Really, though, I can forgive the footie PJs phenomenon. I remember fondly a time when adults didn’t wear cute pajamas, until a certain Ally McBeal came along and stole the heart of the nation with her assorted adult bedroom wear. The American people never recovered.

What I cannot get past, however, is this scum bag scam-of-a-fashion-trend called the Snuggie.

I know, for sure, that there is evil in this world because people actually buy the Snuggie without thinking, “gee, I can accomplish this with a terry cloth robe, worn backwards!”

Parshat Tetzaveh is about fashion, specifically the fashion of the priests. They say that the clothes don’t make the man, but if that man is wearing Daffy Duck jammies and curling up on the couch with anything described as “comfy”, then there is serious cause for concern.

The priests had an interesting outfit: a tunic, a sash, a robe, a breastplate and a Swedish-chef looking hat:

A few cool things about this outfit…

First, the costume has the same materials as the Mishkan. In a way, the priests were like drag queens…only instead of having men dressing like women, you have men dressing like buildings. This is a neat idea, though: the priest had to dress like the Tent of Meeting because he was a part of the tent. He wasn’t just the agent for sacrifices, but a piece of a much larger puzzle. This goes back to last week’s portion, Terumah, where all the individual pieces that made up the tent all became one, echad, as G-d is echad.

And what about individuality? Well…the brightly colored yarn of the cloth and the breastplate stones and all the gold that made up the uniform came from those of a wise heart. They were contributions from the ancient Hebrews, like a clothing drive for G-d’s sake. You could imagine someone staring at Aaron and thinking, “Wow, he’s wearing my golden bells that I gave!” The idea is that all people who have a wise, willing heart give to G-d and G-d uses it in the way that best supports the Jewish people.

This outfit is not some cheap piece of junk from China. It’s a community effort. What a great message there: if you are going to do something that’s important, it needs to be something that everyone can take part in. I think that’s the true lesson of Parshat Tetzaveh: community working together, Snuggie and Footed PJs be damned!

Images courtesy of Snuggie.com, Pajamacity.com and TempleInstitute.org