Tetzaveh

Tetzaveh – Shlomo Riskin 

Shlomo Riskin earned semicha from Rabbi Soloveitchik and a PhD from NYU. The noted educator, social activist and author he is founder and Chancellor of the Ohr Torah Stone network of groundbreaking men's and women's institutions and the Chief Rabbi of Efrat, Israel.

How important is the way that we dress and what does it say about us? On the Shabbat before Purim, we read Parshat Tetzave which is all about the Priests' clothes, then, on Purim we put on fancy dress masquerading as other people.

The first Biblical personality to put on someone else's clothes was Jacob who dressed up as his elder brother Esau (Gen 27: 15) in order to receive their father’s blessing. What would cause Jacob, "a wholehearted individual, and studious tent dweller” (25:27) to don the garb of Esau? Perhaps Jacob wanted to become Esau, because his own introspective personality had been rejected by his father in favor of the more extroverted, quick witted and materialistic Esau and Jacob yearned for his father’s love and embrace! 

Very often when someone masquerades as another, he becomes that other. In some sense, with this deception, Jacob forsook his pure, whole-hearted self and exchanged it for the outer garb of Esau.

Judaism suggests that external clothes do not necessarily make the man, but – very often - clothes fake the man. That’s why the Hebrew word begged or garment comes from a root verb which means to deceive, and the Hebrew word me'il, which means outer cloak, comes from a root verb which means to embezzle.

From this perspective, we can understand the characters of Meggilat Esther. Jews who wish to be part of the Gentile class of their host country, often masquerade or assimilate, appearing to be as Gentile as possible. Hence the heroine of the story whose Hebrew name was Hadassah took the name of Esther, from the Persian goddess Astarte. She hid her Jewish identity by not revealing her nation or her homeland (Esther 2:10). She spent twelve months in preparation before meeting Ahashverosh, being externally perfumed and cosmeticized so that her body would be "masked" with all sorts of external fragrances. When she ascended to her majestic position, she certainly did not dress as a Jewess. Similarly, Mordecai assumed the Persian Marduk. Later, he told the courtiers that he was Jewish in order to explain his refusal to bow down to Haman (Esther 3:4) Apparently, he did not dress as a Jew, for if he had, he wouldn’t have had to inform them of his Jewish ancestry.

The Hebrew word galut actually means to reveal or uncover, and – as the Bible guarantees – there will come a moment of truth when assimilated Jews will return to their true selves and re-establish their deepest roots in their homeland. This will either happen in a profound moment of repentance, such as when Jacob exorcized the spirit of Esau from within himself and returned "whole" to his ancestral home as Yisrael or as when an anti-Semite such as Haman forced a moment of truth upon Mordecai and Esther, and they risked their lives for their people and their G-d. At the end of the day, the masquerade falls to the ground and the true Jew must re-discover himself.

Perhaps that is why in synagogues around the world this week, we read about the clothes of the Priests. For their vestments reflected their inner sanctity and mission, the very antithesis of the Purim masquerade.