Kohanim, clothes and the worth of a good name

Much of this week’s Torah reading of parashat Tetzaveh consists of highly detailed instructions for making, wearing and using the clothes worn by Kohanim when they perform their official duties. Of its 101 verses, a full 50 are dedicated to this theme.

Pirkei Avot makes just one mention of any item of apparel relating to the Kohanim: Rabbi Shimon teaches (Avot 4:17) that there are three crowns—the crowns of Torah, of the priesthood and of kingship—and that the crown of a good name rises above them all.

Many classical commentators do not connect this mishnah with priestly garb. Instead, they treat this teaching as an exercise in mishnah as metaphor. For example:

• The Bartenura regards the three crowns as epitomising virtues that are based on status alone: one should honour the wise, respect that sanctity of the holy and be in fear of the authorities. The crown of a good name is added when these qualities are backed up by good deeds. The commentary ascribed to Rashi agrees, adding that not all of these qualities is found in everyone, whereas the ability to perform good deeds is open to all. Citing Rabbi Moshe Alshakar, Rabbi Shmuel di Uçeda (Midrash Shmuel) offers a variation on this theme: the crown of a good name is a sort of validating factor. A person may be born a Kohen, master the Torah or inherit the kingship, but he cannot truly be said to bear the crown of any of them unless he has acquired a good name too, through his own actions.
  
  
• Rambam, Ritva and others enlarge upon the mishnah by alluding to inherited status, the point being that two of the three crowns were given to Israel as an inheritance. Thus Aaron was entitled by birth to the crown of priesthood and David the crown of kingship. In each case, as Maharam Shik notes, it was Aaron and David respectively who added lustre to their crowns. In contrast, the crown of Torah is open to all. Anyone can become entitled to it and deserve it through their efforts—and it is only through knowledge of Torah that the crown of a truly good name can be obtained.
  
  
• Other commentators take the word “crown” literally. In this mishnah the Hebrew word for “crown” is keter. This word is not found in parashat Tetzaveh or anywhere else in the Torah but it is recorded in the Book of Esther and gained popularity thereafter. Rabbenu Yonah and others treat keter as a synonym for zer—a word found in the Torah that is often translated as “crown” but which the three most popular modern translations—those of Rabbis Kaplan, Steinstalz and Sacks—all render as “rim”. According to this explanation (echoed by the Maharal and Alshich), the zer Shulchan (“rim of the table”) in the Mishkan is the crown of kingship, the zer mizbe’ach (“rim of the altar”) is the crown of priesthood and the zer hakaporet (“rim of the covering of the holy Ark”) indicates the crown of Torah because the Ark housed the two tablets of the Ten Commandments. This explanation, for all its attraction, does not however suggest a compelling basis for comparing these crowns with the crown of a good name.

While mainstream commentators on Avot steer away from linking the crown of the Kohen to any of the priestly apparel mentioned in parashat Tetzaveh, there are others who do. Rabbi Yosef Messas (Nachalat Avot vol 4b, derash 253) links the keter in our mishnah to the tzitz, the pure gold headplate worn by the Kohen Gadol as a means of atoning for the offering up of blood and sacrificial animal parts that were tameh, ritually impure. Having made this connection, Rabbi Messas’ discussion of the mishnah veers off into an investigation of the crown of the Torah, offering no explanation of what the tzitz—which is in any event placed on the forehead and not where a crown would sit—might have to do with the crown of a good name. The Notzer Chesed of Komarno also alludes to the keterbeing the tzitz, in a complex and esoteric kabbalistic explanation of the mishnah that is founded on the Idra Zuta.

So where do these differing approaches to the Kohen’s crown leave us? To summarise: (i) parashat Tetzaveh makes no explicit mention of a crown in its list of clothing and accessories worn by Kohanim; (ii) the parashah mentions two items of headgear only—the mitznefet (a cloth mitre, which is never, it seems, described as a crown) and the tzitz, a headplate that is worn on the forehead; (iii) the majority of commentators on Avot do not connect the word keter in this mishnah with the tzitz; (iv) those commentators who do make the connection do so only in passing and do not seek to relate the tzitz to the notion of there being a crown of a good name that is greater than the crowns of Torah, priesthood and kingship.

I would venture to suggest that the best way to approach Rabbi Shimon’s Mishnah is to start by asking what it is about. From his choice of words it does not appear that he was seeking to establish, as some commentators have suggested, that the crown of Torah was greater than those of priesthood and kingship, or to draw a distinction between inherited and acquired status. It also appears that his objective was to emphasise the value of a good name, regardless of a person’s status (as in the case of kings and Kohanim) or achievements (as in the case of Torah scholars). The selection of the word keter, which is not found in the Torah, suggests that the Tanna did not intend to import any reference to the Torah’s text, to the zer or to the tzitz of the Kohen Gadol. Rather, as both the Bartenura and the commentary ascribed to Rashi indicate, Rabbi Shimon was employing a metaphor.

If we take this view, our mishnah can be read together with the teaching of another Shimon—this time Shimon HaTzaddik (Avot 1:2)—that the world stands on three things: Torah, Temple service and acts of kindness. These correspond to the realm of the Torah scholar, the Kohen and the monarch (see Berachot 3b on the expectation that the king will provide sustenance for his subjects). Some Torah scholars, priests and kings have a reputation that is tarnished (eg the apostate scholar Elisha ben Avuyah; the early Kohen Gadol Eli; kings Achav, Menashe); others have a good name (eg Rabbi Akiva; Aaron; David). In the first case, it is the status that enhances the man. In the second, it is the man who adds lustre to the status.