A White Coat Ceremony

A few years ago, I had the privilege of attending my brother’s “White Coat Ceremony” at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine one day between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This rite of passage for any first year medical student involves a short white coat being placed on each student by a senior member of the faculty, and it is a sign that someone who was previously an overachieving college student with little practical medical knowledge is now on his or her way to becoming a medical practitioner. As the faculty speakers repeated often throughout the ceremony, it is a sign of great responsibility. As I was watching this ritual unfold, I began thinking of the Kohen Gadol, the High Priest, who performs the holy service once a year on Yom Kippur. He, too, goes through a white coat ceremony of sorts (lehavdil), as he alternates throughout the day between special clothes made of gold fabric and clothes that were pure white, both of which were placed on him by others. Moreover, like medical students who have no real authority or knowledge, for the week before Yom Kippur, the High Priest was required to perform the same menial tasks in the Temple as an initiate.

Why make the Kohen Gadol go through this process? Don’t we have confidence that the Kohen Gadol would know what to do on Yom Kippur? Perhaps we can suggest that everything about the service of the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur is designed to make the Kohen eminently aware of his mortality. He wore white clothes, reminiscent of burial shrouds, and he separated from his family for a week beforehand. And throughout the service of the day, one misstep could be lethal. In order for the Kohen Gadol to be the agent of atonement for the Jewish people--all of who have their lives hanging in the balance--he had to experience the imminence of his own mortality as well.