Parasha: Pekudei · Aliyah: First (Chesed)

אלה פקודי המשכן, These are the accounts of the Tabernacle, etc. The Torah uses the word אלה to emphasise that the only true accounts are those following. Whatever man counts when he wants to determine the total of his possessions on earth are only apparent possessions; their count therefore is also only apparent, deceptive. The only true count on earth was of the components which comprised the Holy Tabernacle because it was something containing divine input תרומת השם, and because G'd had His residence within it. [The author implies that the very word מנה, to count, testifies to its being misleading, deceptive. Perhaps we can support this with Bileam's outcry (Numbers 23,10) מי מנה עפר יעקב, "who can count the dust of Jacob?" He referred to the deceptive nature of any "count." Ed.]

The Torah may also have used the word פקודים in preference to such words as ספור or מנוי as we have been told in Baba Metzia 42 that matters which have been "counted" do not enjoy lasting blessing. The Torah wished to emphasis that all the materials contributed for the construction of the Holy Tabernacle enjoyed lasting blessing. Normally, G'd objects to headcount; in this instance G'd did not object to a count. On the contrary, every single component contributed and accounted for increased the amount of blessings G'd bestowed on the Holy Tabernacle.

We may also be able to understand the word אלה as reflecting an advice given to us in Vayikra Rabbah 21,5. We are told there that the remedy for someone who has committed a string of sins is to engage in the performance of a string of מצות, good deeds. The only proper way to rehabilitate oneself from sin is through demonstrating this by deed. The string of מצות one performs serve as a demonstration to G'd that one has truly reformed oneself. The Torah enumerates all the components of the Tabernacle, i.e. אלה, thereby pointing at the string of good deeds performed by the Israelites who had previously been guilty of the sin of the golden calf. The reason that the Tabernacle is called משכן העדות, the Tabernacle of testimony, is that it testified to the fact that G'd had forgiven the sin of the golden calf. If you will examine the details of the sin of the golden calf, you will find that the Israelites performed מצות corresponding to each of the parts of that sin when they contributed to and helped erect the Tabernacle. They had expressed the wish for a god to walk ahead of them (32,1) and they now had erected a Tabernacle which would be evidence that the true G'd was in their midst and that His presence would precede them. They had built an altar (32,6) for the golden calf and offered total offerings on that altar; they had now erected a copper altar for the offering of total offerings; they had contributed their gold to enable the golden calf to be made; they had now contributed their gold and precious possessions to help build the Tabernacle. They had removed their nose-rings at the time in order for those to serve as raw material for the golden calf; they now not only contributed the nose-rings but all kinds of other personal jewelry as well for the building of the Holy Tabernacle. We have already explained on 35,22 that during the episode of the golden calf the Israelites appointed themselves to make the golden calf; in this instance they were content to entrust Betzalel with the construction of the Tabernacle. At that time they had said: אלה אלוהיך ישראל; now the Torah describes the completion of the Tabernacle by using the parallel term אלה פקודי המשכן.

The use of the word אלה may reflect yet another consideration. Seeing that Moses (alone) had made the count of the materials contributed for the Tabernacle, the Torah testifies that his count was indeed accurate. The Torah goes out of its way by stating that it accepted Moses' count by using the words על פי משה, "according to what Moses said;" the reason the Torah did not write אשר פקד משה, was to demonstrate that Moses needed no witnesses to confirm the accuracy of his count. We encounter something of a similar nature in Leviticus 23,2 where G'd employs the word אלה מועדי השם calling the dates fixed by the Sanhedrin for certain festivals to occur "My festivals." G'd does not doublecheck the calculations of the Sanhedrin. We live by the Torah Moses has handed down to us orally. It would have been an insult to send in "auditors" to check his calculations. The Torah has made it clear in 36,3 that Moses alone accepted all the donations.

The reason that Moses gave a detailed account of what he had received was so that he would not be suspected of dishonesty; actually, it was quite inconceivable that a man with whom G'd spoke constantly could be dishonest. Surely G'd would not speak with him if he was even slightly dishonest. Moses may have reasoned that although G'd had commanded him to receive all these donations alone (see our commentary on Exodus 25,2), "G'd's ways are straight, and the honest people can walk them although the wicked will stumble even on straight roads."

