FEBRUARY 22 • 2024 | 37
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Why? Maimonides gives 
this explanation: “In order 
to exalt the Temple, those 
who ministered there 
received great honor, and 
the priests and Levites were 
therefore distinguished from 
the rest. It was commanded 
that the priest should be 
clothed properly with the 
most splendid and fine 
clothes, ‘holy garments for 
glory and for beauty’ … 
for the multitude does not 
estimate man by his true 
form but by … the beauty 
of his garments, and the 
Temple was to be held in 
great reverence by all.” Guide 
for the Perplexed, III:45
The explanation is clear, 
but there is also a hint of 
disdain. Maimonides seems 
to be saying that to those 
who really understand 
the nature of the religious 
life, appearances should 
not matter at all, but “the 
multitude,” the masses, the 
majority, are not like that. 
They are impressed by 
spectacle, visible grandeur, 
the glitter of gold, the jewels 
of the breastplate, the rich 
pageantry of scarlet and 
purple and the pristine 
purity of white linen robes.
In his book The Body 
of Faith (1983), Michael 
Wyschogrod makes a 
stronger case for the 
aesthetic dimension of 
Judaism. Throughout 
history, he argues, art and 
cult have been intimately 
connected and Judaism 
is no exception. “The 
architecture of the Temple 
and its contents demand 
a spatial thinking that 
stimulates the visual arts 

as nothing else does. It 
must be remembered that 
among the many artifacts 
past civilizations have left 
behind, those intended 
for ritual use almost are 
always the most elaborate 
and aesthetically the most 
significant.”
Wyschogrod says that 
postbiblical Judaism did 
not, for the most part, make 
outstanding contributions to 
art and music. Even today, 
the world of religious Jewry 
is remote from that of the 
great writers, painters, poets 
and dramatists. To be sure, 
there is a wealth of popular 
religious music. 
But by and large, he says, 
“our artists tend to leave the 
Jewish community.” This 
he believes represents a 
spiritual crisis. 
“The imagination of the 
poet is a reflection of his 
spiritual life. Myth and 
metaphor are the currency 
both of religion and poetry. 
Poetry is one of the most 
powerful domains in which 
religious expression takes 
place. And the same is true 
of music, drama, painting 
and dance.”
Rav Abraham Kook hoped 
the return to Zion would 
stimulate a renaissance 
of Jewish art, and there 
is a significant place for 
beauty in the religious 
life, especially in Avodah, 
“service,” which once meant 
sacrifice and now means 
prayer.

ART CAN MOVE US
An immense body of recent 
research into neuroscience, 
evolutionary psychology 

and behavioral economics 
has established beyond 
doubt that we are not, for 
the most part, rational 
animals. It is not that we 
are incapable of reason, but 
that reason alone does not 
move us to action. For that, 
we need emotion — and 
emotion goes deeper than 
the prefrontal cortex, the 
brain’s center of conscious 
reflection. Art speaks to 
emotion. It moves us in 
ways that go deeper than 
words.
That is why great art has 
a spirituality that cannot 
be expressed other than 
through art — and that 
applies to the visual beauty 
and pageantry of the service 
of tabernacle and Temple, 
including the robes and 
sashes of the priests. There 
is a poem in the reader’s 
repetition of Musaf on Yom 
Kippur that expresses this to 
perfection. It is about mareih 
cohen, the appearance of the 
High Priest as he concluded 
his service and emerged 
from the Holy of Holies:

As the brightness of the 
vaulted canopy of heaven, 
As lightning flashing from 
the splendor of angels, 
As the celestial blue in the 
fringes’ thread, 
As the iridescence of the 
rainbow in the midst of 
clouds, 
As the majesty with which 
the Rock has clothed His 
creatures, 
As a rose planted in a garden 
of delight, 
As a diadem set on the brow 
of the King, 
As the mirror of love in the 

face of a bridegroom, 
As a halo of purity from a 
mitre of purity, 
As one who abides in secret, 
beseeching the King, 
As the morning star shining 
in the borders of the East — 
Was the appearance of the 
[High] Priest.

And now, we can define 
the nature of the aesthetic 
in Judaism. It is art devoted 
to the greater glory of God. 
That is the implication of 
the fact that the word kavod, 
“glory,” is attributed in the 
Torah only to God — and to 
the cohen officiating in the 
house of God.
Judaism does not believe 
in art for art’s sake, but in 
art in the service of God, 
giving back as a votive 
offering to God a little of 
the beauty He has made in 
this created world. At the 
risk of oversimplification, 
one could state the differ-
ence between ancient Israel 
and ancient Greece thus: 
where the Greeks believed 
in the holiness of beauty, 
Jews believed in hadrat 
kodesh, the beauty of 
holiness. 
There is a place for the 
aesthetic in avodah. In the 
words of the Song at the 
Sea: zeh Keili ve-anvehu, 
“This is my God, and I will 
beautify Him.” For beauty 
inspires love, and from love 
flows the service of the 
heart. 

The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan 
Sacks served as the chief rabbi of 
the United Hebrew Congregations 
of the Commonwealth, 1991-2013. 
His teachings have been made 
available to all at rabbisacks.org. 

