Rabbi's Sermons

Shabbat Shalom!

This week's portion, Parashat Tetzave, begins with the command - of keeping a “Ner Tamid” - a "perpetual light", and immediately, two verses later, it changes the subject to indications about the garments of the priests, and especially, of the high priest. When the Masoretic sages divided the Torah into 5 books and 54 portions, they must have found a very special reason to include the two mentioned verses, dealing with the “Ner Hatamid” and the priests’ clothing, as the opening of this week's portion, and not splitting them or using them as the closing of the previous portion. What is the relationship between these two topics, that the sages saw fit to unite them, as the opening of this portion?

The two verses in Exodus 27, read as follows: “²⁰ And thou shalt command the children of Israel that they bring thee pure oil of beaten olives for the light to cause the lamp to burn always. ²¹ In the tabernacle of the congregation outside the veil, which is before the Testimony, Aharon and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel”. This is how we know that a light was always lit in the tabernacle, and later, in the temple, and to this day, the one we keep in all the synagogues all over the world: a light over the ark - The Ner Tamid. I can mention countless verses in the Bible which handle the concept of light. Perhaps, the best known, is found in the book of Proverbs 6:23 - "For the commandment is a lamp, and the Tora is the light". Hence, the Torah is a source of light, representing moral and justice values. Those who adhere to its teaching, will not err on their way, as Psalm 119:105 mentions: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path". But perhaps, one of the most beautiful verses, also comes from King Solomon, in his book of Proverbs 20:27 - "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of his being". In other words, we are all, in fact, lights created in the image of God.

As I mentioned in the beginning, after “Ner Tamid”, the Parasha abruptly changes the subject, to the priest's clothing and mentions the “Choshen” or pectoral. The breastplate is described, as follows: “¹⁵ And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with skillful work; according to the work of the ephod thou shalt make it: of gold, of blue and of purple, and of scarlet and of finetwined linen shalt thou make it. ¹⁶ Foursquare it shall be, and doubled: a span shall be the length thereof and a span shall be the breadth thereof. ¹⁷ And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle; this shall be the first row. ¹⁸ And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; ¹⁹ and the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst; ²⁰ and the fourth row a beryl and an onyx and a jasper. They shall be set in gold in their enclosings. ²¹ And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve according to their names, like the engravings of a signet; every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes”. The Choshen was, itself, a square plate with twelve precious stones inlaid, symbolizing each of the tribes of Israel. For the priest, the stones symbolized the children of Israel themselves, for whom he served as a messenger. The Midrash Shemot Rabbah 38:10, mentions that this peculiar Choshen, represented the privileges which the children of Israel had before the divinity, privileges which protected, not only the people, but the high priest himself - the messenger, who, in his name, would have to atone for the sins of the people and speak in their stead.

But what did the breastplate symbolize for the children of Israel? Let us imagine now, that we lived in that period of time, and that all of us belonged to the tribe of Naphtali, for example. When seeing the breastplate, we would proudly identify on the chest of the high priest, the stone that symbolized our tribe, a precious, beautiful, and radiant stone. We would be proud to see it! But, perhaps, the most important thing, is that around that stone that represented our tribe, we would realize, that there are other precious stones: the stone that symbolizes the tribe of Dan, Asher, Benjamin, etc. And we would understand, they are all precious stones, they are all included in the breastplate, that they are all located at the same distance from each other in a formation of four rows of three stones each. All of them were important in the same way, as your own tribe, as you are. How necessary it is, to remind ourselves, we are ALL precious stones. How necessary it is, to remind ourselves, ALL that surrounds us, is also precious stones: perhaps, different in their names, skin tone, hair color, height and complexion, different eye color, another form in which they radiate light, a different beauty, all at the same distance, with the same rights, the same virtues, all on a single plane of holiness before the Divine. None of those other stones has lesser importance, neither do we, possess a superiority to them. There is no one who is more worthy, nor more special. We are ALL, simply different stones, located in the same Choshen, and all close to the Divine. How necessary it is, to remind ourselves - we are all lights of the Divinity, and that we must see not only our light and radiance, but also the light and radiance of others, those near and far, those of different gender or sexual tendencies, those of different color of skin, those of different faiths, Jews and non-Jews.

This manifests the connection between the symbolism of the light of the “Ner Tamid”, the perpetual candle, and the Choshen, the breastplate that hanged from the high priest's chest. Next week we will celebrate Purim and shall give Matanot Laevionim - gifts to those in need, then we will approach Passover, and we will have to remember the Mitzva of "Kamcha Depascha", to collect food packages, so that all those in need will be able to celebrate Passover in a dignified way. Doing social justice, Tikun Olam, fixing the world and helping others, eventually helps us to keep a Ner Tamid lit, a light that always radiates from us, a light that we can offer to all the other gemstones of this “breastplate of the world”. Every person, whoever they are, even if they are so different from us, and even if it may be difficult to understand, is a precious person, and when we may reach such level of understanding about those around us, we may reach human levels of sensitivity, that will allow us to grasp the divinity everywhere, at all times and in all places.

Shabat Shalom!

Rabbi David Laor

March 7^th, 2025