Dvar Torah on Parashah "Vayakhel/Pekudei"

Given by Gedaliah Knizhnik on March 17, 2007 (27 Adar 5767 )

This week we read two portions from the Torah, the last two portions of the book of Shemot: Vayakhel and Pekudei. These two sedrot are strange in that unlike the others, almost no new material is presented in them, and they are mostly composed of B'nei Yisrael doing what God commands Moshe in the previous sedrot. But that information is for another day. I'd like to focus on an important part of the sedra of Pekudei: the Ephod of the Cohen Gadol.

The Ephod was in itself an apron of twisted wool of different bright colors (in contrast to the plain linen Ephod worn on Yom Kippur), but worn on top of it, and so usually listed as part of it, was the breastplate that seems to be the trademark of the High Priest.

The "Choshen Hamishpat" or breastplate of judgment was indeed a very important part of the High Priest's ceremonial clothing. It was a rectangular piece of scarlet, purple, turquoise and gold twisted wool (the same materials and color as the Ephod) that measured half a cubit wide and a cubit long. This put it at about half a foot by one foot. The cloth was then folded over and sewn closed, leaving a square piece of cloth with sides measuring half a cubit each, or a quarter of a square foot. Straps were then sewn on to the corners, with two onyx stones inlaid into the shoulder straps in such a way that they ended up acting as epaulettes of a sort.

The front of the breastplate was decorated with twelve gold settings, each containing a single precious or semi-precious stone representing one of the twelve tribes, with the respective tribe's name carved onto the stone. Each of these stones is said to posses a special power that corresponds to the tribe. The stone of the tribe of Judah for instance, had the power to make enemies flee in battle, while the stone of the tribe of Asher had the power to make people fat (this was considered to be a good thing in those days).

As a random fact pertaining to the stones, it was not possible to carve the names in them with a chisel, or any other tool for that matter, because this would crack them, and render them unusable. How then were the stones carved? In the fifth chapter of the book of Pirkei Avot, in the 8th statement it is said: "Ten things were created just before Shabbat during the Six Days of Creation, and they are: the mouth of the earth; the mouth of the well; the mouth of the donkey; the rainbow; the manna; the stick; the shamir worm; the letters; the writing; and the luchos." Amazingly, the same statement also adds that some Rabbis add, among other things, the first tongs (after all, you need tongs to make tongs! What else are you going to hold the molten metal with, your hands?).

Of these ten, only one actually pertains to this topic: the shamir worm. The Gemarah explains the shamir in the laws of Sotah: the wayward wife (why it's explained there is beyond me). According to the Gemarah, the Shamir is a small worm of which only one exists. It is said to be able to cut through stone simply by moving, and for this reason was used to carve the stones for the Choshen and later by King Solomon to carve the stones of the Temple (metal tools being forbidden for this job).

Back to the actual Choshen, the folded over design was also not without purpose. Its purpose was simple however: to contain something. That something is strangely excluded from the parsha, though we know it is there, because God tells Moshe in the Sedra of Tetzaveh: "Into the Breastplate of Judgment shall you place the Urim and the Tumim..." The Urim and Tumim refer to a piece of parchment inscribed with the 72-letter name of God.

There are several opinions as to why there are two names for one piece of parchment. One simply states that there were in fact two names inside the Choshen, others go as far as to suggest that there were in fact two crystals within the Choshen. Several opinions state that the Urim and Tumim refers to the twelve stones upon the Choshen, though this does not explain why the Choshen was then made of folded over cloth.

Most opinions, however, maintain that there was still in fact, only one name within the Choshen. They hold that the names simply describe the effects of the Choshen. Urim, which comes from the word 'or', or light, shows that the answers "light up" for the priest, while Tumim, which comes from the word 'tam' or complete, shows that the answer was always perfect and complete. This is because the word tam is used to describe Jacob, as it says in the 25th chapter of the book of Bereishit: "and Jacob was a simple man who sat in tents". The words used are "V'Yaakov ish tam", and, seeing as it refers to one of the forefathers, the Rabbis interpret 'tam' to mean complete.

