Parshas Tetzaveh
By Rabbi Dovid Zauderer
FRIDAY NIGHT SHABBOS MEAL: “Yale University and the Urim V’Tumim”
Interviewer: How do you explain this four-year gap in your resume?
Me: That’s when I went to Yale.
Interviewer: That’s impressive. You are hired.
Me: Thanks, I really needed this Yob.
This joke talks to the high esteem in which Yale University is held by most people … and rightfully so. Indeed, Yale University is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. But what is not known by many is that on the Yale University Coat of Arms are inscribed in Hebrew letters the Hebrew words Urim and Tumim – words that find their source in this week’s Torah portion (see Exodus 28:30)
What exactly are the Urim and the Tumim, you ask? One of the four special garments that only the High Priest wore was the Choshen, or Breastplate. It was folded in half to form a pouch-like pocket. Into this pouch, Moses inserted a slip of parchment containing the Ineffable Name of G-d. This Name was called Urim, from the word ohr, light, because it would miraculously cause individual letters of the tribal names on the Breastplate to light up; and it was called Tumim, from the word Tamim, completeness, because, if read in the proper order, these luminous letters represented complete and true answers to the questions of national import that the High Priest would ask of G-d.
However, only with the Divine spirit guiding him was the High Priest able to read the lit-up letters in their proper sequence and interpret the answer correctly. So, for example, in the Biblical story of Hannah (I Samuel 1-13), the future mother of the prophet Samuel, when she entered the Sanctuary to pray for a child, Eli the High Priest saw her unusual demeanor and reckoned her to be a drunkard, rather than the supremely righteous woman she was. The Vilna Gaon contends that Eli the High Priest consulted the Urim v’Tumim regarding Hannah, and the four letters shin, chuf, reish, hei lit up. Instead of reading them correctly as ke’sheirah, a worthy woman, Eli mistakenly read the letters in the wrong order as shikorah, a drunken woman.
[Ed. note: Why the “secular” Yale University chose to include the Urim VTumim of the Bible on its Coat of Arms is anyone’s guess. We have to remember, though, that the Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Yale were largely founded as religious institutions. Yale, Harvard, Columbia, etc. all required the study of Hebrew and the Tanach as part of their curriculum. -dz]
SHABBOS MORNING MEAL: “Shut Up!”
One of the vestments that the High Priest wore while serving in the Tabernacle was the Me’il, a long robe made entirely of turquoise wool, with alternating golden bells and pomegranate-shaped tassels attached to its hem (see Exodus 28:31-35).
The Talmud in Zevachim 88b teaches that each of the High Priest’s vestments atoned for a different sin. The Mei’l atoned for the sin of lashon hara (slander and evil speech). As the Talmud explains: “Let a garment that produces sound [through the golden bells that were attached to the hem of the robe] atone for the sin of the sound [of slander]”.
The Bible commentators Kil Yakar and Toras Moshe (the Alshich HaKadosh) explain just how this atonement works.
In describing how to make the Me’il, the Torah states: “Its head-opening shall be folded over within it, its opening shall have a border all around of weaver’s work … it may not be torn” (ibid. verse 32). The Kli Yakar writes that the root cause of much of the gossip and slander that we speak is simply because we talk too much in general and that gets us into trouble because it inevitably leads to engaging in forbidden speech.
It is for this reason that G-d gave us two “guards” for our tongue – the teeth (a guard made of bone) and the lips (a guard made of flesh) - to ensure that we don’t let our tongue loose and engage in gossip or other forbidden speech.
So that if we want to atone for the sin of gossip and slander, we have only to look at the Me’il that the High Priest wore in the Tabernacle to remind ourselves how we got into trouble because we didn’t use the two guards that gave us to help keep our mouths shut.
This idea that talking too much is the cause of all our problems is further illustrated – explains the Toras Moshe – by the golden bells and pomegranate-shaped tassels hanging from the hem of the High Priest’s Me’il. Each one of the golden bells with a clapper inside, resembling an open mouth with a wagging tongue, was surrounded on both sides by pomegranate-shaped tassels, resembling a closed mouth. This is to remind us that for every one thing we say we should have two silences. In other words, we should keep our mouths shut more often than not, as this will save us from speaking what we shouldn’t be speaking and getting us into a lot of trouble.
The Toras Moshe adds that it is not for nothing that G-d created man with two eyes but with only one mouth. This is to remind him that only half of what he observes should he tell to others.
We see from here the importance of shutting up and only speaking when we need to, as it protects us from and atones for the sin of slander and evil speech.
THE THIRD SHABBOS MEAL: “Mission Accomplished”
Jonathan Pollard, who was recently sitting shivah (seven-day mourning period) for his wife Esther, z’’l, told Natan Sharansky and former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer about Esther’s chilling last words:
[Ed. note: Esther played a big role in Pollard’s ultimate release from prison. She also helped him on his journey to becoming a Torah-observant Jew. -dz]
“She was dying, and all of a sudden she opened her eyes,” Pollard said. “I don’t know where she was, she was looking up. And she said in a very small voice: ‘My neshamah (soul) volunteered to come back for two missions. One of the missions was to get you home. The other mission was to bring you home as a Jew and not a goy.'” “She said: ‘My first mission to bring you home was the easiest one of all.” “I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at that point,” Pollard wryly said. “But she said: ‘My hardest mission was to make sure that you return home as a Jew.” Pollard tearfully continued: “And she said: ‘Now that I’ve accomplished my mission, I can go home.’ And she died.” “I don’t know who she was,” Pollard said with awe. “I guess I’ll never know. But I do know one thing. She had as much love for all of you and this land as she had for me. And if we all remember that, maybe in the days, weeks, and months ahead, which could be very hard, but remember that we owe one another loyalty and support and love and understanding. Because that’s what she had for everybody.”
Are we accomplishing our G-dly given mission here on earth? Do we even know what our mission is? Hmm, something to think about …
[Sources: Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash; Yeshiva World News]
http://www.torchweb.org/torah_detail.php?id=699