"And you shall make holy garments for Aharon your brother for honor and for beauty [lekhavod uletiferet]...." (Exodus 28: 2)
The Ramban asks: How does one make garments that satisfy the imperative of "lekhavod uletiferet"? He answers that we copy the sartorial style of kings, especially the kings of Persia.
We know a Persian king, Achashverosh. He threw a party: "He made a feast.... He showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and yakar tiferet gedulato [his excellent majesty]." (Esther 1:3-5) We translate tiferet here as "majesty". Still, what at the party showed majesty?
Regarding tiferet gedulato, Rabbi Yose the son of Hanina said: "This teaches that he wore priestly garments." (Megilla 12a) "Tiferet" alludes to "priestly garments" based on the words "lekhavod uletiferet" found in our parasha.
So, what can this mean? In Ramban, Persia's kings suggest the design for the priests' sacral clothing; in our oral tradition, a Persian king puts on the priestly garments as a special honor for himself.
The Torah states clearly that there must be a High Priest. Not so a king. "Kingship" can be assimilated to the High Priest, who will exercise a combined authority described by the term "eved Hashem" - God's servant. In practice, only Moshe succeeded in combining the two roles. From Moshe, religious authority passed to the priests; kingship went on to have a complicated subsequent history.
Achashverosh would not have desired the priestly dress for its faux Persian style. The sacral dress suggested to him instead the unique role of God's servant, of political and religious leadership combined. He coveted this double-leadership. For that glory, he dressed himself in priestly garb.
In Israel, we have achieved a kind of malkhut (kingship). That leadership exercises authority in the political realm, but does not inspire devotion to God. Perhaps, this is the enterprise of another generation.
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Rabbi Chaim Brovender, Rosh Yeshivat Hamivtar Orot Lev, lives in Yerushalayim with his family. Rabbi Brovender attended Yeshiva University before making aliyah to Israel in 1965. He received his Doctorate in Semitic Languages from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1974. Rabbi Brovender founded Midreshet Lindenbaum and Yeshivat Hamivtar Orot Lev in 1974, and the ATID Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directives in 1998. Two generations of Rabbi Brovender's students are teaching in Israel and throughout the world.
The Ramban asks: How does one make garments that satisfy the imperative of "lekhavod uletiferet"? He answers that we copy the sartorial style of kings, especially the kings of Persia.
We know a Persian king, Achashverosh. He threw a party: "He made a feast.... He showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and yakar tiferet gedulato [his excellent majesty]." (Esther 1:3-5) We translate tiferet here as "majesty". Still, what at the party showed majesty?
Regarding tiferet gedulato, Rabbi Yose the son of Hanina said: "This teaches that he wore priestly garments." (Megilla 12a) "Tiferet" alludes to "priestly garments" based on the words "lekhavod uletiferet" found in our parasha.
So, what can this mean? In Ramban, Persia's kings suggest the design for the priests' sacral clothing; in our oral tradition, a Persian king puts on the priestly garments as a special honor for himself.
The Torah states clearly that there must be a High Priest. Not so a king. "Kingship" can be assimilated to the High Priest, who will exercise a combined authority described by the term "eved Hashem" - God's servant. In practice, only Moshe succeeded in combining the two roles. From Moshe, religious authority passed to the priests; kingship went on to have a complicated subsequent history.
Achashverosh would not have desired the priestly dress for its faux Persian style. The sacral dress suggested to him instead the unique role of God's servant, of political and religious leadership combined. He coveted this double-leadership. For that glory, he dressed himself in priestly garb.
In Israel, we have achieved a kind of malkhut (kingship). That leadership exercises authority in the political realm, but does not inspire devotion to God. Perhaps, this is the enterprise of another generation.
--------------
Rabbi Chaim Brovender, Rosh Yeshivat Hamivtar Orot Lev, lives in Yerushalayim with his family. Rabbi Brovender attended Yeshiva University before making aliyah to Israel in 1965. He received his Doctorate in Semitic Languages from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1974. Rabbi Brovender founded Midreshet Lindenbaum and Yeshivat Hamivtar Orot Lev in 1974, and the ATID Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directives in 1998. Two generations of Rabbi Brovender's students are teaching in Israel and throughout the world.