Exodus 28: Weight of the Nation

The Kohen Gadol had two pieces of clothing that reminded him of the people. The first was the ephod. On the shoulder straps of the ephod were two stones. Engraved on these stones were the names of the tribes.“Six of their names on one stone and six of their names on the other stone in the order of their birth” (verse 10):שֵׁשׁ מִשְּׁמֹתָם עַל־הָאֶבֶן הָאֶחָת וְאֵת שֵׁשׁ הַשְּׁמֹת הַנּוֹתָרֹת עַל־הָאֶבֶן הַשֵּׁנִית כְּתוֹלְדֹתָם (שמות כח:י)“Six of their names on one stone and the remaining six names on the other stone, according to their birth” (Exodus 28:10).Were these the 12 names of the original sons, or the 12 names the sons minus Levi and including Ephraim and Menashe? Later in Devarim, when the nation is split into two groups on two mountains for the blessings and curses Levi is not included in the split. This could be a reference to the Urim v’tumim with six tribes on each side and “levi” in the middle, in this case the kohen gadol. Most likely though if the description talks about listing them in the order of their birth the list probably included the tribe of Levi. Rashi explains that the tribes were listed purely by birth. This order is different than previous lists of the brothers where they were separated by birth mother and order of birth.The second piece of hardware that had the names of the brothers was the breastplate.The Gemara explains that the king or Kohen Gadol could ask a question of God and the answer would be illuminated by the letters on the breastplate. The problem is not all the letters of the alphabet were listed in the names of the brothers. So the Gemara explains that there were two additional phrases listed on the breastplate. One was the names of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. That included the missing letter tzadi. To get the missing letter tet it also had the phrase “Shivtai Yeshurun” (שִׁבְטֵי יְשֻׁרוּן).• The Talmud (Yoma 73b) states that the Urim (“lights”) illuminated letters on the High Priest’s breastplate, while the Tumim (“perfections”) guided the priest’s heart to assemble those letters into a coherent message. In this way the two objects worked together to send a message. There was another symbolic message having the names of the tribes on the heaviest part of the vestments. The Kohen Gadol literally had the weight of the entire nation on his shoulders every time he wore the full vestments. This was a constant reminder of the weight and importance of his job.