 Clothing. The billions of dollars spent by the fashion industry, not to mention the cult like status of the fashion gurus, testifies to the importance modern man attaches to being dressed properly. Not surprisingl, Judaism stresses the importance of clothing, well beyond aspects of modesty. Maimonides in his monumental code of Jewish law stresses the importance of wearing clean, even fashionable clothing and warns against wearing dirty or unkempt clothing. This week's parsha, Tezaveh , deals primarily with the clothing the kohanim were obligated to wear as they performed their priestly functions. Robes, tunics, hats, belts, gold, wool linen, purple turquoise. On and on it goes. The Torah describes and the rabbis elucidated in great detail the "uniform" that had to be worn. Violation of these laws brought one the punishment of "death at the hands of heaven". Clearly this was a serious matter.
Clothes, as the Sefer hachinuch explains and modern research has shown, affect behaviour and our temperament. The way we dress often bespeaks our true feelings. "Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked; and they sewed together a fig leaf and made themselves aprons" ( Breisheet 3:7). Man was created in his natural naked state. It was only after the sin of gan eden that the need for clothes became manifest. The tzelem elokim, Divine image of man is the merging of a Godly soul into a physical form. There was to be no conflict between the physical and the spiritual worlds. They would work together in harmony each reflecting differing aspects of the Divine creator. But alas this was not to be. With the eating from the forbidden tree this perfect harmony was broken and the body and spirit were to be in perpetual conflict.
The physical aspect of man, left unchecked can turn man into no more than an animal. We must literally cover our physical bodies as we face a constant struggle to develop our spiritual side. Immediately after Adam and Eve clothed themselves "they heard the sound of G-d's voice moving around in the garden" (3:8).
One of the most basic signs of mourning is the tearing of ones clothes. Those who have had to do so know how emotional making a small rip in ones clothing can be. As a rabbi having officiated at many funerals one of the hardest tasks I face is to convince (non-observant) people is to rip keriah . They somehow find the tearing archaic and not a modern way to mourn.
Kriah is much more than a sign of mourning. Ripping our clothes represents returning our souls to our Maker in a pure state. The life long tension between the physical and spiritual has come to an end. One's soul is now under the sheltering wing of G-d and there is no longer a need for clothing to cover us up. Clothes stem from sin and with no more sin we can figuratively remove them. We are back in pure state.
Viewed this way ripping kriah is an affirmation of the eternity of the soul and the temporal nature of physical existence. It is thus a moment of great tragedy recognizing the fleeting nature of life but can also be a moment of great comfort as we link our souls to G-d. Interestingly the Talmud explains that each of the eight garments worn by the high priest were to serve as an atonement for sins such as arrogance, miscarriage of justice, gossip and sexual immorality. Clothes worn properly make one look beautiful; they are "for glory and splendor" (28:7). We no longer live in gan eden . We live in a world of physicality a world in which we can sanctify the mundane. We have the ability, the obligation to elevate the physical, to beautify our "clothes". Until that day when G-d removes our clothes we must make sure they are clean and pure. This is the pathway to the world to come. Shabbat Shalom!
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