PARASHA TETZAVEH – CLOTHING

This is the parasha in which every word is God speaking.

A main topic is describing the garments of the priests.

This highlights the importance of the clothes we wear. Clothing is intimately associated with our holiness. In the Torah, God commands us to be Holy. We distinguish ourselves from all other lifeforms on the planet by choosing to wear garments. God distinguishes Himself by not being visible in the material universe. Being separate and apart is in the nature of Holiness.

The Mishkan is the “Tabernacle in the Wilderness”. It is carried with the Children of Israel as they wander in the desert. Within this portable structure, the observation of the High Holy Days is explained. One of the central points is the garb of the High Priest as he approaches the Holy of Holies, a section within the Tabernacle.

I have discussed previously that God requires that the tabernacle be built in a certain manner, of specified materials, according to exacting specifications. The construction is overseen by Bezalel, who was “filled with a Godly Spirit, with wisdom, insight, and knowledge.” This is to allow God to enter the physical universe (“So that I can dwell among them.”) within this structure.

God’s problem with entering the physical universe is that God needs to be shielded from becoming polluted by the Earthly realm. Contact with this material world would make God less than 100% spiritual. Such an exposure would degrade God, Who would no longer be the eternal and infinite being that God is.

This concept is illustrated in our own world when we work with chemistry. We seek solutions that are highly purified. If the solution is in any way contaminated, the experiment would fail. It is almost impossible to attain absolute purity. But with rigorous attention and focused care, we can come close.

God is not a chemistry solution. The 100% spiritual being that is God cannot be contaminated even in the smallest amount. God has created the Tabernacle in exactly the way that allows God to “Dwell among us” and be unaffected.

Within this exactly constructed edifice, God is able to “dwell” in the material universe God created. The combination of materials, architecture, and spirit allow the Divine visitor from the celestial realm to be among the faithful in the material realm. It allows God to dwell therein without contamination by the limitations and impurities inherent to our universe.

Therefore, as the High Priest enters the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, God knows just how he should be clothed to not introduce purities in the place that God is Present. At this time of year, in this place, pure cotton is what is necessary. As described in the parasha, other specifications for the clothing are permitted.

The clothing acts as a shield to prevent God from destructive exposure. It isolates the mortal human from the eternal and infinite of God’s dwelling by insulating him with an exacting structure of apparel. Apparently, if the One Being that is 100% spiritual encounters a human being dressed improperly at this moment of intense Holiness, the Deity would be compromised.

Heaven and Earth cannot coexist on the same plane. We mortals can reach across the divide by focusing on our spiritual nature. It will always be an imperfect connection because we remain mortal. God can reach across this divide to cause things to happen in the material world. It will always be a blunt tool because of the interface that must be transversed.

That is why God effects things in the material world in the way that we read about in the Torah. Fire, explosions, winds, a certain type of rash, killing, flooding. These are the tools available when God is not actually IN this universe.

God wanted the Tabernacle because God needed closer contact across the divide with the people. A contact of spiritual  purposes.

Hence, the structure of the Tabernacle and its contents, the clothing on those who enter, and the practices performed within allow God to continue being 100% spiritual, eternal, and infinite.

These characteristics are all absent in the physical universe. Living, temporal,  finite beings cannot exist in an infinite and eternal context. Neither can the Infinite and Eternal God become an integral part of the material universe.