Commentaire sur L’Exode 39:25

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.

ויתנו את הפעמונים בתוך הרמונים, ”they placed the bells amid the pomegranates.” This was done before either of the decorative appendages (in lieu of tassels) were connected to the robe. The bells were inserted within the pomegranate-shaped knobs. The Torah repeats the words בתוך הרמונים a second time, to inform us that not only did the artisans insert the bells inside the pomegranates before suspending the pomegranates from the hem of the robe, but they remained in place also afterwards.