Tetzaveh: The Urim and the Tumim A large portion of this week’s parsha is dedicated to describing the bigdei kehunah – the priestly garments. When depicting the Choshen HaMishpat – breastplate – the Torah mentions the Urim V’Tumim. The Urim were twelve stones, representing the twelve tribes, with a name on each stone. The Tumim was the seventy-two letter name of HaShem, the Shem HaMeforash – the ineffable Name. Combined, the Urim and the Tumim could be consulted by the Kohen Gadol – the High Priest – in times of dire need of G-dly guidance, for example, whether or not to go to war, and G-d would send an answer through the Choshen.
The Ramban gives us an insight into the workings of the Urim V’Tumim. When consulted, the answer would come in the form of the different stones illuminating, revealing certain letters. This was the Urim – meaning ‘Lights’. But this was not enough; the power of the Tumim then needed to be employed in order to decipher the letters to form a legible, true answer. We are told in gemora Brachos, that there were times when the Kohen Gadol did not merit having access to the Tumim, and without the Tumim, things could be terribly misinterpreted.
There is a famous story about EliHaKohen, who consulted the Choshen Mishpat regarding a woman called Chana. The letters Shin-Chaf-Resh-Heh illuminated. Eli spelt them out to read Shikorah – drunken one, when in fact they were intended to spell Kesheirah – worthy one. At that precise moment, Eli lacked the power of the Tumim.
The sefer Beis Av points out the nowadays, many have access to the Urim. As mentioned before, Or (singular of Urim) means light – which refers to the light of Torah. There may be many people who are steeped in Torah; who have a vast knowledge in Torah; who can bring proofs from Torah, but it does not necessarily follow that they all have the insight to know exactly what the Torah is saying; what it is trying to teach us. Many can have the Urim, read a passage in the Torah and claim that ‘this is Daas Torah!’ (- the opinion of the Torah), but this is not always the case. The people who have the power of the Tumim are a few treasured individuals in each generation.
Therefore, it is necessary to find and cleave to a person who truly has both the Urim and the Tumim. We can have the raw knowledge, but without the skill and ability to apply it, tragic errors can occur.
One of the most sordid scenes in Jewish history was that of the pilegesh b’Givah – the concubine in Givah. It was an incident which precipitated the near-annihilation of the tribe of Binyomin by the rest of the tribes. They were justifiably outraged, and yet at the aftermath, they realised that they had gone too far. How could it be that they truly believed that their intentions were noble, and even so make an error in their descision?
The answer lies in the last verse of the book of Shoftim: ‘In those days there was no king in Israel, every man did as he saw fit in his own eyes.’ That is the bottom line. When there is no ‘king’, no true bearer of the Divine Will, we make mistakes and fall. May we be granted not only the Urim, but also the power of the Tumim in our days.
Good Shabbos! |