Yet another reason for the peculiarly worded sentence: אלה פקודי המשכן משכן העדות, is that the last words are a confirmation of the first words. The meter of the verse is this: "How do we know that the amounts reported by Moses as the total contributions for this project are accurate and have not been understated? Answer: The Tabernacle itself is called the "Tent of Testimony." In this connection it is worthwile to recall a statement in Shemot Rabbah 52,4 on 39,33 ויביאו את המשכן אל משה, they brought the Tabernacle to Moses. We are told there that all the scholars were unable to devise a way to erect the Tabernacle. In the end they took all its components and brought them to Moses. Moses was ovecome by the Holy Spirit and immediately put up the Tabernacle. Thus far the Midrash. Here we have proof of Moses' integrity seeing we have a principle that G'd does not perform miracles for dishonest people. [The author has made the same claim in Parshat Vayechi see our translation on page 433. Ed.]

We may ask: "what kind of proof is it to claim that Moses' ability to erect the Tabernacle proved his integrity? Was he not an exceptionally powerful individual, stronger than any other Israelite?" The Torah therefore added in our verse: עבודת הלוים ביד איתמר. We know that it was the task of the Levites to transport the planks for the Tabernacle under the supervision of Ittamar (Numbers 1,51); they were the ones who had to dismantle these planks and to put them up again (each one was 20 feet tall and had a circumference of over 12 feet plus its golden overlay). We note therefore that the people's and their leaders' inability to erect the Tabernacle was not due to lack of physical prowess; otherwise how could the Levites have managed such a task?" Moreover, if physical prowess was the reason Moses managed to erect the Tabernacle, why did the Torah have to mention Ittamar altogether in this context? Why did the Torah not mention also Eleazar, Ittamar's brother? When you adopt my explanation that Moses' ability to do what no one else had been able to do was proof of his integrity, the words עבודת הלוים ביד איתמר make sense as it disabuses us of the premise that only a Moses was strong enough physically to erect the Tabernacle.

What we have said so far still does not exclude the possibility that Moses' ability to erect the Tabernacle was not due to supernatural help but that his intellectual powers were equal to the challenge to put together and erect the Tabernacle. The Torah therefore adds in the next verse that Betzalel son of Uri made everything G'd had commanded Moses to do. Our sages deduce from this verse that Betzalel even carried out details which Moses had not told him about and that Moses subsequently expressed his approval. The Torah goes on to say that Betzalel's assistant Oholiov also contributed to his knowledge; our sages in the above quoted Midrash Shemot Rabbah 52 stated that even all the combined wisdom of these two architects of the projects did not suffice to enable them to erect the Tabernacle. There really had been no need to tell us once more of Betzalel's contribution to the project. If the Torah nonetheless mentioned it again it may have been to exclude the assumption by the reader that in the end the Tabernacle was erected without supernatural assistance, i.e. to remind us that Moses had a divine assist. Once the erection of the Tabernacle by Moses is accepted as demonstrating divine assistance, his accounting may certainly be considered as approved by G'd.

Shemot Rabbah 51 explained that the erection of the Tabernacle represented the atonement for the sin of the golden calf. We have also been told in Chulin 5 that being guilty of the sin of idolatry is tantamount to one's having violated all the commandments of the Torah. The words אלה פקודי should be translated the same way as does Onkelos who renders the words in Leviticus 27,34: "These are the commandments" as: אלין פקדיא. If we were to apply this translation to our verse, we would have to understand the words אלה פקודי in the sense of: "these are the instructions, read commandments, i.e. the Tabernacle represented all of G'd's commandments and thereby compensated for the sin of the golden calf. [In modern Hebrew the word פקודה means "a military order" as most of you are aware. Ed.] We may find an allusion to this when we look at the numerical value of the letters in the words פקודי המשכן which total 615, i.e. the 613 commandments plus 2 for the two Tablets they were recorded on. The meaning of the words then is: אלה, "these" will help G'd forget the 613 commandments which Israel violated when it served the golden calf.

The reason the Torah adds: עבודת הלוים, "the service by the Levites" is, that we are to remember what happened for all times. We are not to think that seeing that G'd had forgiven the sin of the golden calf, the privilege of performing the service in the Tabernacle would revert to the firstborn from whom it had been taken away because of their involvement in that sin. In our verse the entire tribe of the Levites is included in the description "priests," seeing that the priests too are referred to as Levites on occasion such as in Deut.27,9.

