יום כיפור

White vs. Gold

(ויקרא טז:ד) כְּתֹנֶת־בַּד קֹדֶשׁ יִלְבָּשׁ וּמִכְנְסֵי־בַד יִהְיוּ עַל־בְּשָׂרוֹ וּבְאַבְנֵט בַּד יַחְגֹּר וּבְמִצְנֶפֶת בַּד יִצְנֹף בִּגְדֵי־קֹדֶשׁ הֵם וְרָחַץ בַּמַּיִם אֶת־בְּשָׂרוֹ וּלְבֵשָׁם:

In the time of the Bet Hamikdash on Yom Kippur (the day of judgment) the Kohain Gadol (high priest) would change his clothes several times as we read in the Torah reading for Yom Kippur morning.  He would dress in the beautiful gold garments except when he was entering into the Kodesh Kadashim (Holy of Holies), then he would change into just the regular white clothes of the Kohanim. After leaving he would change back into the gold.  The question asked is why did he need to switch back and forth?

Rashi tells us that the reason for these switches is because  “the prosecutor cannot be the defendant”.  This means that the gold will remind Hashem of the sin of the golden calf, and we don’t want Him to be reminded of this. He may become angry again, especially if the person reminding Him is the person asking for forgiveness for all of us. 

The question is, will Hashem not see the gold on the Kohain Gadol the rest of the day, why can’t he keep it on to go into the Kodesh Hakadashim anyway?

The answer is that of course, Hashem sees the gold, but we don't want to “put it in His face”.

This is teaching us a lesson about how to act with others.  There are things that we know which may bother other people, Hashem is telling us not to do them even unintentionally!

With this in mind, how should we act around other people in school and at home?