Chasidut על שמות 31:2
Kedushat Levi
Exodus 38,22. “and Betzalel, son of Uri, son of Chur, of the tribe of Yehudah, executed all that G’d had commanded Moses.” A look at Rashi will reveal that in fact it is remarkable that the Torah did not write: “which Moses commanded Betzalel”, but wrote “which G’d commanded Moses.” This suggests that Betzalel had divined even the sequence of things that Moses had not revealed to him either deliberately or because he had forgotten. For example: Moses had instructed Bezalel to construct the furnishings of the Tabernacle before he had given him details for constructing the structure that was to house these furnishings. (Compare Jerusalem Talmud Peyah 1,1 According to the version there when Moses instructed Betzalel to first construct the furnishings, Betzalel queried this wondering if Moses had heard it in that order on Mount Sinai.) Upon hearing this, Moses reminded himself that G’d had in fact told him to construct the structure housing the furnishings first. He complimented Betzalel, saying that apparently he had stood in G’d’s shade at the time G’d had spoken to Moses. As a result, Betzalel constructed the structure, i.e. the boards and “carpets” serving as the ceiling of the Tabernacle, before he proceeded to fashion the furnishings.
I believe that it is in order to elaborate on this somewhat. When a person gets out of bed in the morning he needs to wash forthwith, i.e. as a prelude to reiterating that he accepts the kingdom of heaven, i.e. the commandments of the Torah, anew. This includes his faith in G’d, Who is the Creator of all the phenomena that we can perceive with our senses. Subsequent to this it is incumbent on the person to turn to G’d in prayer, and after that to study some of the Torah. This is followed by the performance of various commandments in the order in which the opportunity to do so presents itself. All of this is designed to teach us the attributes of the Creator and help us to have absolute faith in Him and to enable us to emulate His attributes.
“Faith” in the Creator consists of two levels. It begins with what we call “little faith,” i.e. faith based on the most basic intellectual faculties every human being is endowed with, which dictates that the universe as we know it could not have come into existence on its on, but must have been created by a Supreme Intelligence, that Intelligence which for want of a better word we call “G’d.”
After having realized this and having accepted it, we proceed to a more profound level of אמונה, “faith,” a level which results from our intellectual faculties having been refined through the study of G’d’s Torah. The level of “faith” that results from studying Torah is known as השראת שכינה, Divine inspiration.
I believe that it is in order to elaborate on this somewhat. When a person gets out of bed in the morning he needs to wash forthwith, i.e. as a prelude to reiterating that he accepts the kingdom of heaven, i.e. the commandments of the Torah, anew. This includes his faith in G’d, Who is the Creator of all the phenomena that we can perceive with our senses. Subsequent to this it is incumbent on the person to turn to G’d in prayer, and after that to study some of the Torah. This is followed by the performance of various commandments in the order in which the opportunity to do so presents itself. All of this is designed to teach us the attributes of the Creator and help us to have absolute faith in Him and to enable us to emulate His attributes.
“Faith” in the Creator consists of two levels. It begins with what we call “little faith,” i.e. faith based on the most basic intellectual faculties every human being is endowed with, which dictates that the universe as we know it could not have come into existence on its on, but must have been created by a Supreme Intelligence, that Intelligence which for want of a better word we call “G’d.”
After having realized this and having accepted it, we proceed to a more profound level of אמונה, “faith,” a level which results from our intellectual faculties having been refined through the study of G’d’s Torah. The level of “faith” that results from studying Torah is known as השראת שכינה, Divine inspiration.
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