The Man Within His Cloth
Understanding the deeper significance of the clothing of the Kohen and our Purim costumes.
It seems to be the season of clothing. In this week's Parashah, we are introduced to the clothing of the Kohanim. On Purim, which is this coming week, many have the custom to dress up in costume. In fact the Gemara1 teaches us that Achashverosh himself dressed up in the clothing of the Kohen Gadol. Clothing is also something which forms an identity as to who we are. For example, uniforms are associated with specific groups and when someone wears a uniform, they represent that institution. I recall a significant shift in my personal identity when I moved away from wearing white shirts, which were characteristic of my yeshiva days, and started wearing colored shirts. At that point, I no longer felt like a yeshiva student, and so it no longer made sense for me to don the uniform.
We choose our clothing as individuals, thus we tend to scrutinize other people’s chosen appearances and categorize them. This is especially true regarding the kippah.
Why are we seeming so focused on the external, but using it to judge the internal? What is it about clothing that is so unique? What is happening on Purim that we completely change our clothing?
If we look back at the first instance of clothing in the Torah, we find that clothes were a gift of Hashem to Adam and Chava in Gan Eden2. In effect, clothes reflect the Divine element of the human being.
We also find that Yosef was given a special garment, which set him apart from his brothers.
The Shem Mishmuel teaches us that everything that is within, needs to be covered and enclothed. Therefore the Kohanim, who represent the penimiut, need special clothing, however the Levi’im, who represent the outer elements, do not need special clothing.
He elaborates that Kohanim represent Chesed and Ahava. Both of those are attractive and powerful traits, therefore, they have to be contained and limited from being accessed by the wrong people. This containment is done with their special clothing. Levi’im represent Yirah, which the reshaim are not prone to try to take, therefore they did not need special clothing.
I would like to explain this concept with a Kedushas Levi3.
In explaining the question of the Gemara in Shabbos4 which asks why some things are hidden and some things are revealed. He explains based on the pasuk in Tehillim כָּל כְּבוּדָּה בַת מֶלֶךְ פְּנִימָה - that the Torah is very internal. Chazal say5, "I have toiled and found: Believe,". After all the toil that a person goes through, he will attain some internal aspect of the Torah. This is not the case with gashmius, which anyone can attain easily as the yetzer hara always tempts a person to sin. He explains that it is important to understand why gashmius is easily attainable while ruchnius and holiness can only be attained through great toil.
He gives the analogy of market saturation and niche market: There are two merchants, one who has all the goods in the world, and one who only has small items like needles and pipes. The merchant who has all the goods in the world will sit in his house, and anyone who wants can come to him to buy from him and attain what he has. The small merchant, on the other hand, who only has small items, such as needles and pipes, must travel from village to village to find buyers. This is because there is no need for everyone to attain what he has, and there are many other merchants who have similar items to sell. Therefore, he needs to go after the buyer to persuade him to buy from him.
This analogy can be understood in ruchnius as well.
The ultimate goal of all creatures is to serve and honor Hashem. Great toil is necessary to attain the Torah, which is the ultimate goal of every person seeking it. External actions or gashmius are not the ultimate goal, and are attainable by all, so is therefore more revealed. He then explains further that the spiritual acts that a person does for the sake of his neshama is like a garment and covering. A neshama wears this spiritual garment in order to enjoy the radiance of the Divine Presence.
This is the ultimate goal of all creatures, and therefore, the kedusha is very hidden and does not need to be revealed to everyone, rather it can only be attained with great toil.
Perhaps based on this Kedushas Levi, we can understand what the Shem Mishmuel is saying that the clothing of the Kohanim is meant to protect their inner Kedusha, from the wrong hands, from those who will abuse it.
This idea is echoed by Rav Moshe Dovid Vali and the Mei Hashiloach:
Rav Moshe Dovid Vali explains why the passuk tells us that the clothing of the Kohanim was made by ‘Chachmei Lev’. He says that this was not the job for a simple tailor, rather they had to look at the shoresh of the neshama, the inner essence of the Kohen and design the clothing based on his essence.
