27 Apr PARASHAT ACHARE MOTTHE LESSON OF THE WHITE AND GOLD GARMENTS

We read in Parashat
Ahareh-Mot of the spe- cial service which the
Kohen Gadol would
perform on Yom Kip- pur in the Bet Ha’mikdash. One of the
many fascinating features of this service is
the special garments worn by the Kohen
Gadol. Yom Kippur marked the only time
any human being would enter the Kodesh
Ha’kodashim – the innermost chamber in
the Bet Ha’mikdash – and before enter- ing the Kohen Gadol would change out of
his ordinary priestly vestments and wear
plain white clothes. The reason, as the
Gemara explains, is “En Kategor Na’asa
Sanigor,” which literally means, “A pros- ecutor cannot become a defender.” The
standard garments of the Kohen Gadol
contained gold, and gold is reminiscent of
the Egel Ha’zahab (the golden calf). And
thus as the Kohen Gadol enters the sacred
chamber to beseech G-d for compassion
and forgiveness on behalf of the Jewish
people, he must not wear gold garments,
which bring to mind the grievous sin of
the golden calf. He therefore changes out
of his ordinary gold vestments and wears
special white garments when he enters the
Kodesh Ha’kodashim.
The question, however, arises, why
does the Kohen Gadol wear his ordinary
gold garments for the rest of the Yom Kip- pur service, when he is not in the Kodesh
Ha’kodashim? If wearing these garments
will have the adverse effect of bringing to
mind the golden calf, then why does the
Kohen Gadol not avoid them altogether
throughout the entirety of the Yom Kippur
service?
Many stories are told of great Sadikim
who always looked to see the positive,
admirable qualities of their fellow Jews.
The most famous of these is likely the
great Hassidic master Rabbi Levi Yishak
of Berditchev (1740-1809), who always
came to the defense of other Jews. It is told
that once on Tisha B’Ab he happened to
pass by a gentile-owned eatery and saw a
Jew sitting there and eating. The Rabbi ap- proached him and asked if he was aware
that it was Tisha B’Ab, when eating was
forbidden. The man apathetically an- swered that he was fully aware that it was a
fast day. The Rabbi proceeded to ask if the
man was aware of the fact that the food he
was eating was non-kosher, and the man
again calmly acknowledged that he knew
he was eating non-kosher food.
Rav Levi Yishak turned to the heavens
and said, “Master of world, look how wonderful Your children are! Even when they
disobey You, they still speak the truth!”
Stories like this one are certainly inspiring and set a crucial example for us
to follow, but they also raise an important
question: what happened to the Torah ob- ligation to reprimand our fellow Jew? In
the next Parasha, Parashat Kedoshim, the
Torah commands, “Hoche’ah Tochi’ah Et
Amitecha,” that we must point out mis- takes made by our fellow Jew in order to
help them improve. Needless to say, this
must only be done in a way and in a con- text that offers the realistic possibility of
effecting positive change. If one has rea- son to suspect that his criticism would be
ignored or rejected, then he must not say
anything. Nevertheless, the fact that the
Torah requires criticizing under the proper
conditions necessarily means that we must
take note of wrongful behavior, and we
cannot always look only at the positive
aspects of our fellow Jew. How, then, do
we reconcile these two values – offering
constructive criticism, and focusing our
attention on the positive qualities of other
people?
The answer can be found in the Yom
Kippur service. Rav Zalman Sorotzkin
(1880-1966) commented that there is a
difference between the way the Kohen
Gadol approached G-d, and the way he appeared before the people. When he came
before G-d, he, like Rav Levi Yishak of
Berditchev, spoke only positively about
the Jewish people. G-d does not want any
of us complaining to him about His other
children. He wants us to love and respect
one another and pray for their wellbe- ing, without paying attention to their
faults and mistakes. Therefore, the Ko- hen Gadol could not wear gold when he
came before G-d. But outside the Kodesh
Ha’kodashim, when the Kohen Gadol ap- peared before the people, it was certainly
appropriate for him to wear gold and sub- tly remind the people of their sins and the
need to improve. The gold garments that
have no place in the Kodesh Ha’kodashim
were perfectly acceptable and played an
important role outside, when the Kohen
Gadol faced the people.
The lesson of the Kohen Gadol’s garments, then, is that we must exercise great
caution when casting judgments about our
fellow Jew. On the one hand, if we see
wrongful behavior and we are in a position to correct it, we are not only entitled,
but obligated, to do what we can, in an appropriate manner and setting. Otherwise,
however, when there is no practical purpose intended, we must follow Rav Levi
Yishak’s inspiring example and look only
for the admirable and praiseworthy qualities of all our fellow Jews.