“And the vestments,” Rabbi Simon says: Just as the offerings atone, so do the vestments atone, as it is taught: The High Priest serves in eight vestments, and the common priest in four: In a tunic, trousers, a mitre, and a belt. The High Priest adds upon his: A breastplate, an ephod, a robe, and a frontlet.14Mishna Yoma 7:5. The tunic is to atone for those wearing diverse kinds,15This refers to the prohibition of wearing a garment made from wool and linen. just as it says: “He made for him a fine tunic” (Genesis 37:3).16Some say that Joseph’s tunic was linen adorned with wool.
The priest’s tunic is just linen to atone for those who adorn their linen with wool. The trousers are to atone for forbidden sexual relations, just as it says: “Make them linen trousers to cover the flesh of their nakedness” (Exodus 28:42). The mitre is to atone for haughtiness, just as it says: “You shall place the mitre on his head” (Exodus 29:6). The belt, there is one who says [it atones] for the crookedness of the heart, and there is one who says [it atones] for the thieves.
Rabbi Levi said: The belt was thirty-two cubits and he would wind it crookedly before him and behind him, according to the one who said for the crookedness [akmanin] of the heart.17The thirty-two cubits are because the numerical value of the word lev, heart, is thirty-two. According to the one who said for the thieves, it is because it was hollow, corresponding to thieves who perform their deeds clandestinely.
The breastplate atones for those who subvert justice, just as it says: “The breastplate of justice” (Exodus 28:30). The ephod is to atone for idolaters, as it is stated: “No ephod or household idols” (Hosea 3:4). The robe, Rabbi Simon said in the name of Rabbi Natan: There are two matters for which there is no atonement, but the Torah provided atonement for them,18There is no sacrificial offering that provides atonement, but the Torah provides another means of atonement (Maharzu, based on Arakhin 16a). and these are: Evil speech and an unwitting murderer.
Evil speech has no atonement but the Torah provided atonement for it. With what will it be atoned? With the bells on the robe. That is what is written: “A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate” (Exodus 28:34).
“It shall be on Aaron to serve and its sound shall be heard” (Exodus 28:35). [God] said: Let the sound come and atone for the sound. The unwitting murderer has no atonement but the Torah provided atonement for him. With what will he be atoned? With the death of the High Priest.
That is what is written: “After the death of the High Priest, [the murderer shall return to the land of his ancestral holding]” (Numbers 35:28). The frontlet, there is one who says [it provides atonement] for the impudent and there is one who says [it provides atonement] for the blasphemers. The one who says for the impudent, it is from the daughters of Zion. Here it is written: “It shall be on the forehead [metzaḥ] of Aaron” (Exodus 28:38), and there it is written: “But you had the impudence [metzaḥ] of a harlot” (Jeremiah 3:3).
The one who said for the blasphemers, it is from Goliath.19The verse says of Goliath: “He has blasphemed the armies of the living God” (I Samuel 17:26). Here it is written: “It shall be on his forehead always” (Exodus 28:38), and there it is written: “It struck the Philistine on his forehead” (I Samuel 17:49).