Commentary for Exodus 26:33

AND THOU SHALT BRING IN THITHER WITHIN THE VEIL THE ARK OF THE TESTIMONY. He did not now command Moses to do it in this particular order, to hang up the veil under the clasps and only afterwards to bring in the ark inside the veil, for the commandment now does not refer to the erection of the Tabernacle but to the making thereof. Similarly, And thou shalt put the ark-cover upon the ark of the Testimony in the most holy place,²²⁷Verse 34. does not mean that he is to put the ark-cover upon the ark of the Testimony when the ark has already been brought into the Holy of Holies [screened by the veil].²²⁸On the contrary, at the charge for the erection of the Tabernacle it is said, And thou shalt put therein the ark of the Testimony (further 40:3), and then thou shalt screan the ark with the veil (ibid.). It is so explained in the Tur based upon Ramban’s words further on. But the purport of the verse is to command Moses to hang up the veil under the clasps in order that the ark be there within the veil, and the veil will thus divide between the holy place and the most holy. Similarly He says, And thou shalt put the ark-cover upon the ark of the Testimony in the most holy place,²²⁷Verse 34. in order to inform us that the ark-cover with its cherubim on the ark should all be there in the Holy of Holies mentioned, which means within the veil. But when He came to command the erection of the Tabernacle He said, And thou shalt put therein the ark of the Testimony, and afterwards, thou shalt screen the ark with the veil.²²⁹Further, 40:3. Similarly, at the actual construction it is said, and he put the ark-cover above the ark. And he brought the ark into the Tabernacle, and afterwards, he set up the veil of the screen.²³⁰Ibid., 20-21.
Tetzaveh

ונתתה את הפרכת…והבאת שמה מבית לפרכת, "You shall hang up the curtain…and bring it within the curtain, etc." This appears to teach that the dividing curtain was to be hung prior to the Holy Ark being brought inside the Holy of Holies. In 40,3 G'd said to Moses: "You shall place the ark of testimony there and you shall cover the ark with the curtain." This appears to mean that the ark was already inside the Holy of Holies when the curtain would separate it from the Sanctuary proper. Moses also appears to have acted in accordance with the instructions in chapter 40 seeing that we read in 40,20: "And he took and put the testimony in the ark and set the staves on the ark and put the ark cover above, upon the ark."

ונתתה את הפרכת תחת הקרשים, under the golden clasps. They were attached at the end of the 20 cubits of the curtains which had been spread out over the entrance of the Tabernacle. The length of the Tabernacle was 30 cubits so that the location of these clasps joining two sections of curtain totaling 40 cubits would be exactly 20 cubits from the entrance, at the point where the sanctuary and the Holy of Holies would be divided. From this point westward till the rear wall of the Tabernacle there would be ten cubits, the other 10 cubits of these curtains hanging down behind the western wall. [We must not forget that the curtains were sewn together lengthwise, whereas they were draped across the interior of the Tabernacle width-wise. Ed.]

והבאת שמה מבית לפרוכת את ארון העדות, “and you shall bring there, beyond the dividing curtain, the ark housing the Tablets of Testimony.” Moses was not commanded at this time to do this, i.e. to place the dividing curtain underneath the golden clasps, קרסים, and only subsequently to bring the Ark into the Holy of Holies, beyond where the dividing curtain had been hung. This is not the time and place when the Torah would issue directives for matters other than the ones that concerned the construction of the Tabernacle and its furnishings. In light of this, also the words ונתת את הכפורת על ארון העדות בקודש הקדשים, (verse 34) “you are to place the lid on the ark of Testimony in the Holy of Holies,” are not to be understood as to the order in which the Tabernacle would be assembled. On the contrary, when the directives for assembling the Tabernacle were issued, the Torah specifically directs that the lid be placed on the Ark only after it had already been placed in the Holy of Holies. (Exodus 40,3) This is also repeated when the assembly of the dividing curtain is described in 39,33-38 clearly shows that the furnishings were installed in the Tabernacle before the respective curtains were hung. Therefore, the meaning of the words in our verse is that it is mandatory to arrange for the dividing curtain to be beneath the clasps holding it in place so that at all times the Holy Ark would be within the Holy of Holies. The sole function of the dividing curtain was to separate two domains of differing degrees of holiness, i.e. the Sanctuary, היכל, and the קדשי קדשים, the Holy of Holies. It was important for us to know that the lid of the Ark, כפורת, with its cherubs mounted on it, the source from which G’d’s voice would address Moses, be completely within this Holy of Holies all times.

והבדילה הפרוכת לכם בין הקדש ובין קדש הקדשים , “and the dividing curtain shall separate for you between the Holy and between the Holy of Holies.” The Ark and the kapporet were beyond the dividing curtain in the Holy of Holies. During the period of the second Temple, the אבן השתיה, the stone covering the “navel of the earth” (Yuma 45) stood there in its place in the westernmost part of the Sanctuary. Beyond the dividing curtain but in front of the Ark (during most of the years of the first Temple) was kept the bottle of manna which had been filled by Aaron in the desert. They also kept a bottle of the anointing oil there as well as the staff of Aaron which had sprouted almonds after the suppression of the revolt of Korach (compare Yuma 37). The author claims that the garments of the High Priest were also stored there. The other furnishings of the tabernacle/Temple such as the table, the lampstand, and the golden altar, were kept in front of the dividing curtain in the part known as היכל. The table stood in the north, the lampstand in the south, and the golden altar of incense was between the two, slightly closer to the entrance of the Tabernacle (Yuma 33).

V. 33. תחת הקרסים. Die zehn Cherubimteppiche der Wohnung waren, wie oben VV. 3—6 beschrieben, je fünf und fünf zu einer Teppichverbindung vereinigt, die sodann durch Schleifen und Spangen mit einander verbunden wurden. Die Cherubimteppichwohnung bestand daher aus zwei mit einander verbundenen Hälften, jede Hälfte maß in der Breite zwanzig Ellen. Die hintere, westliche Hälfte, hatte nach ר׳ יהודה die zehn Ellen Höhe der Hinterwand (nach ר׳ נחמיה neun Ellen der Hinterwand, eine Elle der Bretterdicke) und zehn Ellen des westlichen Teils der Wohnung zu decken. Auf der Grenzlinie dieser westlichsten zehn Ellen befanden sich somit die קרסים, und indem unter diesen Verbindungsspangen der Scheidevorhang niederging, teilte derselbe die Wohnung in einen inneren westlichen Raum von zehn Ellen Länge, Breite und Höhe, den Raum des קדש הקדשים, und einen ostwärts davor liegenden Raum von zwanzig Ellen Länge, zehn Ellen Breite und ebenso vieler Höhe, den Raum des קדש. — Bedeutsam heißt es והבדילה הפרכת לכם, und wird damit die Scheidung nicht sowohl als eine absolute, als vielmehr als eine uns zum Bewusstsein zu bringende und uns gegenüber aufrecht zu haltende hervorgehoben. Nicht zu übersehen ist ferner, dass

Apparently we must resolve this contradiction by understanding our verse here as meaning that the curtain should be completed before the ark was to be placed inside the Holy of Holies. The curtain was not to be hung, however, before Moses had placed the ark of testimony inside the square provided for the Holy of Holies. In our verse no mention is made at all of the ark being introduced into the Holy of Holies. Our verse deals only with the eventual function of the dividing curtain, namely to separate the Sanctuary from the Holy of Holies. This is why there was no need to speak about the order in which these furnishings were arranged inside the Tabernacle.