Parasha: Terumah · Aliyah: Fifth (Hod)

ועשית את הקרשים למשכן. "You shall construct the boards for the Tabernacle." The word למשכן indicates that only the coverings qualified for the term "Tabernacle," not the boards supporting the tent.

עצי שטים עומדים, "of acacia wood, standing up." Our sages in Yuma 72 say that they were standing up the way they grew. Apparently they derived this from the fact that the Torah did not write the word עומדים prior to the words "acacia wood" but afterwards. Alternatively, the word עומדים, "standing up" could have been written after the word למשכן. Had the Torah written the word in that order I would have considered it as part of the directive, i.e. that these boards were not to be used lying down. As it is, the word only describes the condition of the boards, i.e. that they were in the same position as when they still grew in the earth.

The moral-ethical significance of the word קרשים becomes evident if one transposes two letters of the word so that it reads קשרים, "forming connections." By means of these boards the celestial forces and the terrestrial forces were to unite. The need for them to be ten cubits high alludes to the number ten which is essential whenever matters of sanctity are at issue.

When the Torah requires that the width of these boards be one and a half cubits, this is an allusion to the way we celebrate the redemption from Egypt by eating both a whole מצה and a half מצה; the former symbolises freedom, the latter slavery. This is the mystical dimension of the letter ה and the letter ד. Passover reminds us of both our status as slaves and our new-found status as free men.

The total number of boards, i.e. 48, alludes to the mystical dimension of Isaiah 54,12: ושמתי כדכד שמשותיך, "I will make your "windows" [inlets for spiritual input from the celestial spheres, Ed.] of rubies." The word כדכד=48.

The mystical meaning of the sockets, i.e. אדנים, is self-explanatory by the fact that their very name alludes to G'd the Master. Perhaps we can best phrase this as "when The Master (G'd) is your foundation (read socket), then the Tabernacle has a chance to fulfil its purpose." The reason that these sockets number 100 is that the square root of 100 is ten, and we have already mentioned that the number 10 appears whenever spiritual values are involved. The number 100 is also the tenth in a graduated levels of "steps" in Kabbalistic literature.

והקמתה את המשכן, "And you shall erect the Tabernacle, etc." According to Rabbi Avraham ibn Ezra, Moses was to relay these instructions to the people described earlier as חכמי לב. Rabbi ibn Ezra considered the totality of the commandment to construct (and erect) the Tabernacle and concluded that just as all the directives which had been given to Moses in direct speech did not mean that Moses personally was to carry them out, so this commandment too was addressed to the people who were to perform the work of construction. I do not agree with Rabbi ibn Ezra's premise. All the directives given to Moses in direct speech meant that only he himself was to carry them out unless G'd repeated the instructions and said specifically that others should execute the directive. In those instances the reason G'd addressed Moses himself in the first instance was that inasmuch as Moses would delegate the work he himself would receive credit for it as if he himself had perfomed all the details personally. Although in our portion the directive about all the details of the building of the Tabernacle were addressed to Moses, the Torah repeats them in פרשת כי תשא when Betzalel, Oholiov, and all the חכמי לב, men of understanding heart, were put in charge of supervising the execution of all these plans. In 31,6 the Torah specifically charges these people with carrying out "all that I have commanded you (Moses)." This is the Torah's way of making clear that Moses personally was not involved in the construction of any of these parts. Seeing that G'd's instructions to Moses to erect the Tabernacle were not repeated, however, means that only he himself was charged with that task. In fact it was Moses who personally erected the Tabernacle as we know from 40,18 where the Torah reports Moses as personally erecting the Tabernacle. This is what our sages say in Shemot Rabbah 52. Any other interpretation is to be disregarded.