The Torah has different words for clothing, each having a distinct meaning. For example, in the Torah, beged always refers to aspirational garments, while simla consistently refers to functional clothing.
There is another word that refers to maintaining the dignity and reputation of a person, of always being sure to them as if they are endowed with a divinely-gifted soul. We know this purely by the context of the word itself, which only appears in six verses in the entire Torah!
The word is keSus. It is used to speak directly about treating others with respect:
If you take your neighbor’s garment in pledge, you must return it before the sun sets; it is the only available clothing (keSus)—it is what covers their skin. In what else shall they sleep? Therefore, if [your neighbor] cries out to Me, I will pay heed, for I am compassionate. (E. 22:26)
And it also refers to specific clothing for the priests:
Put these on your brother Aaron and on his sons as well; anoint them, and ordain them and consecrate them to serve Me as priests. You shall also make for them linen breeches to cover (keSus) their nakedness; they shall extend from the hips to the thighs. (E. 28:43)
These uses of keSus are about the basic idea of being dignified, which is true for both the poor man and for the priest.
But we learn the deeper meaning of this word by seeing how it is used in the other four verses in the text.
keSus is used to discuss how a man must treat a woman he has taken, even if she does not remain her husband’s favorite:
If he takes another to wife, he must not withhold from this one her food, her clothing (keSus), or her conjugal rights. (E. 21:10)
The text is not merely telling us that the husband must clothe his wife: he must do so to ensure she retains her dignity! He cannot, in any way, expose anything about her that lowers her in the eyes of others!
How can we make such a bold claim? Does the text really support such a strong meaning for this word?
It does! Because the very first time keSus is used deals with a very sensitive story indeed. Avimelech has taken Sarah, Avraham’s wife. And when Avimelech discovers his mistake, he pays a considerable sum to restore Sarah’s dignity.
Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored his wife Sarah to him. And Abimelech said, “Here, my land is before you; settle wherever you please.” And to Sarah he said, “I herewith give your brother a thousand pieces of silver; this will serve you as keSus before all who are with you, and you are cleared before everyone.” (G. 20:16)
Isn’t it amazing? keSus does not in this verse refer to clothing at all – it refers to restoring the reputation of Sarah, of showing that she was regarded most highly, indeed. The real object of the payment is the way in which Sarah is regarded by other people. keSus is truly about respecting people! As such, the less-loved wife must be treated with keSus just as Avimelech paid an exorbitant price to restore Sarah’s reputation.
Which in turn explains that last two uses of the word in the Torah:
When Aaron and his sons have finished covering (keSus) the sacred objects and all the furnishings of the sacred objects at the breaking of camp, only then shall the Kohathites come and lift them, so that they do not come in contact with the sacred objects and die. (N. 4:16)
This word, used to describe the poor man’s sole garment when night falls, is used to describe the holiest objects in the world, objects that are so special that they cannot even be regarded by ordinary people. Indeed, these objects are so special that even their bearers can only lift them if they are first keSus, covered.
The last verse refers to the fringes that a man wears on the “wings” (corners) of his garment:
You shall make tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover (keSus) yourself. (D. 22:12)
Look at the linkage!
The Torah is telling us that each and every person must preserve their own dignity, just as a man respects his wife, and just as the priests respected the sacred tabernacle.
This word, keSus is used to make explicit connections between all of: a poor man; of Sarah’s reputation; of the way a man treats his wife; of the holy vessels of the tabernacle; and each man in himself. The Torah tells us that they are all of these things are linked to each other by the dignity they are owed!