The Torah continues: ביד איתמר, to make it clear that the exclusion of the firstborn from their erstwhile position as priests affected not only their right to offer sacrifices or to carry the Holy Ark, etc., but even the right to perform the tasks over which Ittamar presided. These comprised duties involving materials of a relatively minor degree of sanctity such as the beams of the Tabernacle and all that belonged to them (Numbers 4,29-33). All of this was a reminder that the sin of the golden calf had not been erased in such a way that no trace of it could be detected. The best proof of this is what G'd said in Exodus 32,34 that whenever He has occasion to punish the Jewish people He will add an extra measure of punishment as part of what they have not yet received.

The words פקודי המשכן also allude to the expression "appointment" such as in Numbers 4,16 where Torah describes Eleazar as being "in charge of" i.e. "appointed" over the oil for lighting, incense, etc. The Torah in our verse hints that all the appointees for the Tabernacle were "in charge" of the respective parts of the Tabernacle or its appurtenances assigned to them. They had to ensure that the Tabernacle continued to exist and take the necessary precautions to prevent any part of it from deteriorating or disintegrating. Inasmuch as the Tabernacle represented the Torah, the task of the first of its appointees was to maintain משכן העדות, the Torah proper. As long as the Israelites would study the Torah and live by its precepts the continued existence of the Tabernacle was assured. Failing that, there would be no Tabernacle. This is what the sages in Bamidbar Rabbah meant when they commented on Psalms 78,60: "He forsook the Tabernacle of Shiloh, the Tent He had set up amongst men." The Midrash observes that we must understand the wording as: "G'd had set up a Tent by means of man." If people prepare themselves spiritually to study Torah and to observe it, not only the commandments engraved on the Tablets and the written Torah, but אשר פקד על פי משה, the oral Torah Moses taught the people, then we are assured of G'd setting His Tent amongst men. This is the second group of "appointees" then that we are told about in our verse. The third group of "appointees," were the people performing the service involving the Tabernacle, i.e. the Levites; the fourth group of appointees were Aaron and his sons. The Torah mentions "Aaron's son" rather than Aaron himself and even the word בן אהרון may refer to Eleazar (seeing everybody knew that Ittamar was Aaron's son). This was because Aaron's share in the sin of the golden calf affair had not yet been completely atoned for. This occurred only after the seven days of the inaugural offerings and the death of his two older sons on the eighth day when Aaron offered sin-offerings. The Torah therefore mentions the fact that he too was an appointee only obliquely, by mentioning who was the father of his son. The fifth appointee was Betzalel who had performed the work for the Tabernacle and Oholiov his assistant. You therefore find that there were a total of five appointees to ensure the permanence of the Tabernacle. 1) The Torah itself; 2) Moses who was entrusted with teaching; 3) The Levites who had to erect and dismantle the Tabernacle every time the Israelites journeyed; 4) the priests who had to perform the sacrificial service and who were counted with the Levites of the houses of Kehot and Gershom whose duties were also considered עבודה; 5) Betzalel and Oholiov who were in charge of construction. This then is the meanig of אלה פקודי המשכן, "these are the appointees of the Tabernacle."

כל הזהב העשוי למלאכה, All the gold used in the construction, etc. The words ויהי זהב התנופה in this verse seem superfluous or at least not in their proper place. The words כל הזהב העשוי do not seem to fit at all. Perhaps the Torah wishes to underline that of all the gold handed over to the various artisans not an ounce remained unaccounted for; it was all used up in the construction of the vessels which were to be made of gold. The whole verse then is testimony to the integrity of the artisans employed in fashioning all the parts made of gold. The words בכל מלאכת הקודש mean that all the gold was used up in the construction of the sacred vessels.

