torah taught about helping to strengthen God’s presence. They focused on holding a corrupt high position. One of the reasons the Greek/Syrian emperor Antiochus intervened in the occupied Jewish state in the 2ndcentury BCE, was the fight between two Jewish men each claiming to be the High Priest of the Temple. This is part of the actual story told in the book of I Maccabees, leading to Chanukah. So again, were these men truly priests, or frauds?
The same question can be asked about other professions. If a police person shoots and kills an innocent African American, a frequent occurrence, are they still truly a policeman? If a doctor fails to respond to the needs of a patient, not making an error – that is human, but ignores a patient or treats them in a cold, nasty way, are they really a doctor? Here is a deeper question. How much do we judge a person, about their goodness and professionalism, through their appearance?
An interesting perspective was taught by Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Just like the tent of meeting, where the priests had an inner alter and an outer alter, so too do people have an inner alter and an outer alter. The outer is dressed up by the clothes we wear. It is the face we expose to the world. This is our surface personality. But inside, each of us has an “essential core.” Just as sometimes we judge other people by what is only on the outside; sometimes we try to make other people judge us only by what is on the outside. We hide what is inside of us behind the beautiful clothes. Sometimes it is better to keep what is inside hidden. But many times that results in a disservice to the people around us. It is wrong, Schneerson taught, to keep our inner selves as a private possession. Rather, it should be part of what the world sees, part of our “clothes.”
As mentioned in last week’s Torah commentary, the inner self is the place within us where God dwells. Each of us can potentially bring a bit of divine presence into the world, when we do a mitzvah: study, prayer, ritual, moral deeds, caring, loving acts, or work for justice. Unfortunately, today’s technology provides a way through which we might display what is on our inside ends up in a “twisted suit.” I am referring to social media.
Watching the posts, and even worse, the comments on Face Book, demonstrates the “twisted suits.” When people share their beliefs, whether in religion or politics, the discussion in the comments often takes an evil, nasty turn. The name calling and condemning of someone for expressing a particular view is just plain low class and wrong. It is totally fine to disagree, but the wording is so often terrible. The ugliness of social media is highly exemplified by political discussions. Part is the meanness, and a large part is also the sharing of falsehoods instead of true facts. All of this denigrates a media that has the potential to provide situations for communicating divine presence.
How can social media raise divine presence through what we share from our insides? Show how you care for others. Celebrate special occasions for love ones. Teach about your beliefs in a way that does NOT condemn others, but shows what is inside of your soul. The posts can be serious, entertaining, or humorous. If you care more about healing the world, you will not tear others down. Instead, openly explain how you have reached your belief. The superficial way people are judged and condemned in social media are the labels of “liberal” and “conservative.” True liberalism is acting with an open mind to listen to other perspectives and accepting a truth that might be opposite your opinion. Don’t necessarily agree with other opinions, but think about them. True conservatism is about respecting individual rights and knowing how and when it is best to limit government intervention. It is about preserving things of value and holiness with respect for authority. The Talmud teaches that there are multiple perspectives God considers worthy. God cares more about how we interact than a particular method to solve a problem.
In this difficult time we will increase God’s presence through caring, not condemning. We need to stop twisting our clothes. We need to open our souls to each other. That is how we will rebuild our world in a better way.
Read Full Post »