We learned from the opening mishnah of chapter two that a priest must be clad in the proper vestments to make a sacrifice. Otherwise, the offering is unfit. The Gemara on today’s daf asks about a biblical source for this rule and Rabbi Avuh, citing Rabbi Yohanan (or perhaps Rabbi Elazar ben Shimon), provides us with one:
The verse states: “And you shall gird them with belts, Aaron and his sons, and bind mitres on them; and they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute.” (Exodus 29:9) This verse indicates that when their vestments are on them, their priesthood is upon them. But if their vestments are not on them, their priesthood is not upon them.
Exodus 29 describes the ceremony at which Aaron and his sons were anointed as the first priests of Israel. This verse concludes the section, telling us that as a result of the ceremony, Aaron and his sons and their descendents will be priests for all time. Rabbi Yohanan, or perhaps Rabbi Elazar, however, connects this phrase not to the whole passage, but merely to the phrase that immediately precedes it and concludes: When does the priesthood fall upon those who serve in that role? Only when they are wearing the proper uniform.
Those wedded to authorial intent might question the accuracy of this creative reading; yet it falls well within the boundaries of midrash, the rabbinic interpretive tool that allows the rabbis to take a verse out of its original context and derive from it particular rules concerning ritual practice that are not apparent from its plain meaning.
This text brings to mind a story that appears on Shabbat 31a. There, a non-Jew passes a Jewish schoolhouse and overhears a lesson about another verse that discusses priestly vestments — this time, specifically for the high priest:
“And these are the garments which they shall make: A breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a tunic of checkered work, a mitre, and a girdle.” (Exodus 28:4)
The gentile said: These garments, for whom are they designated?
The students said to him: For the high priest.
The gentile said to himself: I will go and convert so that they will install me as high priest.
He came before Shammai and said to him: Convert me on condition that you install me as high priest. Shammai pushed him with the builder’s cubit in his hand.
He came before Hillel who converted him.
An apparently overwhelming yearning to wear the high priest’s fancy clothes leads the non-Jew to seek conversion. While Shammai literally shoos him away, Hillel welcomes him into the fold. Over the course of his studies, we later learn, the student discovers that the high priesthood is inherited, so he himself will never achieve the role or, perhaps more pertinently, don the wardrobe. Despite the gentile’s disappointment, he praises Hillel for taking him in — and happily completes his conversion. He came for the clothes, but stayed for having fallen in love with the tradition.
Priests played a special role in the Temple service, the details of which will occupy us for much of our last two years of the Daf Yomi cycle. As the story of Hillel’s convert reminds us, the role was not open to everyone — only the descendants of Aaron. At the same time, as the text from today’s daf reminds us, the priesthood was not always an inherent part of who they were. Rather, it was granted at a particular moment — and only then did they have a right to put on their uniform. And only after they did, could they truly play their part. Clothes matter, but not always in the ways we expect.
Read all of Zevachim 17 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on October 1, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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