Wearing our Judaism well
The 14th century Rabbi, Yaakov ben Asher, codified Jewish law in a compendium called the Tur (short for Arba Turim, the ‘four columns’) which became the basis for the subsequent authoritative code of Jewish law known as the Shulchan Aruch. This was a momentous event in the history of Judaism’s rich legal tradition. I find it fascinating that the name of this voluminous work is derived from this week’s Torah portion “And you shall put a mounting of stones in it; four columns of stone…”(Ex. 28:17). The context is a description of the priestly vestments and the features of the breastplate to be worn by the high priest. Why derive the name for a legal collection that prescribes behaviors that span the totality of Jewish life from this seemingly arcane aesthetic detail? Perhaps to imply that how we live as Jews has everything to do with how we wear our Judaism. Purim costumes this weekend represents our annual deviation from our normative garments that both reflect and inform our values. Naming an entire code of Jewish law in honor of the central feature of priestly fashion suggests that all of Jewish behavior orbits around the dignity with which one is robed.
The recent parade of public apologies from professional athletes to political leaders has produced a new genre of media ritual. Contrition is good for the soul; but when tightly manipulated by p.r. handlers it doesn’t even make for good ratings. Integrity requires an alignment between the soul and the surface. What we wear may or may not say something about a sense of fashion, but the clothing lessons of this week’s Torah portion and Purim holiday suggest that garments stand for more than manikins and window dressing. How we wear our values – from the holidays we celebrate to the ways we eat, speak, sleep, and spend our money – the author of the ‘four columns’ reminds us, is, was, and always can be Divinely fashionable.
An observation from current day news comes to mind as very slightly related, allowing for a bit of a stretch. Sometimes, the name in which an athlete is garbed can unintentionally bring Jewish attention and pride to Torah, while simultaneously producing good ratings. I’m thinking of Torah Bright, Australian gold medal winning snowboarder from the current Winter Olympics, a Mormon. Last Shabbat, synagogue sermons, elsewhere in Brookline and at many shuls worldwide, focused with pride on all the “Go Torah” signs displayed along on the mountain during her winning run, on the brightness G-d has given the world through Torah, and many Jews who may not typically focus on Torah shared in the pride. In fact, we now learn that her parents chose the name Torah after her sister’s Jewish piano teacher told them that the word Torah means “bearer of a great spiritual message,” possibly making all the publicity about this a type of Kiddush HaShem. Trying to relate this somewhat to Purim, we not only focus on garments on Purim, but also on names, honoring some while noisily reacting to one specific person’s name (Haman), to show that we oppose the values he represented.