Parasha: Pekudei · Aliyah: Third (Tiferet)

על שולי המעיל, on the hem of the robe, etc. The wording makes clear that the sages who hold that the pomegranates were next to the bells as opposed to the bells being inside the pomegranates were correct. Why else would the Torah first report that the pomegranates were attached to the hem of the robe and then report the making of the bells as a separate item in a separate verse? Later the Torah reports that these bells were placed in between the pomegranates "on the hem of the robe." The repetition of the words "on the hem of the robe" makes no sense if these bells were inside the pomegranates, i.e. surrounded by them. I am very surprised at Nachmanides who has rejected this approach. As to Nachmanides' answer to the above argument that the pomegranates were not actually suspended at the hem of the robe until after the bells had been placed inside them, it seems to me that the text says exactly the opposite. Nachmanides' using the fact that the Torah repeated the statement that the bells were inside the pomegranates as proof for his contention is not tenable. He does not explain why the Torah should have given the command to place the pomegranates from the hem of the robe at that point (compare 28,33). I believe that in this instance Nachmanides did not examine the text with his customary care.

בתוך הרמונים, amongst the pomegranates. The reason the Torah has repeated this instruction is to ensure that these bells should alternate and be on the same level as the pomegranates along the hem of the robe. The bells should not either protrude below the level of the pomegranates or be closer to the hem. We could not have deduced this if the Torah had written the line: "a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate on the hem of the robe," only once. We would then have thought that the reason the Torah gave these instructions was that the row should commence with a bell followed by a pomegranate, followed by another bell. As it is, the row should begin with the suspension of a pomegranate followed by a bell, followed again by a pomegranate so that the bells were "within," i.e. flanked each by two pomegranates. These instructions were necessary as the hem of the robe was not round (as was the upper part described in verse 23) but slit in such a way that there were two rows of material which between them made up the "hem." This is also the reason why in the Baraitha giving details about the robe, it does not say that the number of bells corresponded to the number of pomegranates. There had to be more pomegranates than bells. Zevachim 88 lists only the number of bells not the number of pomegranates.

פעמון ורמון, פעמון ורמון, a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate (alternating). The Torah had to write this as otherwise one could have hung two or three bells between each pomegranate or vice versa and this would still have corresponded to the definition "between the pomegranates." The first statement teaches that one pomegranate and one bell should alternate, i.e. there should not be two bells between a set of pomegranates. The second statement is to prohibit the reverse, i.e. two pomegranates between each set of bells.

ותכל כל עבודת משכן האהל, All the work of the Tabernacle, the Tent was complete, etc. The word ותכל indicates that the completion was not the result of the Israelites not continuing; as far as they were concerned they would gladly have continued to work on that project. The word ותכל refers to the end of the verse, i.e. "what G'd had commanded." The project was terminated in accordance with G'd's instructions.

It also indicates that some of the tasks were completed on their own and not by the B’nei Yisrael, such as the menorah (see Rashi on 25:31).

The word may also be understood in the sense of Psalms 84,3: נכספה וגם כלתה נפשי לחצרות השם. "I long, I yearn for the courtyards of the Lord." Our verse describes the enthusiasm with which the work was performed from start to finish.

ויעשו בני ישראל, the children of Israel did, etc. The Torah teaches that a person's delegate is accounted as like the person who has delegated him. The Torah here credits all of the Israelites with having constructed the Holy Tabernacle although it was only Betzalel (and his helpers) who had actually performed all the work. While it is true that Betzalel had received his instructions from G'd and not from the Israelites, the fact that the Israelites had given their silent consent to Betzalel's appointment meant that he acted as their delegate.

It appears that the Torah teaches us a general rule about the way Torah can be observed successfully by showing how the Israelites conferred merits one upon the other. The Torah (in its entirety) is only capable of fulfilment by means of the entire Jewish nation. Every individual Jew is charged with the duty to perform those commandments which he is able to fulfil, keeping in mind his individual status [an Israelite cannot perform service in the Temple, for instance, Ed.] This is the true meaning of Leviticus 19,18: "you shall love your fellow Jew as he is part of yourself." Without the fellow Jew, no individual Jew would be able to function as a total Jew. Each Jew has a task to help another Jew to become a whole Jew by means of his fulfilling commandments which the second Jew is unable to fulfil either at that moment or ever. As a result, the fellow Jew is not אחר "someone else," but is part of "oneself," כמוך.

This is the only way in which we can reconcile ourselves to G'd's commanding us to fulfil 613 commandments without which our body and soul are not really truly "healthy." The Torah has actually denied us a chance to fulfil a substantial part of all these 613 commandments. Are we to be permanent physical and spiritual cripples? Clearly, Torah and its observance then is not only a project for the individual but for the community. The Torah drove home this point by legislating laws which can be performed only by women, only by Levites, only by priests, and, in some instances, only by sinners, i.e. sinners who are anxious to rehabilitate them selves. Our verse describing the whole nation as performing what G'd had commanded Moses that they do, teaches this lesson. The reason that this was an appropriate time to teach us this lesson is that the 13 basic raw materials needed for the Tabernacle were as interdependent one upon the other as Jews are dependent upon each other in order to achieve the harmonious personality G'd desires for each Jew to develop into by means of his מצוה performance. It makes perfect sense therefore, that the Torah considers every Jew as having contributed all 13 kinds of raw materials needed for the Tabernacle.

ככל אשר צוה השם, in accordance with all that G'd had commanded, etc. The Torah emphasises this point to prevent people from drawing the wrong conclusion when they would observe the whole Tabernacle being dismantled two months and twenty days later (when the Israelites started their journey away from Mount Sinai compare Numbers 10,11 and Shemot Rabbah 52,2). One should not interpret the dismantling as proof that there had been structural defects or defects in the design of the Tabernacle and that this was the reason it was being dismantled. The Torah therefore testified that every detail of the execution of G'd's instruction of how to make the Tabernacle had been strictly adhered to. Another reason some Israelites might think that there were imperfections in the Tabernacle was the fact that it had been completed already on the 25th of Kislev though it is reported as having been erected only on the first of Nissan (40,2). G'd waited with having the Tabernacle erected until that date as the month of Nissan ushers in the period of the redemption from Egypt and the tyranny the Israelites had experienced there. According to another interpretation also mentioned in Shemot Rabbah 52, it was the anniversary of the birthday of Isaac, or the anniversary of the day G'd had first told Abraham that Isaac would be born.

אשר צוה השם, which G'd had commanded, etc. The reason the Torah added the words: כן עשו, "so they did," and did not content itself by simply writing ויעשו, they did is, that the Torah wished to credit the Israelites not only with construction of the Tabernacle but with carrying out all the commandments G'd had given to Moses, i.e. ככל, in accordance with everything G'd had commanded Moses, i.e. the entire Torah. With these words G'd "burned and scattered the ashes of the sin of the golden calf," i.e. finally disposed of any visible remnants of that sin.