Commentaire de citation sur L’Exode 40:33

By following the approach of the Midrash we can also understand why the Torah had to add the word אל משה instead of merely saying: אליו, "to him," seeing that Moses' name had appeared at the end of the last portion (Exodus 40,35). The Torah could have done the same as in Genesis 18,1 where we are told: "G'd appeared to him" (Abraham), without mentioning Abraham's name seeing he had been the subject of the last paragraph in Parshat Lech Lecha. In our situation G'd had to convince the sons of Aaron and the elders of His fondness for Moses.

ביום החודש הראשון באחד לחודש תקים את המשכן, “on the day of the first month, on the first day of it, you shall erect the Tabernacle.” On this occasion only, Moses himself was to erect the Tabernacle. From now on, during their journeys in the desert, the Levites would dismantle it as well as reassemble it at the next location. The meaning of the word תקים is equivalent to “putting the finishing touches to it.” The reason this is so, is because according to tradition Moses practiced assembling and dismantling the Tabernacle every single day during the 7 days of the inauguration of the priests. Now, on the eighth day, the first of Nissan, when he assembled it for the last time, the heavenly cloud, signifying the Presence of the Shechinah, materialized and took up its position above the Tabernacle, as we know from 40,33 ויכל משה את המלאכה, “Moses completed the work.” This is followed by ויכס הענן את אהל מועד, ”the cloud enveloped the Tent of Meeting.” Clearly, if the Torah inserted this verse at this point it means that prior to this the cloud was not in evidence. At any rate, on the first day (40,18) of the inaugural sacrifices Moses was told of all the portions in the Book of Leviticus up to and including the last verse in Parshat Tzav. Nonetheless, in spite of having this oral communication from G’d, the cloud had not been in evidence. G’d, as opposed to communicating with Moses from the Holy of Holies, had spoken to Moses directly from heaven, as He had done during the many months since the Exodus. However, in the Midrash Chazit, we have a statement saying that the opening line of Parshat Shemini, i.e. the words ויהי ביום השמיני, “It occurred on the eighth day, etc.” was fit (from a chronological point of view) to have been written at the very beginning of the Book of Leviticus, but seeing that the Torah is not bound by such considerations, it considered it more appropriate to write that paragraph adjacent to the legislation not to enter the holy precincts while in a state of inebriation. In other words, the opening lines of the Book of Leviticus were spoken by G’d to Moses after the paragraph in Leviticus 9,23 where the glory of G’d appeared for all the people to see, and after the death of the two sons of Aaron, Nadav and Avihu in Leviticus

ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE FIRST MONTH SHALT THOU SET UP THE TABERNACLE OF THE TENT OF MEETING. In the opinion of our Rabbis⁴³Sifra, beginning of Seder Shemini. who say that this was on the eighth day of the installation [of the priests into their sacred office],⁴⁴On the first seven days of the installation the Tabernacle was put up and taken apart each day. But on the eighth day it was put up and no longer dismantled until they moved away from the encampment at Mount Sinai. Accordingly, since in the opinion of the Rabbis the first day of Nisan was the eighth day of the installation, the expression thou shalt set up the Tabernacle must mean “set it up permanently etc.,” the meaning of the verse is: “you are to put up the Tabernacle and it should remain so; do not dismantle it and do not put it up again, for when the camps will move, the Levites will dismantle it and put it up.” It was not necessary that G-d should command Moses now about the putting up of the Tabernacle during the first seven days, since He had told him at the start, And thou shalt set up the Tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which hath been shown thee in the mountain.⁴⁵Above, 26:30. Now since He explained to him here that On the first day of the first month the setting up of the Tabernacle would be of a permanent nature, Moses thus understood that during [each of] the seven days of installation it would be necessary for him to put it up and to dismantle it. Perhaps this was done in order to train the Levites how to do it, for they would see how he did it and would do likewise. Or it may be that this was done in order to crown the eighth day with this special crown [that the Tabernacle was for the first time not dismantled on that day].
It would appear according to the opinion of the Rabbis that on the first seven days Moses put up the Tabernacle each morning, and it remained standing all day and all the following night, and at each dawn he would dismantle it and put it up again immediately, for Scripture says, And at the door of the Tent of Meeting shall ye abide day and night for seven days,⁴⁶Leviticus 8:35. and there could be no “door” to the Tent of Meeting except at the time when it was erected.⁴⁷Thus since Scripture states that during the first seven days of the installation Aaron and his sons had to sit at the door of the Tent of Meeting, we must therefore conclude that the Tabernacle was dismantled at dawn and put up again immediately. The Sages have already interpreted:⁴⁸Sifra Vayikra, parshata 4. “he shall bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting⁴⁹Leviticus 1:3. — at the time when it is open, and not when [the Tent of Meeting] is taken to pieces.” Similarly, the Rabbis have said:⁵⁰Zebachim 55b. “Peace-offerings which have been slaughtered before the doors of the Sanctuary were opened are invalid, because it is said, and he shall slaughter it at the door of the Tent of Meeting⁵¹Leviticus 3:2. — at the time it is open, and not when it is locked.” Similarly, “at the Tabernacle, [peace-offerings which were slaughtered] before the Levites put up the Tabernacle, or after the Levites had dismantled it, were invalid.”⁵⁰Zebachim 55b. Moreover, [during the first seven days of installation, Moses] used to sacrifice the Daily Offering of the evening and kindle the lamps at night. And in Vayikra Rabbah⁵²I have not found this quotation in Vayikra Rabbah, but in Tanchuma Pekudei, 11. I have seen [the following text]: “Moses used to put up the Tabernacle and dismantle it twice every day. Rabbi Chanina the Great says: three times every day, for [the phrase ‘putting up’ of the Tabernacle] is mentioned three times: thou shalt put up;⁵³In Verse 2 before us. the Tabernacle was put up;⁵⁴Further, Verse 17. and Moses put up the Tabernacle.⁵⁵Ibid., Verse 18. Once it was put up for the Daily Offering of the morning, and once for the special offerings of the installation, and once for the Daily Offering of the evening.” It is possible that all this was done for the sake of practice, so that they would know the procedure for putting it up, and which order to follow, but they never left it in a dismantled state at all [during the seven days of installation].
And that which Scripture states here, And the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Glory of the Eternal filled the Tabernacle,⁵⁶Ibid., Verse 34. in the opinion of the Rabbis it refers to the eighth day, for Scripture says, So Moses finished the work,⁵⁷Ibid., Verse 33. and when he had completed this erection on the first of Nisan, the cloud covered the Tabernacle. Now Rashi has already mentioned the interpretation of the Rabbis: “And they came out and blessed the people.⁵⁸Leviticus 9:23. During all the seven days of installation when Moses was putting up the Tabernacle, and officiating therein, and dismantling it,⁵⁹Our Rashi adds: “every day.” the Divine Glory did not rest upon it, and the Israelites felt ashamed, and they said to Moses: ‘Our master! All the trouble which we have taken was only so that the Divine Glory would dwell amongst us, and that we would know that the sin of the calf has been atoned for!’ Then Moses said to them: ‘My brother Aaron is more worthy and meritorious than I am, and it is through his offerings and service that the Divine Glory will rest upon us.’”
And in the Parshath Hamiluim⁶⁰Sifra, beginning of Seder Shemini. (the Chapter of the Installation) we find written: “I might think that the Tabernacle was put up on the first of the month of Nisan, and that the Divine Glory did not rest thereon until the eighth day of the month. Scripture therefore says, And on the day that the Tabernacle was put up, the cloud covered the Tabernacle, even the Tent of Meeting.⁶¹Numbers 9:15. This teaches us that on the day the Tabernacle was put up, the Divine Glory rested thereon through the service of Aaron.” Thus the Rabbis are clearly saying that the cloud covering the Tabernacle was on the eighth day of the installation, which was on the first day of Nisan.
If this is so, then this whole chapter, in the opinion of the Rabbis, took place on the eighth day of the installation. This is indeed so, because Scripture describes the sequence of events as follows: G-d commanded Moses that the final putting up of the Tabernacle should be on the first day of the first month, and then it states that Moses did so and finished the whole work⁵⁷Ibid., Verse 33. [of the seven days of installation], and then [on the eighth day] the cloud covered the tent,⁵⁶Ibid., Verse 34. and so it was always [henceforth whenever they journeyed and put up the Tabernacle at their new place of encampment]. Then Scripture goes back to the beginning of the communication which came to Moses from the Tent, saying, And He called unto Moses.⁶²Leviticus 1:1. All this is now in proper order.
A kind of proof to what the Rabbis have said, [that during the seven days of installation the Tabernacle was dismantled every day], is what Scripture says, And it came to pass on the day that Moses had made an end of setting up the Tabernacle.⁶³Numbers 7:1. Now if he did not dismantle it, what sense is there to the expression, the day that he ‘made an end’ of setting up the Tabernacle, since he began and finished all the work in one day? In that case it should rather have said: “and it came to pass on the day that Moses set up the Tabernacle.” Moreover, it says there [with reference to the eighth day], This is the thing which the Eternal commanded that ye should do;⁶⁴Leviticus 9:6. and the Glory of the Eternal appeared unto all the people.⁶⁵Ibid., Verse 23. The implication of these verses is that the cloud had not yet covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Glory of the Eternal did not yet fill the Tabernacle.
However it may be, from the first day of the installation G-d communicated to Moses from the Tabernacle all the sections from the beginning of the Book of Leviticus until And it came to pass on the eighth day.⁶⁶Ibid., 9:1. But the cloud did not cover the Tabernacle, and the people therefore thought that the communication from there to Moses was directly from heaven, just as it was in the land of Egypt. But in the Midrash Chazit⁶⁷I have not found it in Shir Hashirim Rabbah ( Midrash Chazit ), but in Koheleth Rabbah 1:31. I have found the following text: “And it came to pass on the eighth day.⁶⁶Ibid., 9:1. This really should have been the beginning of the Book of Leviticus. Why then was it written here? Because there is no strict chronological order in the narrative of the Torah.” Now if this is so, then the chapter beginning And He called unto Moses… out of the Tent of Meeting⁶²Leviticus 1:1. happened after and the Glory of the Eternal appeared unto all the people. And there came forth fire from before the Eternal, and consumed upon the altar;⁶⁸Leviticus 9:23-24. and the communication addressed to Aaron, drink no wine or strong drink,⁶⁹Ibid., 10:9. took place on the following day, for it is impossible that G-d should speak to Aaron from the Tent of Meeting before He had spoken to Moses.⁷⁰But if we say, as Ramban does, that G-d already spoke to Moses from the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the installation, then the communication to Aaron, drink no wine nor strong drink, took place on the eighth day of the installation. But I do not know whether this Midrash represents the unanimous opinion of all the Sages, or whether they are the words of a single Sage, for they are mentioned there in the Midrash with reference to Rabbi Yishmael.