Bells, Pomegranates, and Techeiles
Lashon Hara and the Priestly Garments – Problem and Cure
Our parsha is largely devoted to the topic of the priestly garments. The Gemara relates that the various special garments worn by the Kohen Gadol can help atone for different sins.[1] Specifically, it states that the me’il, the blue coat worn by the Kohen Gadol, atones for the sin of lashon hara.
How are these two connected?
At the hem of the me’il, is a row comprised alternately of gold bells and pomegranates spun from different materials.[2] Says the Gemara:
Let an item which produces a sound [the me’il whose bells chimed when the kohen gadol walked] come and atone for a matter involving a sound [lashon hara].
R’ Yitzchak Arama[3] explains that the atonements effected by the priestly garments are not magic cures, as if so long as the Kohen Gadol’s wardrobe is in order, then everything is in order. One cannot, for example, speak lashon hara to his heart’s content and then just expect to be “saved by the bells” of the Kohen’s me’il! Rather, each garment contains a message that relate to that articular sin which, if taken to heart, can help a person avoid the sin from the outset. What is the message of the me’il that relates to lashon hara?
As we mentioned, next to each bell is a pomegranate. The Gemara elsewhere[4] tells us that the pomegranate is an expression of everything that is good about the Jewish people: “Even the empty ones among you are full of mitzvos, like a pomegranate is full of seeds.”
This sounds somewhat puzzling. How can someone be both “empty” and “full of good deeds” at the same time? The answer is that there will always be redeeming features in any person. If you choose to ignore these positive points, you will see the person as empty. You may come to speak slander about your fellow because you feel there is nothing good to say about him. To this end, the Torah places a pomegranate next to each bell, as if to say, when you “ring your bell” and make a sound about a fellow Jew, see to it that it is a “pomegranate sound.” There is plenty of positive in others if you are prepared to see it. This is the antidote to lashon hara – and the pathway to its atonement.
From Procuring a Vision to Curing Division
Taking this discussion one stage further, we note that while there are bells and pomegranates at the hem of the me’il, the me’il itself is made entirely of techeiles — sky-blue thread. Let us ask, what role does this play in the message of positive speech?
The color techeiles is described by the Gemara[5] as having a certain spiritually evocative quality. Commenting on the requirement to put a thread of techeiles in the tzitzis, the Gemara explains: “Techeiles resembles the sea, the sea resembles the sky, and the sky resembles the Throne of Glory.”
If people generally possess both positive and negative qualities, what would impel a person to ignore all the positive and focus solely on the negative? Typically, one who denigrates and devalues others does so because he wishes to promote himself. To this end, the garment to whose hem the bells and pomegranates are attached is made entirely of techeiles. Acquiring and maintaining a vision which is working for the Glory of Hashem will help release a person from the compulsion to denigrate others in order to promote his own personal status. Moreover, this elevated vision can encourage him to see how that person, too, has qualities which can be used to further Hashem’s glory.
How interesting to note that the paragraph which we will soon recite after the Megillah reading describes the joy of the Jewish people, “בראותם יחד תכלת מרדכי – When they saw, all together, the techeiles of Mordechai.” Absorbing the message of the techeiles allowed them to rise above the fault-finding which had kept them apart from each other, and to rejoice in the miracle of the eternity of the Jewish people – all together!
May we embrace the much-needed days ahead, absorbing their live-giving message of always being able to recognize the abundance of merit and techeiles-quality in each and every Jew.
[2] Verse 33.
[3] Akeydas Yitzchak Shaar 51.
[5] Menachos 43b.