Pekudei (5760)

With God's help, on the eve of the holy Sabbath of the Pekudei portion, 5760.

What do priestly garments and a Purim costume have to do with one another

A considerable part of the Pekudei portion is devoted to the garments of the priests, and especially of the High Priest. An ordinary priest

wears four garments while serving in the Temple, and the High Priest eight. In these portions there are

detailed commandments regarding the form of these garments and the manner of making them.

In the Scroll of Esther as well, which we will, God willing, read on the approaching Purim, there is a significant engagement with the subject

of clothing. It begins with 'white cotton and blue wool,' etc. (Esther 1:6), which served as draperies at Ahasuerus's feast; the continuation

of the discussion concerns Queen Vashti, whom the king ordered to have brought with the royal crown upon her head (and the Sages expounded

that this meant without her clothes; Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 12b), afterward the women presented to King Ahasuerus prepared their attire for the meeting

with him (although the Scroll specifically mentions the perfumes, which are also a kind of covering). Mordechai (like the entire

people of Israel) wears sackcloth and ashes, and Esther sends her maidens to the king's gate to clothe him in garments.

Esther, as she enters the king's presence, puts on royalty (Esther 5:1), and Haman proposes, and later also carries out, clothing

Mordechai in royal garments and mounting him on the horse. And at the end of all the events Mordechai goes out from before the king

in royal apparel of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple (Esther 8:15). All this without yet

having mentioned the accessories associated with clothing, such as the scepter, the ring, and the crown, which also play

an important part in the events of the Scroll.

The Scroll of Esther, as the Sages expound, describes the hiddenness within creation. All the events unfold

on the natural plane, while behind them, in a hidden way, God is present. This is a characteristic of creation

as a whole. Everything proceeds naturally, but behind nature stands God, who sets it in motion (see

our remarks on the Bereshit portion).

Clothing more than anything else expresses the concealment of the person himself, the natural person, behind artificial

creations. There is no escaping such a mode of existence in our world after Adam's sin, when God made

clothing, tunics of skin, in place of the fig leaf, for human beings (Genesis 3:21). Before that the situation was natural and there was

no need for concealment, but afterward creation became more detached from its Creator, more artificial

still.[1] Perhaps for this reason the priests who serve in the Temple are given detailed commands regarding the concealment of

their selfhood behind their garments.[2]

On Purim one of the aims is to try to relive the state that existed before the sin. When wine enters, a secret emerges (Babylonian Talmud, Eruvin 65a).

Drinking on Purim is meant to bring the inside outward, and to cease for a while hiding behind

the accepted social norms (which are certainly desirable). A person returns to behaving and being what he is,

and not what those around him expect of him.

The custom of dressing up and wearing masks on Purim would seemingly point to the opposite meaning. We hide

ourselves behind masks that are more artificial than during the rest of the year. It seems to me that this is not the correct interpretation.

Our everyday behavior is generally derived from what is expected of us, and therefore the supposedly

'natural' person, the one of everyday life, is entirely a mask, as it is written: 'All the world is a stage' (Shakespeare, As You Like It, 2.7).

Wearing masks on Purim is meant to conceal our ordinary masks and to allow ourselves, once

a year, to be ourselves. A person who hides behind a mask sheds his ordinary forms

that give his surroundings, and sometimes himself as well, the illusion that this is who he truly is.

The artificial mask, precisely because of its artificiality, is never interpreted as representing the person

himself. When a person is wearing a mask, the gaze will be directed precisely toward the inner self, with the gracious assistance

of the wine whose role is to bring that inner self outward.

There are those who drink wine, and what comes out is unfit to be out in the open; this points to their

sad state within, that of the self hidden all year. All year one perhaps does not see what is concealed

inside, but on Purim it comes out. In the case of one whose interior is worthy of emerging, the wine merely enhances

what shines through him. In this way one can see what is usually hidden from us. Scholars,

heads of seminaries, and other spiritual figures, after drinking wine become gushing springs, and it is a delight

to be in their vicinity. Apparently this spring exists throughout the year, and Purim is an opportunity

to behold it up close. This phenomenon is familiar to seminary students everywhere, who look forward to Purim, not

in order to catch their teacher in disgrace, because usually they will not be able to do so. Only one who indeed

has something hidden within him that deserves disgrace can be caught in disgrace on Purim.

The priests' garments in our portion parallel our everyday clothes, the permanent costume, the one that conceals

authentic selfhood.[3] On Purim we seemingly add a layer, but in fact we merely

conceal the previous layer in order to expose the more inward one. Also on the Day of Atonement,

when only the High Priest serves in the Temple, he does so in white garments. The Day of Atonement,

as the Sages expounded, is a day 'like Purim' (Tikkunei Zohar 57b).

Have a peaceful Sabbath

This may be consigned to respectful burial in any synagogue or seminary. Comments and responses will be welcomed.

———————–

[1] In our remarks on the Ki Tisa portion we saw that sometimes, when a situation changes, what is post facto becomes the ideal from the outset.

There is neither point nor possibility in reconstructing the previous situation. There too we saw this in the context of the condition created

in the wake of Adam's sin.

[2] It seems to me that there is an additional layer of meaning there, namely, that the priests are not performing a private service,

and therefore they are not permitted to appear in a form of dress that seems right to them in a private sense. They are representatives of the collective,

and as such they are commanded to conceal what is private to them.

[3] This should be distinguished from the obvious connection specifically between the priests' garments and Purim costumes. It is interesting

to note in this context that priests are forbidden to serve after drinking wine (Leviticus 10:9). They are required to preserve the masks (this

of course is not the accepted interpretation of this law).

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