Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Tezaveh

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

In Shemos (28:12) the Torah discusses the engraving the names of the Jewish tribes on the Avnei Shoham which were on the shoulders of the Kohain Gadol. This was in addition to the Avnei Milu'im which he wore on his chest.

The Ramban notes that the stones in the Avnei Milu'im could not be engraved with the names of the tribes because they needed to be malei - full. However the Avnei Shoham did have the etchings. 

R Frand commented that should you ask how the names of the Jews were written on the Avnei Mil'uim - the answer is that the names were etched in by the Shamir [which the Daf Yomi will learn about next week,iyh].

But why was there a need for the Avnei Shoham as they seemed to be duplicative of the Avnei Milu'im?

R' Frand answered by quoting the sefer Abir Ya'akov who explained that the Kohain Gadol's job is to empathize. The Kohain Gadol (like R' Frand's job as a Rebbi) may not be able to solve every problem, but he can listen and offer a shoulder to cry on. But sometimes, the Kohain Gadol was able to help the person with a particular need.

R' Frand explained that the Avnei Mil'uim were on the Kohain Gadol's heart. These needed to be full, because the Kohain Gadol could not do anything for these people, but he needed to be there for them, even it was just to be a lev l'shmoah.

In contrast, the Avnei Shoham were on the Kohain Gadol's shoulders because he was able to shoulder the burden and help those people. These names were actually engraved because there was a deeper way that he could help them out.

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