The priestly robe (), sometimes robe of the ephod ( ''məʿil hāʾēp̄oḏ''), is one of the sacred articles of clothing of the High Priest of Israel. The robe is described in Exodus 28:31-35. It was worn under the ephod. Like all the priestly garments, it was to be made by 'gifted artisans ... filled with the spirit of wisdom'.
Hebrew Bible
This Hebrew noun occurs 30 times in the Masoretic Text of the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach" . '' the robe Jonathan gave to David, or his mantle which Job tore in desperation, and also the outer cloak of women, such as the robe worn by David's daughters.
It was a sleeveless, purple-blue or violet robe, woven in a single piece. The opening in the center for the High Priest's head to pass through was woven, not cut or torn (). The lower hem of the garment was fringed with small golden bells alternating with pomegranate-shaped tassels of blue (turquoise), purple and scarlet wool ().
The golden bells were a necessity, and they must ring when the High Priest entered the
Holy of Holies
The Holy of Holies ( or ''Kodesh HaKodashim''; also ''hadDəḇīr'', 'the Sanctuary') is a term in the Hebrew Bible that refers to the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle, where the Shekhinah (God in Judaism, God's presence) appeared. According ...
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi ().
Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...
deduced a law for all the priestly vestments: “From the negative one can derive the positive: if he will have them he will not be liable for death; thus, if he enters lacking one of these garments he is liable for death at the hands of Heaven.”
Maimonides
Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...
rules likewise.Moses Maimonides, ''Laws of the Sanctuary Vessels'' 10:4.
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi ().
Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...
points out in his commentary on the
Talmud
The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
that the fashioning and wearing of the priestly robe atoned for the sin of lashon hara on the part of the
Israelites
Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age.
Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...
in Zevachim 88b. As the High Priest walked, the bells noisily announced his presence, and because the noise emanated from the robe, it served as a reminder for people to refrain from gossip.
The Talmud also states that the tassels between each bell on the robe were made of turquoise, purple, and scarlet wool. These three materials signify the three people injured when Lashon Hara is spoken: the speaker, the listener, and the one who is talked about.
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...