The Torah may also allude to miracles which occurred to the gold used for the vessels of the Tabernacle. We all know that when one constructs vessels out of any metal including gold, the fact that it has to be melted down, etc., results in some diminution of the original amount of metal one started with. The more the original lump of gold had to be divided in order to construct all the various smaller parts made of gold, the greater the percentage lost in the process. The Torah testifies here that there was absolutely no wastage; all the original material was used up fully to become part of the sacred work בכל מלאכת הקודש. The word העשוי may be translated as "fit to be used to make something of." If something that the Israelites contributed was fit to be used in the construction of the Tabernacle, it was fully made use of. The word בכל means that all of the original amount contributed was immediately put to use in the construction. If this had not been the case, the miracle that nothing was left over would not have been noticeable. One could have added materials from the pool of raw materials whenever one ran short of something. This was not the case, however. The miracle was noticeable only because there was neither excess nor shortage during any stage of the construction of the many items required for the project.

ואת האלף ושבע מאות, and of the one thousand and seven hundred, etc. This refers to the silver not described as having been used to make the sockets. Our sages in Shemot Rabbah 51,5 claim that while Moses was busy enumerating what had been made out of all the gold and silver, etc., he sat down for a moment and forgot what had been made out of these 1775 shekels of silver. When he remembered, the Torah added the letter ו in the word ואת.

According to commentators such as Rabbi Avraham ibn Ezra (compare his comments on Exodus 25,3) who hold that the only silver which was contributed for the Tabernacle consisted of the half-shekel every male over twenty had to contribute (Exodus 30,13-14), the words ואת האלף ושבע מאות וחמשה ושבעים have to be explained differently. We know that the male Israelites had to contribute a half shekel each, and that the total number of males counted were 603.550 (compare Numbers 1,46). Since a "kikar" silver consists of 3.000 shekels, the figure given in our verse (as the left-over silver) corresponds exactly to that which had not been used for the 100 sockets which were each one kikar in weight. We do not find that G'd had commanded that anything other than the sockets, the hooks and the fillets had to be made of silver. The Torah did not, however, specify the size of the hooks or the fillets. Betzalel considered the number of hooks and fillets required and constructed them in sizes which used up the 1775 shekels silver remaining, making sure there was no overage. The words עשה ווים mean that he made the total remaining silver into hooks dividing them as required. He was quite certain that the remaining silver was to be used for this purpose as the fact that G'd had told him how much silver to use for the socket had made it plain to start with that there would be an overage of silver worth 1775 shekels. If G'd had told Betzalel about the size of each of these hooks beforehand, the execution of that command should have been reported as ויעש ווים. The fact that the Torah writes instead: עשה ווים is proof that he used his own initiative as to the size of these hooks.

I do not subscribe to the theory that there was no other silver except that contributed from the count of the males above the age of twenty. How else are we to explain 35,24: "Everyone who set apart an offering of silver and copper?" That verse cannot be reconciled with Rabbi Avraham ibn Ezra's comment on 25,3: "and this is the offering, etc." Every serious student will appreciate what I mean. I believe we can explain our verse in accordance with what we have written on verse 24 on the words כל הזהב, that even when such small items as hooks were made nothing went to waste, nor did the material used fail to be used up completely. The meaning of עשה ווים is that Betzalel used up everything in the making of these hooks.

כאשר צוה ה׳ את משה; as G'd had commanded Moses. The Torah emphasises this to tell us that the Tabernacle corresponded to G'd's instructions in all its details as we already explained in connection with 27,20 that G'd considered that Moses had a personal share, i.e. merit, in every detail of the construction of the Tabernacle although he personally had not been commanded to perform the work.

Another meaning of the verse is simply that when the artisans were about to commence any part of the work, they would first say "as per G'd's instructions to Moses."

Another reason the Torah had to write this verse is that there is no commandment which does not contain elements over and beyond its performance with one's hands or other parts of one's body. The Torah never revealed more than a fraction of the totality of a commandment as we know from a statement of Rabbi Yochanan in Gittin 60. There were then intellectual dimensions to the commandments G'd had given to Moses which are not recorded in the written text. The Torah here testified that all these dimensions were complied with and that the artisans deserved credit for this. Whereas some of these hidden dimensions of a מצוה are alluded to by the way the legislation in question is recorded in the Torah such as the "crowns" on the letters, others are not, though most of the hidden aspects of each מצוה were revealed to Moses while he was on Mount Sinai. We have Rabbi Akiva telling us in Sanhedrin 106 that one could deduce 300 halachot from the shape of the uppper part of the letter ל alone. At any rate, the message of the Torah here is that all the hidden aspects connected with construction of the Holy Tabernacle were carried out by those concerned with constructing it.