שמות 28:30
וְנָתַתָּ֞ אֶל־חֹ֣שֶׁן הַמִּשְׁפָּ֗ט אֶת־הָאוּרִים֙ וְאֶת־הַתֻּמִּ֔ים וְהָיוּ֙ עַל־לֵ֣ב אַהֲרֹ֔ן בְּבֹא֖וֹ לִפְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה וְנָשָׂ֣א אַ֠הֲרֹ֠ן אֶת־מִשְׁפַּ֨ט בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֧ל עַל־לִבּ֛וֹ לִפְנֵ֥י ה׳ תָּמִֽיד׃
And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Tummim; and they shall be upon Aharon’s heart, when he goes in before the Lord: and Aharon shall bear the judgment of the children of Yisra᾽el upon his heart before the Lord continually.
In this week’s parsha are the long and detailed lists of what the Priests (the Cohanim) and the High Priest (Cohen Gadol) should wear, and instructions for producing them. Once he (it is alway a he) is suited up, the High Priest puts on a breastplate of 12 stones, and then two additional somethings called the Urim and the Tummim.
No one is quite sure what these were or how they were supposed to work. Rashi, following the Talmud (Yoma 73b) explains them this way:
רשי, שמות 28:30
את האורים ואת התמים. הוּא כְּתָב שֵׁם הַמְפֹרָשׁ, שֶׁהָיָה נוֹתְנוֹ בְּתוֹךְ כִּפְלֵי הַחֹשֶׁן, שֶׁעַל יָדוֹ הוּא מֵאִיר דְּבָרָיו וּמְתַמֵּם אֶת דְּבָרָיו
את האורים ואת התמים — This was an inscription of the Proper Name of God which was placed between the folds (i. e. the two pieces forming the front and back) of the breast-plate through which it (the breast-plate) made its statements clear (lit., illuminated its words; מאיר from אור, light, this being an allusion to the אורים) and its promises true (מתמם from the root תמם, an allusion to תמים).
The function of the Urim Vetummim becomes more evident from an episode in the First Book of Shmuel in which Saul inquires of them as to whether he should continue a series of battles with the Philistines:
שמואל א, 14:37-42
וַיִּשְׁאַ֤ל שָׁאוּל֙ בֵּֽאלֹהִ֔ים הַֽאֵרֵד֙ אַחֲרֵ֣י פְלִשְׁתִּ֔ים הֲתִתְּנֵ֖ם בְּיַ֣ד יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְלֹ֥א עָנָ֖הוּ בַּיּ֥וֹם הַהֽוּא׃ וַיֹּ֣אמֶר שָׁא֔וּל גֹּ֣שֽׁוּ הֲלֹ֔ם כֹּ֖ל פִּנּ֣וֹת הָעָ֑ם וּדְע֣וּ וּרְא֔וּ בַּמָּ֗ה הָ֥יְתָ֛ה הַחַטָּ֥את הַזֹּ֖את הַיּֽוֹם׃ כִּ֣י חַי־יְהֹוָ֗ה הַמּוֹשִׁ֙יעַ֙ אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל כִּ֧י אִם־יֶשְׁנ֛וֹ בְּיוֹנָתָ֥ן בְּנִ֖י כִּ֣י מ֣וֹת יָמ֑וּת וְאֵ֥ין עֹנֵ֖הוּ מִכל־הָעָֽם׃ וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֶל־כל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אַתֶּם֙ תִּֽהְיוּ֙ לְעֵ֣בֶר אֶחָ֔ד וַֽאֲנִי֙ וְיוֹנָתָ֣ן בְּנִ֔י נִהְיֶ֖ה לְעֵ֣בֶר אֶחָ֑ד וַיֹּאמְר֤וּ הָעָם֙ אֶל־שָׁא֔וּל הַטּ֥וֹב בְּעֵינֶ֖יךָ עֲשֵֽׂה׃וַיֹּ֣אמֶר שָׁא֗וּל אֶל־יְהֹוָ֛ה אֱלֹהֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל הָ֣בָה תָמִ֑ים וַיִּלָּכֵ֧ד יוֹנָתָ֛ן וְשָׁא֖וּל וְהָעָ֥ם יָצָֽאוּ׃ וַיֹּ֣אמֶר שָׁא֔וּל הַפִּ֕ילוּ בֵּינִ֕י וּבֵ֖ין יוֹנָתָ֣ן בְּנִ֑י וַיִּלָּכֵ֖ד יוֹנָתָֽן׃
And Sha᾽ul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Pelishtim? wilt Thou deliver them into the hand of Yisra᾽el? But he answered him not that day. And Sha᾽ul said, Draw near, all you chiefs of the people: and know and see wherein this sin has been this day. For, as the Lord lives, who saves Yisra᾽el, though it be in Yonatan my son, he shall surely die. But there was not a man among all the people that answered him. Then said he to all Yisra᾽el, Be you on one side, and I and Yonatan my son will be on the other side. And the people said to Sha᾽ul, Do what seems good to thee.Therefore Sha᾽ul said to the Lord God of Yisra᾽el, Give a perfect lot. And Sha᾽ul and Yonatan were picked: but the people escaped. And Sha᾽ul said, Cast lots between me and Yonatan my son. And Yonatan was picked.
