A knock at the door – T’tzavveh
The high priest had bells (either 36 or 72, according to the Talmud) on the hem of his robe, “so that the sound of it is heard when he comes into the sanctuary” (Ex. 28:32-35).
The bells could have been a signal to others to move away from the area where the high priest was to minister.
A second view said that the bells ensured that the high priest did not enter the sanctuary unannounced, just as a polite person does not enter a house without knocking or ringing the bell. Barging in may embarrass the inhabitants of the house; it may also deprive them of the opportunity of welcoming the visitor appropriately.
Rabbi Akiva even said that a person should not enter their own house without warning; there is a story in the Talmud that one of Akiva’s students had been away from home for a long period and when he returned unannounced his wife died of shock.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe offered another explanation of the bells on the robe. He said it showed that there are various ways and levels of worship. Silence is a means of worship, but so, at the right time, is noise, such as on Rosh HaShanah with the blowing of the shofar.
Worship through sound was an integral part of the Temple service, with its choir and orchestra, and thereafter came the long and colourful history of song in the synagogue. Through the rise and fall of the music, with its major keys and minor keys, its more controlled moments and its times of outpouring passion, the heart and soul of the worshipper could move from praise to petition, from celebration to solemnity.
The one form of noise, however, that does not serve God, is human discord, especially in the synagogue.
