Commentary for Exodus 35:12

ואת פרכת המסך means THE CURTAIN OF (that serves for) PARTITIONING — Everything that screens an object, whether it hangs above or in front of it is called מָסָךְ or סְכַךְ. Of similar meaning are: (Job 1:10) “[Hast Thou not] put a partition in front of him?” (שכת = סכת); (Hosea 2:8) “Behold I will partition off (סך = שך) thy way [with thorns]”.

את הארון ואת בדיו, The Holy Ark and its staves, etc. The Torah lists the most sacred of the furnishings of the Tabernacle first just as it started by mentioning the most sacred of the various covers of the Tabernacle, the ones made of twisted linen first in 36,8. The reason that the staves are mentioned next with the conjunctive letter ו is that they formed an integral part of the Holy Ark and were not allowed to become detached from it as we have been told in 25,16. The Torah next mentions the lid of the Holy Ark, omitting the conjunctive letter ו, seeing that it was not as sacred as the Holy Ark itself. The fact that it was not attached permanently to the Holy Ark also suggests that it was not as sacred as the Ark itself. On the other hand, the dividing curtain, פרוכת המסך is introduced by the Torah with the conjunctive letter ו, indicating that it was of the same level of sanctity as the lid on the Ark.

Paroches of the partition . . . Rashi is answering the question: Does פרוכת not mean a curtain hung at the entrance, while מסך means a covering spread out as a roof? Therefore Rashi explains that מסך means “partition.” And so it must be understood in several places in this section. The term מסך sometimes means “roofing,” and sometimes it means “partition,” as in: “You have protected ( סכת ) him” (Iyov 1:10), and: “Behold I will protect ( סך ) your road” (Hoshe’a 2:8).