Exodus · Chapter 37

Bezalel made the Ark of acacia wood: two and a half cubits its length, and a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height.

ויעש בצלאל AND BEZALEL MADE [THE ARK] — Because he gave himself over to the work more whole-heartedly than the other wise men it is called after his name (his name alone is associated with the act) (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayakhel 10).

"And Bezalel made": Because of the honor of the Ark, he himself made all the sacred vessels. Scripture mentions the Tabernacle and the Tent, and the Parochet and the screen, for they belong to one category. Afterward it mentions the anointing oil together with the spice incense, for there are aromatic spices in the anointing oil and also in the spice incense.

ויעש בצלאל את הארון, “Betzalel constructed the Ark.” It is well known that the Ark was the most sacred of all the furnishings of the Tabernacle. This is the reason why the Torah mentions Betzalel’s name in connection with the construction of the Ark, seeing that he was the one who possessed most of this divine spirit with which G’d endowed all the participants in the work of constructing the Tabernacle. (Compare the adjectives the Torah lavished on his insights in 35,31). Furthermore, the construction of the Ark required that the person making it entertained specific thoughts while making it. Seeing that construction of the other furnishings did not demand that the craftsman engaged in making it entertained specific thoughts, the Torah contented itself with simply writing: “he made it,” (the table) or (the lampstand), etc. without mentioning who it was who made it.” It is worth knowing that the sequence in which the furnishings of the Tabernacle are reported here was also the sequence in which the furnishings of Solomon’s Temple were constructed. The Ark was positioned in the Holy of Holies, on the far side of the dividing curtain, פרוכת. The table was positioned on the near side of that curtain on the north side of the heychal. The lampstand was positioned on the south side of the heychal, whereas the altar for incense, the “golden” altar, was positioned between the two former, slightly forward towards the entrance of the Tabernacle. This was in order that the priest entering the heichal should encounter it as the first item after he entered in order to perform the cleaning out of the ashes of the altar. This took place before five of the lamps on the lampstand would be replaced with new wicks each morning. The sequence of these rituals was determined by the principle אין מעבירים על המצות, that one does not ignore the performance of a commandment which is incumbent upon one if one encounters the opportunity to fulfill it immediately. We find another allusion to the four-lettered holy name of G’d in these four paragraphs. The letter י of that name is symbolized by the height (10 handbreadths) of the Holy Ark together with its lid, the כפורת. The table in the northern part of the Sanctuary which represents מלכות, which receives its divine input from the fifth emanation, גבורה, an emanation on the “left” side of the diagram of emanations, represents the attribute of Justice. It is symbolized in the holy name of G’d by the first letter ה. This is the reason that the Torah mentioned the position of the table prior to the position of the lampstand. The lampstand with its six shafts (arms) in addition to the central stem represents the letter ו in the holy name of G’d. Finally, the altar for incense which was covered with solid gold, represents the final letter ה in the holy name of G’d. The function of the incense is to counter the attribute of Justice when it is active. We know this from Deut. 33,10 ישימו קטורה באפיך, “they will place incense to counter Your anger, etc.” Having learned all this you need not be surprised at the statement of our sages in Berachot 55 that Betzalel knew how to manipulate or combine the letters in the alphabet employed by G’d when he created the universe. The letter י alludes to חכמה, wisdom, whereas the letter ה alludes to the celestial region it derives from, עולם האצילות. The letter ו alludes to the emanation בינה, (the one next to חכמה), whereas the final letter ה in that name refers to the concept of דעת, [according to some Kabbalists a combination of the former two emanations, eliminating the emanation מלכות from the diagram we are more familiar with. Ed.] This is what the Torah had in mind (31,3) when G’d said of Betzalel ואמלא אותו רוח אלוהים בחכמה, ובתבונה, ובדעת, “I will fill him with divine spirit, with wisdom, insight, and knowledge.” The three words refer to the three emanations we have mentioned. A Midrashic (Tanchuma Vayakhel 7) approach concerning the words: “Betzalel constructed the Ark,” Rabbi Chanina of Tzippori said that he actually made three arks, two of gold and one of acacia wood. He inserted the wooden one into the golden outer one; then he inserted the inner golden one into the wooden one. He covered the edges with gold to fulfill the instruction in Exodus 25,11: “you shall overlay it with gold from the inside and from the outside.” He understood the wording of the Torah to mean that although the wood of the Ark was totally enclosed, invisible, it was to be accorded honor seeing that the Torah is contained within it. The people even treated the broken first Tablets with honor placing the broken pieces within the Holy Ark, together with the Torah scroll and the second set of Tablets. The reason that the wood used for the Holy Ark was shittim wood was to remind the people of the sin the Israelites were to commit at a place called Shittim and to help atone for that sin. The wording of Deut. 10,2 “and place them in the Ark,” refers to the words immediately previous, i.e. אשר שברת “the ones you have broken.” The moral message was that even if one encounters a Torah scholar who is impoverished and whose exterior reflects this, one is to treat him with respect and honor as his body houses the Torah. When G’d gave the instructions to build the Tabernacle, He had used the expression ועשית “you are to make, etc.” with every single item except in the case of the Ark where he said: ועשו, “they are to make the Ark” (25,10). The reason was so as not to allow any Israelite to say to another Israelite that he did not also have a share in the Torah. This was also one of the reasons that the Torah was given to the Jewish people in the desert, a region which is ownerless, has not been claimed by anyone as their own. The moral message is that the words of Torah are “ownerless,” no one has an exclusive on them, there is no law of copyright protecting the Torah. A person could not claim that seeing he was a natural born Jew that he had a claim to Torah not shared by converts who joined Judaism after the Torah had been given to the Jewish people. This is part of the meaning of Deut. 33,4 תורה צוה לנו משה מורשה קהלת יעקב, “Moses commanded us the Torah, it is to be handed down as an heritage to the Community of Yaakov.” The Torah chose the word קהלת יעקב to teach that anyone who joins the community of Yaakov has an equal claim to that heritage. Any convert has an equal claim to Torah provided he makes it the focus of his study and observance. When the Torah defined the purpose of the Torah, it wrote “in order that האדם, should perform its laws and live thereby.” The Torah did not write: “in order that a priest, a Levite, or an Israelite should perform its laws and live by it,” but it chose the all-embracing term האדם, (Leviticus 18,5). It is worthwhile to compare what is written in Chronicles I 2,55 i.e. “the families of the scribes that dwelt at Jabez: the Tirathites, etc., etc., these are the Kenites who came from Hammath, father of the house of Rechav.” According to Tanchuma these people sat in the office of the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court, (on the Temple Mount), were members of it, studied, taught, and occupied positions of distinction. This proves how accessible Torah is and was to converts at all times. The words describing this are very similar to the ones used in the Torah (Deut. 27,9) where Moses exhorts the people to study Torah and to listen carefully to instruction in Torah. Some commentators even understand the word “the Tirathites” as a play on words, referring to people who had heard the sound of the Teruah at Mount Sinai (according to the view that Yitro arrived in the Jewish camp prior to the giving of the Torah). The “Kenites descended from Rechav” are definitely identified as descendants of Yitro, Moses’ father-in-law. In Yuma 72 we are told that Betzalel constructed three Arks, the inner one of gold being eight handbreadths in height, the middle one, the wooden one, being nine handbreadths in height, whereas the golden outer one was slightly over ten handbreadths in height. To the question how much higher than ten handbreadths the outer Ark was, the Talmud answers זיר, a measurement of approx. the height to accommodate the kapporet to fit on the inside and yet leave a crest to form a sort of crown or border. [According to this view the kapporet must have been considerably thinner than a handbreadth. Ed.]

