Burial Shrouds & the High Priest's Clothing
In this week’s parsha, Tetzaveh, we read about the garments of the High Priest.
See Exodus 28:2.
וְעָשִׂ֥יתָ בִגְדֵי־קֹ֖דֶשׁ לְאַהֲרֹ֣ן אָחִ֑יךָ לְכָב֖וֹד וּלְתִפְאָֽרֶת׃ Make sacral vestments for your brother Aaron, for dignity and adornment.
The Kohen Gadol had eight vestments:
Pants- Michnasayim
Tunic- Kutonet
Belt- Avnet
Hat - Migba’at
Apron- Ephod
Breastplate with 12 stones- Choshen Mishpat
Coat- Me’il
Golden headpiece- Tzitz
This week I took my senior girls to a funeral home. We did this because we had just completed a unit on Death & Mourning in our Life Cycles curriculum. I have been interested in death, including Judaism’s sacred last rites, for a very long time. Those interested can read my post from 2007 about ‘Tahara: The Last Kindness’ which covers a lot of that material.
(High school teachers- The Final Journey: How Judaism Dignifies the Passage compiled and edited by Rochel Berman & Jonathan Kroll is a very useful guide to assist you in teaching about these topics. I recommend it.)
My students had the honor of meeting Danya, a longtime member of the Chicago Chevra Kadisha and learning about her involvement in the organization. Her presentation was powerful. She also elaborated on the changes that were implemented due to COVID. I had not realized before that while I was grateful for first responders, I should also be thankful to those individuals who risked themselves to perform taharas (as much as was allowed) in the early days of the pandemic, when there were no vaccines, few treatments and the strong possibility of contracting the illness and dying.
(For those curious, at the beginning of the pandemic, COVID patients came to the funeral home in a red biohazard bag. The tahara team knotted the ties around the legs/ ankles while the body remained in the bag. They also said all the proper tefillot. The tachrichim were spread out on top of the body, and the earth was sprinkled on top of it as well. Taharas needed to take 30 minutes or under and everyone on the team was wearing Hazmat suits. When the individual was actually buried, a hole needed to be cut in the red bag so that the deceased would be able to return to the earth more quickly.)
One of the things that I impress upon my students is that the burial shrouds, or tachrichim, are modeled after the High Priest’s garments. See the Yalkut Shimoni:
ויעש ה' אלהים לאדם ולאשתו כתנות עור וילבישם…דבר אחר מה כתיב למעלה ויעש ה' אלהים כתנות עור וילבישם מלמד שעשה לו הקב"ה בגדי כהונה כענין שנאמר והנה איש לבוש הבדים וכתיב כתנת בד קדש ילבש מכאן אתה למד שכהן גדול דומה למלאך כי מלאך ה' צבאות הוא למה הדבר דומה למלך שראה קרתי אחד והלבישו כבני פלטין א"ל בני פלטין למלך אפילו אותו שהוא קרתני הוא כמונו כך אמרו המלאכים לפני הקב"ה אפילו אדם שהוא יציר עפר הרי הוא כמונו. הן ה
“And Hashem made clothing [for Adam and Chava] and he dressed them”- This comes to teach that Hashem made them clothing of the Kohen Gadol…and the Kohen Gadol in turn resembles an angel. To draw an analogy, the king had a dear friend and dresses him just like members of his palace, whereupon the ministers note the resemblance between this “outsider” and themselves. So too, the angels note the similarity between themselves and Adam who, despite his earthly comparison, looks like the angels.
The dressing of the deceased in white linen clothing and specifically eight articles of clothing just like the Kohen Gadol serves to demonstrate the striking resemblance between man and angel.
(This translation comes from ‘The Final Journey: How Judaism Dignifies the Passage.’)
This reminds me of Hamlet.
What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me. No, nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so.
So man, this quintessence of dust, is made to resemble the Kohen Gadol, who in turn resembles an angel. And it is wearing those tachrichim, those burial shrouds, that we go to greet our Maker.
Here is an interesting fact related to tachrichim that recently appeared in Daf Yomi. See Moed Katatn 27b.
בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה הָיְתָה הוֹצָאַת הַמֵּת קָשָׁה לִקְרוֹבָיו יוֹתֵר מִמִּיתָתוֹ, עַד שֶׁהָיוּ קְרוֹבָיו מַנִּיחִין אוֹתוֹ וּבוֹרְחִין. עַד שֶׁבָּא רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל וְנָהַג קַלּוּת רֹאשׁ בְּעַצְמוֹ, וְיָצָא בִּכְלֵי פִשְׁתָּן, וְנָהֲגוּ הָעָם אַחֲרָיו לָצֵאת בִּכְלֵי פִשְׁתָּן. אָמַר רַב פָּפָּא: וְהָאִידָּנָא נְהוּג עָלְמָא אֲפִילּוּ בְּצַרְדָּא בַּר זוּזָא.
Likewise, at first taking the dead out for burial was more difficult for the relatives than the actual death, because it was customary to bury the dead in expensive shrouds, which the poor could not afford. The problem grew to the point that relatives would sometimes abandon the corpse and run away. This lasted until Rabban Gamliel came and treated himself very simply and arranged for himself to be buried in linen clothing. And the people adopted this practice after him and had themselves taken out for burial in linen garments.
Nowadays, following this custom, everyone is dressed in the same simple white garments. We are alike in death, alike before God- no matter whether we were rich or poor in life. These garments do not contain pockets, to symbolize we cannot take anything with us when we die.
So when you learn the parsha, and all the details pertaining to the garments of the priests, it may intrigue you to bear in mind that one day you too will be dressed in those clothes. Holy before God.