Torah Portion - February 14, 2008
T'tzaveh, Exodus 27:20-30:10
Sometimes, when we study the Torah, the message conveyed is so timely and so universal, that it is hard to believe that the words are ancient. Other times, the Torah portion sounds foreign and primitive; it seems nearly impossible to ascertain any spiritual wisdom from these antiquated stories.
Parashat T'tzaveh is the latter sort of parasha. Much of the portion is devoted to the minute details of the special priestly garments that Aaron and his sons were commanded to wear. These include "a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a fringed tunic, a headdress, and a sash" (Exodus 28:4); most of Exodus 28 is devoted to the specific features of these articles, and how they are to be constructed. The next chapter features an equally detailed description of the ritual that must be done in order to ordain the priests. Finally, the portion offers with instructions for building, decorating, and properly utilizing an incense altar. It concludes with the fine points of how to conduct a “purification” ritual.
Priestly garments, purification rituals, incense altars. Is there are spiritual message for our time somewhere in the minutia of these ancient rites and regulations? Actually, there is: the importance of hidur mitzvah, or “beautification of the mitzvah.” It is from this concept that the Jewish people has developed the creative and artistic enhancement of our ritual objects and worship space. We don‘t just recite Kiddush over a plastic cup, we use a special goblet made for this purpose. The mezuzah scroll is placed in a lovely case and Torah scroll is covered in magnificent garments. Seder plates, Chanukah menorahs, candlesticks and challah covers---whenever aesthetic beauty is employed to express a sense of holiness, we are practicing hidur mitzvah. When we read in Exodus 28 "Make sacral vestments…for dignity and adornment;" that the artists are "all who are skillful, whom I [God] have endowed with the gift of skill . . .;” when we learn that the materials used must be "the gold, the blue, purple and crimson yarns, and the fine linen…" then we realize that our contemporary Judaica is not unlike the priestly garments of old.
The skill of the artist, the quality of the materials, and the kavana, the intention that goes into creating these ritual objects make them not simply beautiful, but holy. When we use them during our daily, weekly, and seasonal rituals, we get in touch with the sacred through beautify. Making and/or collecting beautiful Judaica is about crafts, but it is also about the beauty of doing mitzvot. We no longer have priests who don "garments of holiness. " Rather, we create objects of holiness with which to do the mitzvot. There is no need for a priesthood, for any Jewish home becomes an altar.