Shabbat Shalom and Chag Purim! This week's portion is about... priests?
nope not that guy.
I'm talking about Jewish priests (aka those guys who were in charge of the Tabernacle)
Aaron and his sons were chosen to be the priests. The torah turns into a fashion manual by giving detailed instructions to the priests to weave gold into their clothing and *GASP* wear wool and linen together etc. This whole wool and linen thing comes from an obscure law saying that we can't wear the two fabrics together... but no one knows why. So if these priests were so fashionable, does that mean they were in charge of the Fabernacle? Or maybe the Swaggernacle? Hmm I'll have to consult Rabbi and get back to you on that...
Now that the Tabernacle was set up, it needed something to make it special. It already had the material beauty of gold, silver and bronze but the spiritual element was missing. The Israelites are commanded to bring pure olive oil and light a Ner Tamid. We still have one on our sanctuary (yes it uses a lightbulb but the times have obviously changed)
The lesson I'm taking from all of this is that beautiful things are holy things. Sure, gold and silver are pretty but when you give them a spiritual meaning they become holy. I'm not telling you to worship gold (we'll talk about that next week), I'm telling you to make yourself feel beautiful. This weekend, treat your body like a temple and adorn yourself with what ever makes you feel good. Sparkles, your favorite outfit, a perfume you save for special occasions, whatever! And make sure you share your holy beauty with others :)
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