Parshat Tetzaveh; Exodus 27:20 – 28:38 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger

Jews in America have long been associated with the shmatta business. Shmatta is the Yiddish term for rag. This is a humorous term to describe the clothing business. Many Jewish immigrants that came to America in the late 1800’s – 1920’s became laborers in the early clothing business. Some were tailors and furriers in small shops throughout America. Many others became piece workers in early clothing factories. They supplied the cheap labor for grueling detail work. Some became peddlers who sold dry goods and or rags (shmattas); others sold fabric and already made clothes from town to town. Some grew their business selling fabric - like Levi Strauss. Many peddlers eventually settled and their peddling carts became small stores and eventually clothing stores. Some of the early German Jewish immigrants became the core of the men’s clothing industry. Some of these stores grew to large Department stores –bearing Jewish names like Gimbels, Lazaruses, Goldsmiths, Abraham and Strauss, Lerners, Magnins, Altmans, and May, etc.
Some estimates say that at the earliest parts of the twentieth century more than 30 percent of the Jewish community in the United States was connected to the garment industry.

This week’s Torah portion, Tetzaveh is perhaps some of the beginnings of that connection to garments. God tells Moses to instruct the Children of Israel to make the garments and accessories of the priesthood and specifically the High Priest. The Torah portion goes into great detail about the design of the sacred garments that will be worn by Aaron, Moses’ brother, the High Priest, and his sons when carrying out their holy duties of sacrifice in the Tabernacle. God particularly calls out to Moses’ that these shouldn’t be made by just anyone but by “all those who are skillful, whom I have endowed with the gift of skill, (Ex. 28:3).” These special garments and sacred accessories will be made by skilled artisans following the unique designs describe by none other than the Heavenly Fashion Designer! This week’s portion gives new meaning to the notion of Fashion Week.

Each part of the High Priest’s ensemble is described in great detail and there are instructions for fashioning each piece. The priest will wear not just the tunic and special robe but he will also wear a breast plate, an ephod, a special sash and headdress. Only the finest of linen and yarns will be used. These garments will be made with special colors and dyes—royal colors of blue, purple and crimson. The breast piece will be made of gold and precious and semi-precious stones each signifying one of the 12 tribes. This High Priest will have bling!

These former slaves will clothe their new High Priest in royal attire. It is conceivable that both men and women worked to create these special clothes and special accessories as the skills needed include both metal work, sewing, weaving, and jewelry making. Some of which were also traditionally women’s work.

Parshat Terumah; Exodus 25:1-27:19 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger

In the weeks preceding our Torah portion, Terumah, God speaks to the Children of Israel from Mt. Sinai. It is a majestic and craggy mountain peak in the wilderness. The voice of God is heard amid the smoke and trumpets from the mountain peak. It is frightening and impressive! God calls out the Ten Commandments to the Children of Israel and they each hear the voice of the Holy One in his or her own way.

Now in this portion God speaks to Moses yet again. This time the instructions are to build God’s dwelling place here on earth. They are to build a tabernacle that will be the “sanctuary that I may dwell among them (Ex. 25:8).” This is the mikdash. It will be the worship site for the Children of Israel for many years until King Solomon will finally build a permanent mikdash in Jerusalem on Mt. Moriah many centuries later. The genius of this sanctuary of God is its portability. Each piece that God commands Moses and the Children of Israel to build this week is designed to be portable. The entire tabernacle is contained within a special tent. And each utensil including the holy ark of the covenant that will contain the teachings of God will be carried place to place. God will go with the people!

Although the Teachings of God came to the Children of Israel from atop a very impressive mountain, the Teaching of God and God will dwell wherever the Children of Israel go on their journey. But God will also dwell in a specific place within the Tabernacle.

Rabbi Sonsino in a commentary on parshat Terumah posted at the Union for Reform Judaism website (www.urj.org) has pointed out that once the Tabernacle is built and the Ark of Covenant is built, (the instructions for its building are also contained in this week’s portion) God will speak from atop the Ark of the Covenant. The portion explains that from between the two cherubim to be fashioned on the top cover of the ark, God will in the future speak to Moses and the people. “There I will meet with you, and I will impart to you from above the cover, from between the two cherubim that are on top of the ark of the Pact all that I will command you concerning the Israelite people” (Ex. 25:22). Tradition teaches that top of the Ark of the Covenant was none other than the footstool of God.

But now the most sacred place will not be a mountain in the desert but will travel with the people. And although later in Jewish history, the Temple was built on a specific mountain in Jerusalem, we must also know that there is an opportunity to meet God wherever we are. God goes where we go and can speak to us from even the most barren places. God speaks to us not only as some distant voice in the heavens but also from within our midst. God speaks to us close to the Law and teaching of our tradition. God speaks out from the ethics and values of our people contained in Ark of the Covenant. Atop the Ark is where the Divine emanates from.

Parshat Mishpatim; Exodus 21:1-24:18 By, Rabbi Denise L. Eger

This week the Torah reveals more details of the covenant with God. Last week the Ten Commandments were revealed to Moses and the Children of Israel. This week God shares with Moses a highly developed legal code that covers both criminal and civil law. These form the core of our Halakah, our Jewish legal system. There are laws on slavery and property, laws about ownership and money. There are also laws that we would categorize as more religious having to do with idolatry and Israelite cultic religion, the observance of the shmitta or sabbatical year and the Sabbath.

The brilliance of this system is that there is no division between those things that today we would call secular law and religious law. It is part of the same fabric in this week’s portion Mishpatim. All of it comes from its source—God. All of these statues have equal weight.

And this is why we observe them as Jews. At the foot of Mt. Sinai so long ago we said we will do it and we will listen. The source of our responsibility is that we believe that there is a force, a larger calling by that which we name as God to lift ourselves up to a stronger moral code of behavior. We strive to make our base human responses holy through the law. Perhaps this code is ever evolving from ancient days but one that we continually strive towards achieving.

So for example in this week’s portion there is a discussion of slavery. This is an anathema to us in the year 2007. But in the ancient world slavery was part of the economic reality of its day. The laws of slavery as discussed in the legal code of Exodus gave some dignity to the slave and some parameters of decency that the slave owner must adhere to. Slavery was not a permanent condition according to the Torah but a situational one. “When you acquire a Hebrew slave, that person shall serve six years and shall go free in the seventh year without payment (Ex. 21:2).” Imagine what this sounds like to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. They had just left Egypt after more than 400 years of slavery for the Hebrews in Egypt. Can they even imagine owning a slave? Since they were slaves but a mere three months ago? And if they owned a slave, would they treat him or her with the same disdain and oppression and terror they experienced in Egypt? Or having walked in those sandals would they treat him/her with a different kind of dignity. And can any Israelite even imagine having to go back to servitude after tasting freedom?

Nevertheless this week’s portion recognizes that there might be desperate times or situations when someone might have to become a slave. But the wisdom of torah mitigates. Thus slavery is time limited to six years. And how economically feasible is it to only have a slave for such a short period of time? Further later Halakah required any Jew who had slaves to make sure their slaves were Jewish. Thus the slave must be given Shabbat off and then must be set free after six years of service!

So while Exodus doesn’t come out and repudiate slavery (which we wish it did), it does make it so unpalatable as to make it difficult have slaves and to make it work as an economic reality.

Thus Halakah is evolving over time through the application of the law and the ways the rabbis interpret it.

So as we read through the various laws and rules and statues. We cannot only read the Torah text alone. We must read it with an eye to this history of Jewish law and how it develops through history and time. Knowing that today, it still undergoes transformation in Jewish life and our lives.