פירוש על שמות 26:1

ואת המשכן תעשה עשר יריעת MOREOVER THOU SHALT MAKE THE DWELLING OF TEN CURTAINS — that they should serve it as a roof and at the same thime as wall-coverings for the outside of the beards; — for the curtains hung behind them so as to cover them.

ואת המשכן תעשה, the reason why these curtains are referred to by the Torah as משכן, “a residence,” is because in the space covered by them there were the kinds of furnishings normally found in a dwelling, i.e. table, cupboard (Ark), and a lamp stand. The dwelling was designed to house the presence of G’d more commonly referred to as the Shechinah. כרובים, the curtains were made with the patterns of cherubs woven into them, as we know from the description of Isaiah’s vision (Isaiah 6,2) that he perceived G’d surrounded by angels described as Seraphim. We also find another description of a similar type in Kings I 22,19 where the prophet Michayah describes his vision of G’d in these words: “I saw the Lord seated on His throne with all the host of heaven standing in attendance to the right and to the left of Him.”

ואת המשכן תעשה עשר יריעות, "And you shall construct the Tabernacle out of ten strips of cloth, etc. This number is an allusion to the ten directives G'd used when creating the universe. The Torah wants to tell us that construction of the Tabernacle was as important to G'd as creation of the universe itself. Constructing the Tabernacle would also confer as much merit on the Israelites as if they had personally brought about the creation of the universe which was created by means of ten directives.

ואת המשכן, the lowest 10 curtains (the ones visible from the inside of the structure) are called משכן. The reason is that immediately below them was the Ark, i.e. they provided the home for the Ark.

ואת המשכן תעשה עשר יריעות, “you shall construct the Tabernacle out of ten curtains, etc.” The word משכן is spelled with the letter ה in front, indicating that it was a building we had heard about previously. This shows that the מקדש mentioned in 25,8 and the משכן mentioned here are one and the same thing. By rights the details of the construction of the Tabernacle should have preceded that of its furnishings; however, due to the lofty nature of the Ark the Torah decided to first mention its construction, and, having commenced with one of the interior furnishings it also listed details of the table and the Menorah. When you will examine the report of the actual construction (36,8) you will notice that Betzalel constructed the Tabernacle before he constructed the furnishings it was to house.

Thus you have four kinds [of material] together in each and every thread. . . Explanation: all were entwined [into one thick thread], for it is written, “Twined.” The ו of ותכלת has the meaning of ב . Thus the verse conveys: “Fine linen entwined with greenish blue, dark red, and crimson.” It is like the ו in ה' שלחני ורוחו (Yeshaya 48:16), which means: “Hashem sent me with His spirit.” Similarly, ה' וכלי זעמו (ibid. 13:5), which means: “Hashem with His weapons of wrath.”

Kap. 26. V. 1. ירע ,יריעת, verwandt mit כרע ,גרע, bezeichnet seiner Grundbedeutung nach eine Verringerung. Beschränkung, גרע: an Wert, כרע: an Höhe, ירע: an Beschaffenheit, daher: אל ירע בעיניך, und so in der Bedeutung יריעה, wie hier: an. Raum, eine räumliche Umschränkung. יריעה heißt daher nicht Teppich im allgemeinen, z. B. nicht auch Fußteppich, sondern speziell Zeltteppich, Zeug, das zur Um- und Abgrenzung eines Raumes gebraucht wird. — שש, wie schon zu Kap. 25, 4 bemerkt, sind die Fäden feiner Leinwand, Flachsfäden. Die Überlieferung (Joma 71 b) lehrt, dass, wie der Name שש ausspricht, jeder Faden aus sechs Fäden bestand, und so auch die der wollenen ארגמן ,תכלת und תולעת שני-Fäden jeder aus sechs Fäden bestand, חוטן שזר ,משזר — .כפול ששה finden wir auch als Wurzel von שזרא, gleichbedeutend mit שדרא, Wirbelsäule, Rückgrat (לעמת העצה übersetzt לקביל שזרתא :אונקלס Aruch liest auch an mehreren Stellen im Talmud statt . שזר .(שזרא :שדרא scheint demnach eine Gliederkette, eine gegliederte Säule, einen gegliederten Stab und hier auch: "einen gegliederten Faden bilden" zu bedeuten. Es geschieht dies durch Drehung mehrerer Fäden. Jede Windung bildet ein Glied. משור heißt daher: gedreht. (Ganz analog ist auch von שודרא :שדר, Seil, gebildet, Gittin 69 a חבל של שיער :שודרא ברקא בהמה, Raschi). Indem משזר bei שש allein steht und durch eine, im Texte durch Wiederholung des שש (Kap. 39, 27 u. 28) angedeutete Überlieferung auch auf die anderen Fäden übertragen ist, so ist wohl, wie auch die Verhandlung Joma 71 b zu ergeben scheint, jeder der vier Fadenstoffe erst für sich sechsfädig zusammengedreht und dann die vier sechsfädigen Fäden zu einem vierundzwanzigfädigen Faden zusammen verbunden worden; nicht aber wie Raschi zum Texte anzunehmen scheint, es sei von jedem der vier Stoffe erst ein Faden genommen, diese vier Fäden dann sechsmal und so zusammengedreht. Sowohl nach dem Texte, als nach der Verhandlung in Joma scheinen nicht sechsmal vierdrähtige, sondern viermal sechsdrähtige Fäden zusammen genommen worden zu sein. So scheint es auch סמ׳ג Gebote 173 verstanden zu haben. Siehe auch מל׳מ, הל׳ כלי מקדש VIII, 3 am Ende.

