d’var torah
Dressing for the Occasion
Rabbi Barry Dov Lerner
Parshat Tetzaveh
W hen did “clothes make the
man” come into our vocab-
ulary and/or belief system?
Popular explanations attribute the
expression to Samuel Langhorne
Clemens, the pen name of Mark Twain.

But that is unfortunately inaccurate.

Yes, Twain did become a fashion state-
ment when he began wearing white
suits head to toe late in his career. But
the words go back very far.

That maxim actually originated
more than 400 years earlier during
the Middle Ages, found in the works
of Erasmus, a Dutch philosopher and
Catholic theologian, who created an
annotated collection of 800 Greek
and Latin proverbs, and years later
an expanded version containing 4,251
essays — a proverbial encyclopedia of
proverbs. Recorded in Latin, Erasmus
wrote “vestis virum facit,” meaning
“clothes make the man.”
Quintilian’s work “Institutions” cites
his source as Homer, who wrote
his epics about 7 or 8 B.C. In “The
Odyssey,” the key lines are: “From
these things, you may be sure, men get
a good report,” meaning Ulysses made
his impact — a good impression — by
way of fi ne threads and bling.

Not to be one-upped by classical
writers, Shakespeare (who wore his
fi ne Elizabethan white ruff with great
pride and dignity) weighed in on the
matter through Polonius: “The apparel
oft proclaims the man” (“The Tragedy
of Hamlet,” written c. 1600).

Professor Baruch J. Schwartz
(Hebrew University) wrote that four of
these priestly garments were exclusive
for a High Priest, called
, “the holy garments.” [Moses fi rst places
them upon Aaron at the consecration
of the priests (Leviticus 8:7–9). Aaron
wears them until his death, transferring
them to his son and successor Eleazar
immediately before he dies (Numbers
20:25–28). All successive High Priests
are commanded to wear them as well
(Exodus 29:30; see Leviticus 21:10).]
Four elaborate garments worn by the
priests fi gure prominently in the Torah
portion Tetzaveh, fi lling the entirety of
Exodus 28. But it is the Kohen Gadol’s
robe that has fascinated me for years.

It is the fi rst “real bell-bottoms” in
fashion history. But, why “bells” on the
hem? There are multiple theories. The one
most often heard: to let everyone know
that the Kohen Gadol is alive hearing
the bells move. Other theories of the
original bell-bottoms include (1) signify-
ing the teaching of the law by the high
priest; (2) they were a musical praise
to God; (3) they symbolize royalty like
kings in neighboring cultures; (4) and
they call for priestly vigilance to all
ritual details.

As he wrote: “Whether verbally or
dramatically, to worship God appar-
ently involves making Him (!) accessi-
ble, imaginable, familiar — in ancient
times as in our own.”
However, I agree with Schwartz.

The robe has bells to alert the Divine
presence to Aaron’s approach as he
enters the sanctuary so “that he does
not die,” as the Torah records. Just
that: Those were the instructions and
the promise for Israel. ■
Rabbi Barry Dov Lerner is retired
and provides kosher supervision for
Traditional Kosher Supervision in the
Greater Philadelphia area, while teach-
ing hands-on craft skills to make and
use properly holiday ritual objects. The
Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia
is proud to provide diverse perspectives
on Torah commentary for the Jewish
Exponent. The opinions expressed in
this column are the author’s own and do
not necessarily refl ect the view of the
Board of Rabbis.

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28 MARCH 2, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT