Boulder Aish Kodesh

Before eating from the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve were naked, and they were not ashamed.  When they ate from the tree, they realized that they were naked, and they sewed together leaves to cover themselves.  This moment of creating garments is the clearest indication to G-d that they have eaten.  ‘I was afraid, for I am naked so I hid,’ explains Adam.  ‘Who told you that you are naked?  Did you eat from the Tree?’ asks

G-d.  As Rashi explains, ‘how do you know that there is shame in standing naked?’   And yet, after G-d gives them their sentence, ‘and G-d made for the man and his wife robes of leather, and dressed them.’  Here, we find G-d not only agreeing as to the necessity of having clothes; G-d makes clothes for them.

It seems that, as a result of eating from the Tree, clothing does become necessary, for the eating of the tree brings about an admixture of Good and Evil.  Once difference, or ‘good and evil’, is introduced, there is a need to treat different parts of ourselves, and the world, in different ways.  One manifestation of this is in perception of the human body.  Whereas there had been no perceived distinction between the genitalia and other parts of the body, there was suddenly a sense that certain parts of the body should be covered.  As Rashi explains, ‘they did not know the ways of modesty, to differentiate between good and bad.’  Shame about genitalia is the beginning of shame in relationship – it leaves an opening for one to claim ‘there are some parts of me that I need to hide.’  Clothing, as Adam and Eve design them, are designed to cover shame.

It is clear that clothes are necessary.  And it is clear that they primarily serve to cover that which should not be revealed.  But even within that primary purpose there are two possibilities.  Clothes can function to hide our ‘shameful parts’, or they can also allow those points of shame to be filtered in such a way that they can be expressed in the world in a positive way.  Clothes can serve as barriers to relationship or as catalysts of relationship.  The difference between the two is the difference between כתנות עור – robes of skin, and כתנות אור – robes of light, as was written in the Torah of Rebbe Meir (Bereishit Rabba 20:12).

When Aharon assumes the priesthood, Hashem commands Moshe to make for Aharon clothes for ‘honor and splendor’.  With these garments, Aharon is able to perform the services of the high priest.  And each garment serves another purpose, as Malbim explains, ‘to teach them how they should clothe their souls with good character traits that will lead them toward purity and holiness (Rimzei Hamishkan Titzaveh).’   The Gemarra Zevachim 88 spells out the function of each garment: the robe is to atone for spilling blood; the pants atone for illicit sexual relationship; the turban atones for pride; the avnet atones for the thoughts of the heart; the choshen atones for (distorted) judgment; the apron atones for idolatry; the overcoat atones for evil tongue; the head plate atones for brazenness.  Each of the garments clears the way for deeper relationship – between man and G-d, between man and man, and between man and himself.

According to Rashi and others, the command to make the priestly garments comes after the sin of the calf.  All of the acts and attitudes for which the priestly garments atone were violated at the sin of the calf – murder, idolatry, illicit sexuality, arrogance, evil speech, brazenness, the thoughts of the heart, and distorted judgment.  So by wearing these garments, Aharon is serving G-d with full consciousness of the potential ills of humanity.  His clothes do not serve as an escape, but as a reminder.  The emotions behind all of these negative acts and attitudes do in fact have a place in relationship to G-d.  Since they are present and real, they must have a healthy place in that relationship.  But they must be properly clothed.

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The Malbim writes, when discussing the garments Hashem made for Adam and Eve, ‘Initially, the Torah written upon his very heart, and he was filled with a spirit of awareness and fear of G-d.  But now that he had strayed from the path that rises toward the house of G-d, he required a written Torah.’  There is a direct association between the garments they wore (made of leather) and the written Torah they would require (which was written on parchment).  As Rebbe Natan writes in Likutei Halachot Netilat Yadayim Shacharit 4:12, ‘Initially they were able to be subsumed and nullified in the Infinite Light at all times with no effort, and to draw down light from there not with coarse garments, but with extremely refined garments – as it says כותנות אור – garments of light… But because of the sin… it requires great effort to be subsumed in that light, and it is impossible to receive that light except when it is clothed in many garments and condensations, in a sense of כתנות עור – garments of skin.’

The Malbim and Rebbe Natan both allude to the fact that a formerly free-flowing relationship with G-d that required no more than instinct now required a far more solidified and specified approach.  That which had resided in the realm of the unspoken was to be subject to the rigor of Torah and mitzvah.  The Torah, and the mitzvot therein, becomes the ‘path that rises toward the house of G-d.’  With its specifications of kosher and not, pure and impure, permitted and forbidden, holy and profane, the Torah offers a clear path of what to embrace and what to avoid.  If we have desire to reach G-d, we can no longer express it as Adam and Eve did before the fall.  We must express that desire in a specific way – the desire must wear specific clothes.

The intense specificity of the path is not instinctual – it requires education and humility.  The Mishkan, for example, comes with the promise ‘and I will dwell among them.’  But its design and details are so intricate, even Moshe is confused by them.  So, too, the garments we are called upon to make for our desire, so that we might ‘properly express our love of G-d’, are so detailed, we might be tempted to spend all of our time and energy learning about them.  Or, worse, we might find our fire dying from the daunting enormity of the task.  On the other hand, we are told that, like with the Mishkan, every detail is required in order to bring down the Divine Presence.  The temptation to express that desire by intuition alone might lead one far from the path.

The light without the proper vessel leads to painful separation, but the vessel without the light leaves no fire in that relationship.  And both sides beckon seductively – it is all too easy to hide in the minutiae of the law, forever pursuing the ‘right way’ and never being able to commit to one action for fear that there is a better one.  And it is also all too tempting to throw the ‘letter’ aside in favor of the ‘spirit’.  Neither approach leads to G-d – only in honoring the narrow bridge that spans the chasm between the way of light and the way of structure can we be assured of finding G-d. Once again we are met with garments that are necessary, but threaten to obscure.

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The word mitzvah implies not only commandment, but also connection, as written in Degel Machane Ephraim, Kedushat Levi, Sfat Emet, and more.  A mitzvah provides opportunity for connection, but bears the danger of the opposite, as it says in Yoma 72b ‘if he merits, it is an elixir of life; if he does not, it is an elixir of death.’ Mitzvah is G-d saying ‘connect to me this way.’  But in doing so, one might take such relief in knowing ‘what to do’ that one might not feel obligated to invest that action with personal meaning.  Without the specified action, one cannot connect to G-d fully.  But with the action alone, one might create a perfect structure that is empty of G-d.

Therefore mitzvah must be seen not as an end in and of itself, but as a conduit for relationship to G-d in the world.  A mitzvah is how we access G-d’s manifest Presence.  Its fulfillment requires, but is not limited to, knowledge of ‘what G-d wants’.  And it requires, but is not limited to, desire to connect to G-d through the mitzvah.

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In prayer as well, it is tempting to lose one’s self in the words.  One might think that, with all these wonderful words and ideas, he need only say them to gain the desired effect of closeness to G-d.