ואת המשכן תעשה עשר יריאות, “and as for theTabernacle itself, make it of ten strips of cloth;” here the Torah speaks of the lower coverings which serves as roof of the structure. They are the ones that are really called משכן, “Tabernacle,” not the skins that were on top and served as protective coverings. These “carpet like” strips of expensive cloth were immediately above the furnishings, the Holy Ark, Menorah, table and golden altar.

שש משזר ותכלת וארגמן ותלעת שני OF FINE TWINED LINEN AND BLUE PURPLE, AND RED PURPLE, AND CRIMSON — Thus there were four different materials in every thread, one of linen and three of wool, each of the strands of which a thread was composed being sixfold (the word is taken here in the double sense of שש “linen” and of שש “six”). Consequently the four materials intertwined into one thread gave a twenty-four-fold thread (Yoma 71b; Baraita DeMelekhet HaMishkan ch. 2).

Which is done through needlework. . . In which the image appearing on both sides is the same.

There are still other considerations behind the requirement to use such materials as twisted linen of specific colours, goats' hair, etc. It is not accidental that G'd commanded ten strips of cloth to be made of linen whereas He commanded eleven strips of cloth made of goats' hair (verse 7) to be constructed and to be placed on top of the ten inner strips of cloth. Also the commandment to join five each of the linen strips of cloth together to form one unit, or in the case of the strips of cloth made of goats' hair, to combine two units of five or six strips together, this too was not arbitrary. The reason for all this was that G'd thereby symbolically impressed the three basic letters of His Ineffable Name on these four sections of strips of cloth joined in units of 10+5+6. (י+ה+ו). G'd commanded that all of these strips of cloth be four cubits wide, regardless of whether they were made of linen or of goats' hair. The number four symbolises that G'd's name contains four letters. You will find that our sages in Shabbat 6 state that a minimum of 4 handbreadths square and ten handbreadths height is required to qualify as a private domain. This is an allusion to the four letters in the Ineffable Name of G'd adding up to the number 26. Similarly, 4 by 4 plus 10 adds up to 26, i.e י+ה+ו+ה. Seeing that the letter י is relatively holier than the other letters in G'd's name, the unit of ten strips of cloth made of linen formed the inner cover of the Tabernacle, being closest to (directly exposed to) the Holy Ark. The reason the strips had to be joined in units of five is an allusion to the thought that the first letter ה in G'd's name is always associated with the letter י. This is part of the mystique of the reading of the letter י. When you read (look at the spelling of) that letter as if it were a word, i.e. י־ו־ד, you are combining the י with the letters ו and ד, which between them make up the shape of the letter ה, although you actually read only a single letter. This is part of the mystical dimension חכמה and some of these mystical apects are alluded to in the details of the coverings of the Tabernacle. The first two letters of the word חכמה add up to 28, corresponding to the length of these various strips of cloth the Torah commands as coverings for the Tabernacle. The third letter of the word חכמה, i.e. the letter מ whose numerical value is 40, is represented by the width of 40 cubits which the two units of linen strips amount to when joined together width-wise. The fourth letter in the word חכמה, i.e. the letter ה, equals 5, which is represented by the fact that 5 such strips of cloth had to be sewn together into a unit. It also alludes to the five different kinds of kind deeds that derive from the emanation חכמה. Subsequently, G'd commanded the making of eleven strips of cloth out of goats' hair, their number (11) to complete the name of G'd, i.e. ו־ה. They were to be divided into units of five and six respectively to form an allusion to these two letters in the latter half of G'd's Ineffable Name. The combined width of these eleven strips of cloth of goats' hair, i.e. 44 cubits, are an allusion to the mystical dimension of the spelling of the Ineffable Name as words, i.e. יוד־הא־ואו־הא. When you spell the name in this fashion you obtain a total of 45. (We have already explained on Genesis 48,5 that a discrepancy of a single digit when working with numerical values is compensated for by either adding or subtracting the entire word as required in order to make up this digit, i.e. 44 plus or minus the word serving as basis of the gematria.

