The Bells Are Ringing

By Rabbi Joshua (musically known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

One of the eight pieces of clothing worn by the kohein gadol in his service, described in this week's parsha, was the me'il, or robe. A unique feature of the meil is that the there were a number of pa'amonim, or bells, and rimonim, or pomegranates made of cloth, suspended on the botttom hem. There is a dispute between Rashi and the Rambam whether these rimonim were placed between the paamonim, or the p'amonim were placed inside the rimonim. The Ramban writes that the pa'amonim were inside the rimonim, and the bells knocked against the cloth pomegranates (which , apparently, were made of hard cloth material, thus causing noise as the kohen entered the ohel mo'ed, in order to fulfill what is said at the end of the section of the Torah that describes the me'il and its function, "and its voice shall be heard as he enters the holy" ( Shemos, 28:35). The Ramban says that it is a function of the royalty of God for their to be a noise sounded when his chief minister enters the inner sanctum, and, in fact, all of the priestly garments were worn out of respect for the royalty of God. He also mentions the statement of the Talmud Yerushalmi that the noise made by the me'il served to warn people, and even angels, that no one else was to be in the ohel mo'ed when the kohein entered. to do his service. .He further says that he doesn't understand what function the rimonim were to serve if, as Rashi says, they were placed between the pa'amonim. I believe that a closer look at the message of the me'il, will help us understand the functions of the bells and the rimonim that were part of it.

The Talmud ( Zevachim, 88b) tells us that just as sacrifices brought in the mishkan and the Temple effected atonement, so too did the priestly garments. The me'il, the Talmud tells us, atoned for leshon hora, or evil talk. Rav Yisroel of Gur, in his Beis Yisroel, mentions the Apter Rebbe, known as the Oheiv Yisroel, who says that this is why there was a border around the neck section of the me'il, to indicate the importance of guarding one's mouth from speaking leshon hora. The Beis Yisroel finds further hints in the description of the me'il, to the prohibition of leshon hora. When the Torah says that "its voice shall be heard when he enters the holy," he interprets it , allegorically, to refer to "his' voice, meaning that a person's voice shall be heard only when he speaks of holy things, such as words of Torah and prayer. Although the Beis Yisroel does not mention it, this would be in conformity with the Zhohar in parshas Metzora, which says that the two birds that a metzora brings in his purification process, one which is slaughtered and the other which is sent out free, symbolize the suppression of leshon hora by the former metzora and his commitment to, henceforth, use his gift of speech in a positive way.

If we take into account the imagery of suppressing and atoning for leshon hora that the me'il projects, we can understand the imagery of the rimonim according to Rashi's opinion, that they were placed between the bells. The Talmud in Chagiga (27a) cites a verse in Shir HaShirimm ( 4;3), which says your temple is like the peel of a pomegranate." The Talmud says that one should read the word for 'temple' - rakasech- as "rekasaech " or "your empty ones," and explains it to mean that even the people among the Jews who seem to be empty of mitzvos are, in truth, as full of mitzvos as the inside of a pomegranate. Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, zt'l, in his Emes L'Yaakov to Chagigah, explains that the temple, when viewd form the outside, seems to be nothing but an empty shell of bones. , inside, it is houses the brain, theseat of thought that allows us to function, just as the peel of a pomegranate seems, from the outside, to contain no fruit within, but, in fact, is full of seeds surrounded with fruit. Similarly, Jews who, from the outside, seem to be empty of mitzvah content, do, in fact, have many mitzvos within them, which we will appreciate if we take a deeper look.

Often when someone speaks leshon hora about a fellow Jew, he does so because he does recognize his true essence. a deeper look at the person will reveal how precious he really is in God's eyes. When the kohein gadol approaches the holy to serve God, as the agent of the Jewish people, he needs to have in mind that al Jews are dear to God, who knows the inner value of each person. The rimonim on the me'il placed. according to Rashi , between the bells and separate from them, serve to remind the kohein gadol of this trait, and of the importance of all Jews before God. Perhaps we may add that even following the opinion of the Ramban , who says that the bells were within the pomegranates, the image of the inner content of even the simple Jew is projected by the bells, which, as the Ramban says, pay tribute to God, being within the pomegranates, which following the Talmud, are an oblique reference to the simple Jew.