ויעש בצלאל את הארון, “Betzalel constructed the Ark.” It was the first of the furnishings of the Tabernacle. This corresponds to what we read in Psalms 119,130: and פתח דבריך יאיר מבין פתיים, “even the preamble to the words You inscribed give light.” David referred to the “light” G–d had created on the first day prior to proceeding to creating the three dimensional universe. This is what the Holy Ark represented in the Tabernacle as the Torah it contained has been defined by Solomon in Proverbs 6,23 as: כי נר מצוה ותורה אור, “for the individual commandment is a lamp, whereas the Torah as a whole represents light itself.” The reason why you do not find Betzalel’s name associated with any of the furnishings of the Tabernacle other than the Holy Ark, is that in connection with that item Betzalel had demonstrated the degree of holy spirit which G–d had endowed him with. Moses had suggested to Betzalel to construct the Holy Ark as the first item to be made for the Tabernacle, whereupon Betzalel upon hearing this questioned it by saying to him: “are you sure? Does one not build a house before making the furniture for it?” Moses then remembered that he had forgotten the order in which G–d had told him to proceed. Our sages kept this story alive by pointing out that the meaning of Betzalel’s name בצל-אל is: ”in the shadow of G–d,” i.e. he must have been nearby when G–d instructed Moses. (Compare Talmud, tractate B’rachot folio 55) עצי שטים, “acacia wood.” It was so named because the Israelites would commit grave sins at a location by that name. Using this type of wood was meant to help atone for that sin by the people.

He overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and made for it a molding of gold all around.

He cast for it four rings of gold upon its four corners: two rings on its one side and two rings on its second side.

He made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.

He inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the Ark, to carry the Ark.

על צלעות הארון, on the sides of the Ark. The three times the word "the Ark" is mentioned in this paragraph corresponds to the three "Arks" i.e. the golden outer Ark, the one made of acacia wood, and the golden inner Ark, as we are taught in Yuma 72.

He made the cover of pure gold: two and a half cubits its length and a cubit and a half its width.

And he made the MERCY SEAT of pure gold; two cubits and a half the length, and a cubit and half its breadth; but its thickness was a span.

He made two cherubim of gold; he made them of hammered work, from the two ends of the cover.

One cherub from this end and one cherub from that end; from the cover he made the cherubim at its two ends.

משני קצותיו, at the two ends thereof. Perhaps the verse wants to inform us that Betzalel did not make the lid of equal thickness throughout before pounding it with a hammer. He may have flattened it with hammer blows to correspond to the size required to fit as a lid over the Ark. He had added additional amounts of gold at either end so that he could fashion the cherubs out of that excess. This is why the Torah had to specify that the cherubs were made from the respective extremities of the lid.

One keruba on this side, and one keruba on that side, of beaten work; and the kerubin were face to face. They were not separated from the mercy seat; but by the wisdom of the Spirit of prophecy, he made the kerubin on its two sides.

The cherubim had their wings spread upward, raising their wings over the cover, with their faces one toward the other; toward the cover were the faces of the cherubim.

And the kerubaia spread forth their wings, with their heads upward, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces were toward each other, over against the mercy seat were the faces of the kerubaia.

He made the Table of acacia wood: two cubits its length, one cubit its width, and a cubit and a half its height.

He overlaid it with pure gold and made for it a molding of gold all around.

He made for it a rim of a handbreadth all around, and made a molding of gold for its rim all around.

He cast for it four rings of gold and placed the rings at the four corners that were at its four legs.

Opposite the rim were the rings, as holders for the poles to carry the Table.

He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold, to carry the Table.

He made the vessels that were upon the Table: its dishes and its bowls and its ladles and its flagons with which libations are poured — of pure gold.

He made the Menorah of pure gold; of hammered work he made the Menorah — its base and its shaft, its cups, its knobs, and its blossoms were all of one piece with it.

ויעש את המנורה, He constructed the candlestick, etc. You will find that the Torah refers to the various furnishings of the Tabernacle by the same description both when we are told about what was required and when the execution is reported. Why, in this instance, did the Torah depart from this rule and instead of describing the candlestick as "the candlestick for illumination" or as "the golden candlestick," it is simply described as "the candlestick?" Perhaps the answer may be found in the rule (Menachot 28) that under certain conditions the candlestick could be made from other metals, as hinted in the word תיעשה, (25,31). The Torah mentioned in chapter 25 that the candlestick had to be made of gold in order to remind us that the rule that it could be made of cheaper metals did not apply under the conditions prevailing then. It could also be that the meaning of the words "the golden candlestick" simply means that it was to be made of gold and not of any other metal although such a candlestick is acceptable in principle. In our context the Torah simply emphasised that Betzalel conformed to the instruction and made the candlestick out of gold as ordered.

Six branches extended from its sides: three branches of the Menorah from its one side and three branches of the Menorah from its second side.

Three cups fashioned in one branch — a knob and a blossom; and three cups fashioned in one branch — a knob and a blossom; so for all six branches extending from the Menorah.

