פירוש על שמות 39:3

וירקעו AND THEY DID EXTEND — וירקעו is of the same root and meaning as, (Psalms 136:6) “To Him that stretcheth out (לרקע) the earth”. Render וירקעו as the Targum does: ורדידו, they extended by beating. Plates did they beat out of the gold; in old French estendre — to extend into thin plates. Here it informs you how they wove the gold together with the woollen threads. They beat out the thin plates and from them they cut threads along the length of the plates to make of these threads a mixture (to mix them) with each of the different kind of woolen threads in the ephod and the breast-plate in regard to which gold is mentioned in this connection. One thread of gold they intertwined with six threads of blue purple, and so with each kind of wool. For all the materials had their threads six-fold, and the gold formed the seventh with each of them (cf. Yoma 72a).

AND THEY BEAT THE GOLD INTO THIN PLATES. In all the sacred work that was done, Scripture did not add an explanation as to the method of execution except for here. It should rather have said: “and they made the ephod of gold, and blue-purple etc., the work of a skilful workman; they made shoulder-pieces for it etc.,” for such is the way it describes all of them. It is possible that Scripture relates here [how it was made] because of the original thought that they had to put into making the gold threads, for they were greatly astonished [to be told] that the gold should be spun and twined as is done with wool or linen, for no-one ever heard of doing such a thing until that day.

וירקעו את פחי הזהב, the donours of the gold for the priestly garment already flattened the gold into thin stripes so they could easily be converted and cut into “threads” to be embroidered in these garments.

וירקעו את פחי הזהב, “they hammered out the thin sheets of gold;” Nachmanides comments that nowhere has this process of turning gold into sheets been described in the whole Torah except here. It is quite possible that the Torah here reports on a new discovery of how to make golden threads. Subsequently, these golden threads could be interwoven as easily as linen and wool. It had not occurred to anyone to do this prior to the making of the priestly garments.

V. 3. פחי הזהב. Die Bedeutung von פחים hier und Bamidbar 17, 3 als dünn geschlagene Metallbleche ist wohl unzweifelhaft. Schwierig ist die Ableitung und die Bedeutungsgemeinschaft mit פח: Schlinge, Falle. Die Wurzel scheint פחה, lautverwandt mit פהה, der Wurzel von פֶה: Mund, und פה: hier zu sein. Von פֶה und ist die gemeinschaftliche Grundbedeutung: zur Aufnahme eines Gegenstandes sich öffnen פה oder dazu offenstehen. Unmittelbar verwandt damit wäre פח (von פחה) als: Falle. Allein der Übergang zu פח: dünn geschlagenes Metall bleibt schwierig. Vielleicht ist die durch Schlagen gewonnene Ausdehnung eines Metallstückes als räumliche Erweiterung, d. i.: Öffnen anzusehen. — וירקעו וגו׳ וקצץ, ebenso früher: ויעש — ויעשו את בגדי את האפד und so im folgenden, ist wohl überall entweder das begrifflich Bedeutsamere oder das technisch Schwierigere im Singular unmittelbar Bezalel zugeschrieben.

וקצץ פתילים, the respective artisan. He used the flat sheets of gold to cut the threads from.