A BLOSSOM — and, in the sanctuary, a PLATE of gold. The same noun does both jobs, and the overlap is not a coincidence of spelling: it names a thing that shines out or protrudes. ⚠ Exodus 28:36 (already on these pages) has Moses make a tzitz of pure gold engraved HOLY TO JEHOVAH and tie it to the front of the high priest's turban; it is made at Exodus 39:30 and set on Aaron's head at Leviticus 8:9. Then at Numbers 17:23, to settle whether Aaron is the priest at all, his dead staff vayyatzetz tzitz — blossomed a blossom — producing overnight the same word that was already pinned to his forehead. The verb form there occurs in exactly one verse in the Hebrew Bible. ⚠ Not to be confused with, though plainly related to, tsitsit, the tassel of Numbers 15:38 — the same family of sprouting-out words, two chapters apart, on the same priestly stretch of the book. → first discussed at Num 17:23