כרובים מעשה חשב תעשה אותם. Joma 72 b heißt es: רוקם מעשה מחט לפיכך פרצוף אחד חושב מעשה אורג לפיכך שני פרצופות, "das V. 35 genannte רקם sei Nadelarbeit, daher die Figuren nur einseitig, das hier genannte sei aber Weberarbeit, daher die Figuren beiderseitig." Durch רקימה, Sticken, wird die Figur auf einen unterliegenden Grund aufgetragen, sie erscheint daher nur auf der einen Seite. Durch חושב wird aber eine solche Weberei bezeichnet, durch welche das ganze Gewebe die Figur, und zwar also bilde, dass sie vollständig auf beiden Seiten sichtbar sei (siehe Rambam das. 15). Indem es nun ferner noch כרובים תעשה אותם heißt, so waren es nicht wohl Teppiche, auf deren Grund Cherubim erschienen, sondern die Teppiche waren nichts als zusammengewebte Cherubim, es waren eben Cherubimteppiche. Sprachlich erscheint רקם verwandt mit רגם: mit Steinen bewerfen, die Figuren erschienen aufgeworfen auf den Grund. חשב ist aber seiner Grundbedeutung nach: kombinieren, verbinden, daher auch: חֵשֶב הָאֵפֹד , die Latze, das Verbindungsstück, somit sind es ganze Figuren, die durch das Gewebe mit einander verbunden werden. Der חושב webt Figuren, und zwar ganze, beiderseitige, und verbindet sie mit einander. Die Übersetzung hätte das entsprechende technische Wort zu suchen. Wirken, wie wir es übersetzt haben, reicht wohl nicht aus.

שש משזר, a linen fabric, each yarn contained 6 threads that had been twisted, (according to Rashi) The Talmud in tractate Yuma folio 71 cites proof of this based on Biblical texts.

כרבים מעשה חשב WITH CHERUBIM, THE WORK OF AN ARTIST — Cherubim were figured on them (on the curtains) in the process of weaving them, not afterwards by embroidery which is needlework — but by weaving it on its two surfaces, one design on one side, a different design on the other; e. g., a lion on one side and an eagle on the other side, just as the silken girdles are woven which are called in old French faisee (Yoma 72b, Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim 8:4).

A lion on this side and an eagle on the other side. Re”m writes: “According to [what Rashi wrote on Yoma 72b], it does not mean specifically ‘a lion on this side and an eagle on the other side.’ It just means various images. . . However, I do not know why the verse calls these various images ‘cherubim,’ if ‘cherubim’ means images of children. Onkelos translates כרובים as כרביא , [‘like children,’] and so Rashi wrote on 25:28, and so it says in Chagigah 13b.” But it seems to me that the mishkon’s drapes had only the four images of the Heavenly Chariot: man, lion, ox and eagle, [all of which are referred to as “cherubim”; see Yechezkel 10:20.] Rashi meant specifically “a lion on this side and an eagle on the other side.”

מעשה חושב, work of a weaver. The root of the word חושב shows that it requires extreme thought, i.e. skill, not just dexterity with one’s hands, but planning. When the Torah speaks of מעשה רוקם, however, this refers to needlework only, and is something less sophisticated, not requiring the kind of planning ahead that does weaving.