ואלה הבגדים, they are all listed individually.

חשן, something resembling a sheath, containing a pocket. Its precise nature depends on its use at the time.

ואפוד, a garment which is at one and the same time decorative and protective, covering the chest of a person, worn as an outer garment.

תשבץ, a knitted one (tunic). This garment, being knitted, has small holes all over it, as do most such knitted garments when made from wool.

מצנפת, a kind of hat, cap, worn on the head. We encounter the word describing Royal headgear in Isaiah 62,3 וצניף מלוכה, “a royal diadem.”

ואבנט, a belt or sash of sorts. According to the plain meaning, this is the place where the trousers should have been mentioned. They were not mentioned as only garments of a distinctive character enhancing a person’s stature are listed here.

ועשו את האפוד; although my grandfather (Rashi) has explained both the ephod and the choshen in detail, I plan to concentrate on some aspects which he has not mentioned in his commentary.

שתי כתפות חוברות יהיה לו, according to my understanding the ephod was designed and constructed to cover only the lower half of the body from the waist down. It covered, (i.e. enclosed) this section both in front and at the rear. This is spelled out more clearly in Leviticus 8,7ויחגור אותו בחשב האפוד ויאפוד לו, “he put the tunic on him, girdled him with the decorated band (sash) with which he tied it to him.” This makes clear that the cheshev was a kind of belt or sash attached to the edge of the ephod firmly attached (sewn) to the body of the garment described as ephod. The shoulder pieces described here were so tightly attached to one another that they covered the entire back of a person from his waist upwards all the way up. [the shoulder pieces (straps) were joined to one another tightly from behind.] This is the reason the Torah repeats once more concluding with the word וחבר, vechubar, “so that it was properly joined together.” In other words, not only were the two shoulder pieces tightly joined together at the upper level of the torso, but they were also tied together by means of these bands at the level of the waist. The choshen was worn above it on his heart, being only one span wide and long (28cm square). This breastplate was also attached to the shoulder pieces above and to the ephod at waist level below. As a result, for practical purposes the breastplate and the ephod were really one garment. This had to be so, for, if the breastplate had only been fastened to the shoulder pieces of the ephod by means of the chains described, every time when the priest had occasion to bend down, the shoulder pieces would have been in danger of falling down.

אל שני קצותיו, to its two ends, which were behind the priest, the ends of the upper part of the ephod beside the sash.

וחשב אפודתו, the belt attached to the sash acted as the connecting link tying things together, as described in Leviticus 8,7 which we already quoted.

מעשה חרש אבן, the words חרש אבן are in a construct mode; this accounts for the vowel patach under the letter ר in the word חרש. The meaning of the term is חרש של אבן, “a craftsman of gemstones,” someone expert in engraving. The reason why the vowel under the letter ח remains the kametz, is similar to the parallel mode of the word גנב, gannov, with the dagesh in both the letters ג and נ.

פתוחי חותם, similar to the engravings made on signet rings.

על כתפות האפוד. These shoulder pads of the ephod extended from his shoulder on either side up to the neck of the High Priest, from which point they curved and descended towards the breastplate he wore on the chest. There were chains which linked the ephod to the breastplate, and the two major gemstones known as אבני זכרון (as well as אבני שהם) that had the names of the tribes engraved on them and which he wore like epaulettes on his two shoulders. The breastplate was suspended from these chains, apart from being fastened additionally to the ephod.

אבני זכרון, as I will explain in connection with the golden plate ציץ worn on the forehead which had the words קדש לה' recessed into it. (compare verse 36).

ועשית משבצות זהב, a golden plate to serve as the background to the settings which held the various gemstones of the breastplate in place. The plate had holes through which the chains could be attached to them by fastening the chains to the breastplate, as described in more detail in verse 25, the whole would in effect be as if a single piece.

מעשה עבות, seeing that normally, when we hear about “chains,” we think of rings inserted within the other in a continuous row, the Torah was at pains to describe these “chains” as being more like strands of ropes intertwined.

ונתת את שרשרות העבותות על המשבצות, you will construct them in the nature of heavy, thick ropes; the Torah still did not tell us where the ends of these ropes were to be attached. Later on in verses 24 and 25 the Torah will explain that the ends of these two (chains) ropes were to be threaded through two holes at either side of the gold plate forming the backdrop to the settings in the breastplate. The other two ends of these (chains) ropes would be attached to the ephod in front.

