20: Tetzaveh
Welcome to TLDR Torah: a synopsis of the weekly parsha based on Robert Alter’s translation, plus a question to spur your Shabbat dinner (or any!) conversation.
Parsha Tetzaveh (Exodus 27:20-30:10)
TLDR:
Telescoping in, the Torah turns from the building of the Tabernacle to the priests’ dress and sacrificial offerings in gory detail.
Aaron and his sons are selected as priests, and directed to make garments to consecrate them (see the picture below). The most stand-out piece is the breastplate with the “urim & thummim” and 12 stones with the tribes of Israel.
Note: no one knows what the “urim & thummim” are. There’s conjecture that they were two stones with different letters engraved that gave a binary “yes” / “no” response to a question — a bit like an 8-ball oracle.
But dressing like a priest doesn’t make you a priest! There’s an elaborate cultic ritual to make it official.
The priests take a bull, two rams, and bread to the Tabernacle. They bathe in water and dress. They put their hands on the bull’s head, then slaughter it and spill the blood on the alter. The good meat is burned there, the bad parts (flesh, hide and dung) outside camp. It’s roughly the same with the first ram.
But here’s where things get really creative. They slaughter the second ram, then put the blood on their right earlobe, thumb, and toe and sprinkle the blood on their garments: a priestly and bloody Pollock. Blood, like water, was a purifying agent.
There’s more detail about sacrifices, and who can eat what’s leftover and when, followed by a seven-day ceremony to ordain the priests.
The parsha concludes with directions for an alter to burn incense.
Question:
These rituals may be foreign to you, but you have to admit, the priests got style. With majestic clothing and gravitas-inducing sacrifices, the priests needed to make a strong impression on the people, especially if they were to be a dynastic organization. Putting aside the ritual (before you dismiss the clothing, consider the utility of a bowtie), this is the first time we encounter a hereditary-based elite stemming from Aaron. Why Aaron? And where is Moses’ sons (recall, they didn’t go through the Exodus, but met up with the Moses afterwards in the desert)? Why wasn’t Moses considered for this role?