There is however another opinion that seems interesting to me. According to this opinion, there were two names, and each had a separate function. First, when the question was asked, the "Urim" name would cause the letters of the answer to light up, or protrude. However, since all the letters were illuminated at once, it was possible to read them in any order. The "Tumim" part of the name would then come in and give the Cohen Gadol 'complete' understanding of how to read the answer.

But all of these opinions share one flaw. All the opinions agree that God communicated his answers by causing the letters inscribed on the stones to light up. On the surface this seems a viable theory, but examined up close, there is a hole in it. None of the tribe's names contain the letters chet, tet, tzadi or kuf. How then did God get past this lack of letters

I found the answer in a book by Rabbi Moshe Polter on the Twelve Tribes. There he says that along with the names of the tribe, each stone had engraved on it six letters of the alphabet and several letters of the phrase "Avraham, Yitzhak, Yaakov, Shivtei Yeshurun", which by itself contains all four missing letters. This provided God with many extra letters to use in giving long-winded answers, though whenever it is recorded that God answers a question, as in the book of Shmuel Bet, his answers are short and to the point. So in a way, it was like a cell phone: text messages all the way!

The Vilna Gaon addresses the concept of the Urim V'Tumim that I described above. He describes for us what happens when there is a problem on our end, like the Cohen Gadol lacking in righteousness. When Hannah, the mother of Shmuel Hanavi came to the Mishcan to pray for a son, she prayed silently. This was an unusual type of prayer for that time. When the Cohen Gadol, Eli, saw her, he thought she was drunk, but just in case he asked Hashem. The letters hey, reish, caf, and shin lit up. They were meant to spell out the word C'shera, or acceptable, but Eli read it wrong, as Shichra, or drunk. He was proven wrong however, when he tried to throw her out.

This idea can be connected to our prayers. Eli was lacking, though what he was lacking in the Vilna Gaon does not specify, but it caused him to lose focus on God. When he asked the Choshen for help, he misinterpreted the answer. This is something we can relate to. Most of us cannot help thinking about other things when we pray. But when our minds are focused on other mundane things, how can we expect God to pay us any attention? In the same way, when Eli was not focused, God, who let him misinterpret the answer, did not heed him. However, if Eli had been focused, God would have listened, and God will listen to us if we keep our minds focused.

There is however, another question I would like to address. If the Choshen was such a simple and convenient way of talking to God, why didn't the Jews ask it for anything they needed to know in their everyday lives? For all we know, the Mishkan, and later the Beit HaMikdash could have been jammed with people wanting to know what flavor pie to have for dessert.

According to Rabbi Polter, there were laws that regulated who could ask and what. These laws were not recorded, but every Jew knew them. According to the laws there were only three types of people who could speak to God through the Choshen: the king; the Sanhedrin, or high court of 72 Rabbis; and anyone whose question pertained to the whole community. So in this way, the flow of people wanting to ask God a question was controlled.

But it is my opinion, that even when the questions asked were permissible, not all were answered. It is very probable that the wicked kings of Israel and of Judah would have come to the Cohen Gadol, who was oftentimes wicked himself, and ask the Choshen for help in times of trouble when their own false gods failed them. But they would receive no answer, or if they did get an answer, it would sound something like this: "You have reached the office of HaShem, please hold. Average wait from this point is 3 and a half years. Enjoy your wait".

We can learn a great deal from the Choshen. I believe that one of the greatest lessons of the Choshen is that God will never truly abandon us. This means that now, when we can no longer see or feel God's presence in the world, it is not that he is not there, but that we are no longer deserving of his direct attention. This is similar to the situation where God would not answer the wicked kings, even though He was still watching. However, when we return to the path that God has highlighted for us, we will once again be deserving of God's direct attention and His guidance. Then, we will once again have the Choshen and we will once again be able to use it for the good of our people.

Shabbat Shalom!

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