Location! Location!
‘On and Off His Forehead’
(Pesachim 77a)
Among the eight garments worn by the kohen gadol was the tzitz hazahav. The Torah states, “It will be on the brow of Aharon. And Aharon will bear the sin of the [impure] korbanos that Bnei Yisrael will offer” (Shemos 28:38). Our Sages derive from this verse that the tzitz atones for impure korbanos that are offered in the Beis HaMikdash (see above, 16b).
The Tannaim debate whether the tzitz also atones for korbanos offered while the kohen gadol isn’t wearing it. The Rambam (Beis Mikdash 4:8) rules according to Rabbi Yehudah that it doesn’t.
All Eight?
Two points remain to be clarified. First, does the kohen gadol need to wear all eight garments in order for the tzitz to be effective? Second, does the kohen gadol need to be inside the Beis HaMikdash for it to be effective? As we shall see, the answers to these two questions are intertwined.
A Belt of Shaatnez
The Talmud Yerushalmi (Chagigah 4:4) states that the kohen gadol must wear all eight garments for the tzitz to atone. The Rambam (Kilayim 10:32) writes: “Kohanim who wear their priestly garments while not serving, even if they are in the Beis HaMikdash, must be flogged for wearing the belt, which is made of shaatnez. They are only permitted to wear the belt while serving.”
The Torah tells us that the belt must be made of wool and linen. While the kohanim serve, the mitzvah to wear this belt takes precedence over the prohibition against shaatnez. When they are not serving, there is no mitzvah to wear the belt and they thus transgress the prohibition of shaatnez.
Insider Rights
The Raavad and other Rishonim (see Kesef Mishnah) disagree with the Rambam’s position and insist that as long as the kohanim are inside the Beis HaMikdash, they may wear their belts, even when not serving. The Raavad also asks why the Rambam disallows standard kohanim from wearing their belt and not the kohen gadol from wearing the ephod and choshen, which were also shaatnez. Actually, the Tosefta (cited by the Radvaz) says clearly that the kohen gadol can wear all his garments as long as he’s in the Beis HaMikdash (even when not serving).
The Dvar Avraham writes, based on the Yerushalmi, that even when the kohen gadol didn’t serve, he still needed to wear his eight garments for the tzitz to atone for impure korbanos. Yet, the Tosefta says the kohen gadol couldn’t wear his garments outside the Beis HaMikdash, presumably because of the shaatnez problem.
But why can’t he wear them in order for the tzitz to be effective? Evidently, outside the Beis HaMikdash, the tzitz is ineffective and therefore he may not wear shaatnez garments.