The Mei HaShiloach writes that with these garments, Hashem shows Klal Yisrael which neshama He chooses to be the Kohen Gadol, for the preciousness of the soul of Aharon haKohen is recognized and understood from the garments (made for him).
That which we wear is meant to both conceal our inner essence, but ironically and simultaneously serves to expose a reflection of the same inner essence. This reflection of our inner essence can come in many forms, as the Kedushas Levi in our parashah writes: “Every tzaddik has his own individual style when serving his Creator. Each style is distinguished by a certain color. Avraham wore a colour bordering on white, Yitzchok wore a color bordering on green, whereas Yaakov wore a color bordering on red. Both Moshe and Aharon each wore colors that were unique to them.”
Our garments convey the divine element within the human being. Garments convey that which is within the garment6.
Rebbe Nachman writes7 that the essence of honor and glory for every person is in their home, for the home represents Malchus. Malchus is a manifestation of honor, this is what is meant by "כָּל כְּבוּדָּה בַת מֶלֶךְ פְּנִימָה. " The essence of the kingdom's honor is inside the house.
Therefore, greatness and elevation are referred to by the term "house," as it is written, "and it was when the midwives feared God, He made houses for them." Chazal explained that this refers to the Batei Kehuna and the Batei Malchus, for the house represents honor, the manifestation of Malchus, as mentioned above.
We see that when referring to what is going on internally, there is a parallel reference to Batei Kehuna and Batei Malchus. The internal of things is that which is most important, how it is expressed is secondary.
Amalek was also from this energy of penimiut, as he is likened to wine that turned into vinegar and therefore also has to be enclothed. The Shem Mishmuel explains that reshaim keep their evil plans at heart, and cover it up with niceties. On Purim when everything is flipped around, the true penimiut came out.
In the Megillah, it says that Mordechai went out in Bigdei Malchus, royal garb. The Vilna Gaon teaches that this is referring to his tallis and tefillin. Rav Kluger writes that Mordechai’s going out symbolized the Jewish people going out of Galus. Now that they destroyed Amalek, they can go on to build the Beis Hamikdash and usher in the Geula.
May we merit the day when we can wear our Bigdei Malchus once again with the coming of Mashiach and have our external perception be a true representation of our internal state, both mentally and spiritually.
Have a Memorable Shabbos
Shui
Megilla 12b
Likutim
77b
Megillah 6b
Heard this line from Rav Joey Rosenfeld, in a completely different context.
Likutei Halachos, Hilchos Mezuza
שֶׁעִקַּר הַכָּבוֹד וְהַתִּפְאֶרֶת שֶׁל כָּל אָדָם הוּא בְּבֵיתוֹ, כִּי הַבַּיִת הוּא בְּחִינַת מַלְכוּת, בְּחִינַת בֵּית מַלְכוּת, כִּי חֵלֶק הַמַּלְכוּת שֶׁיֵּשׁ לְכָל אֶחָד הוּא בְּבֵיתוֹ, בְּחִינַת (אֶסְתֵּר א), שֹׂרֵר בְּבֵיתוֹ. וּמַלְכוּת הִוא בְּחִינַת כָּבוֹד, בְּחִינַת מֶלֶךְ הַכָּבוֹד. וְזֶה בְּחִינַת (תְּהִלִּים מה), כָּל כְּבוּדָּה בַת מֶלֶךְ פְּנִימָה. שֶׁעִקַּר בְּחִינַת כְּבוֹד הַמַּלְכוּת הוּא בִּפְנִים בַּבַּיִת. וְעַל-כֵּן נִקְרֵאת הַגְּדֻלָּה וְהַהִתְנַשְּאוּת בְּשֵׁם בַּיִת, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב, וַיְהִי כִּי יָרְאוּ הַמְּיַלְּדוֹת אֶת הָאֱלֹקִים וַיַּעַשׂ לָהֶם בָּתִּים. וְדָרְשׁוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ זַ"ל, בָּתֵּי כְּהֻנָּה וּבָתֵּי מַלְכוּת. כִּי בַּיִת הוּא בְּחִינַת כָּבוֹד, בְּחִינַת מַלְכוּת כַּנַּ"ל