And in the Menorah itself there were four cups fashioned, with its knobs and its blossoms.

A knob beneath two branches of it, and a knob beneath two branches of it, and a knob beneath two branches of it — for the six branches extending from it.

Their knobs and their branches were all of one piece with it — the whole of it one hammered piece of pure gold.

He made its seven lamps, and its tongs and its fire-pans of pure gold.

A talent of pure gold he made it and all its vessels.

He made the Altar of incense-spices of acacia wood: one cubit its length and one cubit its width — it was square — and two cubits its height; its horns were of one piece with it.

ויעש את מזבח הקטורת, he constructed the altar for incense. The reason that the construction of the golden altar is mentioned here is because it was situated inside the Sanctuary as opposed to the copper altar mentioned afterwards. I have explained the reason why its construction had been commanded after G'd commanded the construction of the copper altar (compare 27,1 and 30,1 respectively) in my commentary on וכן תעשו.

And he made the ALTAR OF SWEET INCENSE of sitta wood, a cubit its length, and a cubit its breadth, foursquare, and two cubits was its height; its two upright horns were of the same.

He overlaid it with pure gold: its top and its walls all around and its horns, and he made for it a molding of gold all around.

He made two rings of gold for it below its molding, on its two corners, on its two sides, as holders for the poles to carry it with them.

על שתי צלעותיו על שני צדיו, “upon the two ribs thereof, on the two sides thereof.” There is some duplication of words here.

He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.

He made the holy anointing oil and the pure incense-spices, the work of a perfumer.

AND HE MADE THE HOLY ANOINTING OIL, AND THE PURE INCENSE OF SWEET SPICES. Scripture did not explain these as it did with the others, for according to the way it writes about the others it should have said, “and he took the chief spices, of flowing myrrh etc., and he made them into the holy anointing oil; and he took sweet spices, stacte, and onycha etc. and he made them into an incense compounded after the art of the perfumers.” But the reason [for Scripture not saying so] is because He did not state the whole process of the making of the oil of anointment when He gave the command for them, as I have explained there. In the making of the incense likewise it does not mention all the spices, but relied on them [the craftsmen who made the Tabernacle] by saying that it should be made after the art of the perfumer, and therefore when they made it Scripture only mentioned that they made it according to the way of the perfumers. This is the sense of the expression, holy… pure, after the art of the perfumer.

ויעש את שמן המשחה קדש, he meant for it to be enduring infinitely (not to evaporate or otherwise disintegrate). We have encountered the meaning of the word קדש in this sense already on Exodus 30,31קדש יהיה לכם ולדורותיכם, “it shall be sacred for you as it will last throughout your generations.” ואת קטורת הסמים טהור; with spices from which any foreign elements had been carefully removed, i.e. טהור, “pure, unadulterated.”

ויעש את שמן המשחה, “he made the holy anointing oil;” why was this verse inserted at this juncture? The question is in place as we would have expected the Torah to have written this verse after all the vessels that required anointing had been completed, seeing that the work of the copper altar as well as the washbasin and its stand had not yet been completed as well as other portable utensils which would require to be ritually pure? Rabbi Chavell speculates that seeing that no one answered this question, and we know that many parts of the Tabernacle were ultimately hidden to prevent them falling into enemy hands, the holy anointing oil, which according to tradition never diminished even after use, was also something that was hidden, whereas the copper altar and the washbasin were not considered holy enough to have to be hidden. The incense spices, though pure, need purification, as it is written in Ecclesiastes 10.1 “Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s oil.”

ויעש את שמן המשחה קודש, “He made the oil of anointing, holy;” the reason why the Torah adds the adjective קודש when describing the making of this oil, is because it was used to sanctify the Tabernacle, its furnishings, both Aaron’s and his sons’ garments. The incense, on the other hand, is described as being טהור, pure, to tell us that it is subject to being contaminated ritually. Nachmanides writes the reason why the Torah did not spell out the components that the oil of anointing consisted of as it did when Moses was commanded to make it in chapter 30, was that even when Moses was commanded about the making of the oil of anointing and the incense, the Torah did not furnish a complete list of the ingredients. The Torah had contented itself with mentioning “מעשה רוקח,” the work of perfumers. If it was in order to be brief at that time, it was in order to be equally brief when it reports the compliance with the directive.