For the source text click/tap here: Zevachim 88
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The end of our Perek discusses the purpose of the Bigdei Kehunah. The tunic atones for bloodshed; the pants atoned for immorality; the turban atoned for arrogance, for let something that is high on the head atone for haughtiness; the belt atoned for impure thoughts of the heart, for that is where it was worn; the breastplate atoned for miscarriage of civil laws; the ephod atoned for idolatry; the robe atoned for lashon hara (slander), for let an article that emits sound (through its bells ringing) come and atone for an evil sound; the headplate atoned for brazenness.
The Gemora asks: But is that so, for surely Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: For two things we find no atonement through sacrifices, but find atonement for them through something else, and they are bloodshed and lashon hara. Bloodshed has atonement through the eglah arufah while lashon hara is atoned for by the burning of the incense.
We explore the transition from the biblical model to the talmudic and metaphoric representation of the Priest's Vestments.