So the Urim and the Tummim (or at least the Tummim) were a device used to cast lots. They were used for (and this is going to be the word of the week) cleromancy - divination by means of casting lots.
How did Yale end up with that Seal?
Why did the Urim and Tummim end up in Hebrew on the Seal of Yale University? And what are those Latin words underneath the Hebrew ones?
In October 1722 the trustees of Yale College voted to have the colonial General Assembly grant the college its own seal. If you think that it bears a resemblance to the seal of its slightly older brother Harvard University, you are correct. Other universities too, have seals that show open books. Harvard’s was apparently used since the end of the seventeenth century, but Veritas - “Divine Truth”was not used as the centerpiece of its seal until around 1843. Prior to 1736, Yale diplomas did not show the seal, and while Harvard’s then had three Latin Words In Christi Gloriam, Yale inscribed Lux et Veritas “Light and Truth” underneath the Hebrew Urim and Tummim.
Yale likely chose the Hebrew Urim and Tummim because its scholars had access to a 1578 edition of the Genevan Bible which gives this explanation of the mysterious Hebrew words:
Urim signiheth light and Thummim perfection: declaring that the stones of the brestplate were most cleare, and of perfect beautie: by Urim also is ment knowledge & Thummim holiness, shewing what vertues are required in the Priests.
“If the early Yale graduates left the college both holy and knowledgeable,” wrote Dan Oren in his 1958 book Joining the Club: a history of Jews at Yale, and from where all this information is taken “Yale’s leaders would have been pleased.” But he continues,
Unfortunately, the 1742 Yale Library is a poor reflection of the theological character of education at Yale. As historian Richard Warch pointed out, the 1742 Library, containing a wide spectrum of authors, was far more broad-minded than the curricular fare.Therefore the above explanations remain, by themselves, unsettling. That Yale was long dedicated to producing men of knowledge and character (“holinesse”) is unquestioned. In that sense the Urim and Thummim were appropriate for the Yale mission. Placing these words in the original Hebrew testified both to their biblical origins and tied Yale to the ancient Israelites, whose position Yale theologians saw themselves as imitating. But the 1742 Library does not tie these words particularly to Yale.
Oren therefore suggested another explanation, and points to a basic theology text that was available at the time called (in translation from the original Latin title) The Abridgement of Christian Divinitie. The original Latin reads “Urm & Thummim, h.e. lumina & perfectiones, Christum designabant, Verbum & Interpretem Patris, Lucem & Perfectionem nostram,” which in the 1660 translation became “Urim and Thummim, that is, light and perfection, did signify Christ the Word and Interpreter of the Father, our light and perfection.” Just as Harvard’s motto celebrated the glory of Jesus, so did Yale’s. And by translating Urim as Lux, Light, Yale was following the interpretation of the Talmud as cited by Rashi. How Tummim became Veritas, Truth is less clear. It was translated as Veritas in the 4th century Latin translation of the Bible known as Vulgate, and, Oren concludes, “by choosing to translate אורים ותמים as Lux et Veritas, perhaps, Yale insisted that its college offered the essentials of proper learning: the “light” of a liberal education and the “truth” of an old New England religious tradition.” Or perhaps this translation too, followed the explanation of Rashi: שֶׁעַל יָדוֹ הוּא מֵאִיר דְּבָרָיו וּמְתַמֵּם אֶת דְּבָרָיו -through it, it illuminates the statements made by the Breastplate, and made its words true.
Whatever Yale has recently been doing wrong, its translation of Urim VeTummim as Lux et Veritas is perfectly sensible. If only the same could be said for all of its faculty.