חשן משפט, the name reflects the fact that in the pocket of the breastplate there was placed the parchment with the Holy name of G’d, known popularly as urim vetumim, the tool by means of which G’d could be consulted if the High Priest did not know the answer to a question involving Jewish religious law. He would then consult G’d and receive his answer by the letters on the breastplate becoming illuminated. (compare Numbers 27,21).

כפול, something like a pocket. This was necessary in order to place the urim vetumim inside it.

(2) ZERET. Half an amah.

ומלאת בו, recessed depressions in order to fill them with the respective gemstones.

ועשית על החשן שרשות גבלות, these are the rope-like chains described earlier inverse 14.

'ועשית על החשן וגו, at the outer ends of the upper edge you will fasten rings in order to thread the two thick rope-like chains through them. There were matching rings at the front of the shoulder pads corresponding to these rings at the upper end of the choshen to which the other end of the avatot (ropes) would be fastened. As a result of this, the breastplate would hang down on the chest of the High Priest, suspended from the ephod, but it would still be able to move sideways rather freely. In order to prevent this from happening it also had to be fastened to the ephod as will be explained later where we are told that there would be two rings, one from each side at the upper end of the ephod in the region of the sash (belt). The chains would be fastened to the upper edge of the ephod through these rings, but the אזור the sash, belt, would be tied over it around the High Priest’s waist.

וירכסו, same as ויחגרו, “they will girdle.”

את האורים ואת התומים; the function was somewhat similar to that of oracles employed by the priests of idolatrous cults. If those had any value at all, -and we may assume that at least their worshippers had concluded that they did, -how much more influential would these urim vetumim in the sacred garments of the High Priest be in order to elicit answers to questions posed to G’d, seeing that the means employed were holy and sanctioned by G’d Himself?

מעיל האפוד; the garment on which the ephod is worn.

כליל תכלת, entirely of blue wool. I believe that the reason why this garment was totally blue is that seeing that both the ephod’s and the choshen’s function is to evoke the zikaron, the memory of G’d, the m’il, which is the base for the other two garments is also dyed in a colour symbolising memory as we know from the blue strand in the tzitziyot which the Torah describes as evoking the memory of heaven and G’d’s commandments in Numbers 15,35.

פי תחרא, an opening in the garment at the top, permitting the wearer to slip into it by pulling it down over his head.

בתוכו, in its middle (the middle of the top). להבדיל, similar to garments worn by the members of the clergy.

לא יקרע. The collar does not open downwards (like our shirtfronts) but one leaves an opening for the neck when weaving it before finishing it at the top.

בתוכם. between pomegranate and pomegranate, not inside the pomegranate.

ונשמע קולו בבאו אל הקדש, the golden bells will knock against each other even though they are separated from one another by the woolen pomegranates.

ועשית ציץ. The name ציץ reflects the fact that this head-plate is worn on a place that everybody looks at on the forehead of the High Priest. We explained this point in our commentary on 12,7.

'קדש לה. The names of the tribes of Israel are engraved on both the gemstones of the ephod as well as on the breastplate. These names were to remind G’d of the merits of the founding fathers of these tribes and to facilitate atonement for the sins of their descendants. The specific sins referred to are inadvertent violations involving sacred sites entered in violation of the law, or the consuming of sacred sacrificial meat by people either not entitled to eat them or not in a ritually pure state which would be the prerequisite for eating same. While the High Priest wore the ציץ G’d undertook to forgive such inadvertent violations committed by the people concerned.

ושמת אותו על פתיל תכלת, there was a single strand of blue wool at either end of the tzitz which extended from ear to ear so that the head-band could be tied by means of it. There were also three strings above the tzitz which crossed the High Priest’s head (linking up with the woolen strand and attached to the מצנפת, the turban like shaped headgear worn by the High Priest.

אל מול פני המצנפת יהיה, the headband was to be worn immediately below the lower rim of the mitznefet.

ונשא אהרן את עון הקדשים, according to the plain meaning of the text the reference is not to sacred things which have been allowed to become ritually impure, but the meaning is as follows: the fact that the High Priest would wear the tzitz would facilitate the atonement needed by the various members of the Jewish people requiring same by means of the sacrificial offerings prescribed by the Torah to expiate their sins.

לכבוד ולתפארת, seeing that the headgear of the High Priest was especially decorative.

והלבשת אותם, as soon as the Tabernacle would be erected.