Tafsiran Keluaran 25:40: Tze'enah Ure'enah, Rashi, Chizkuni & Rashbam

“Note well and follow the patterns” [25:40]. The Holy One said: make the Lampstand in the same form as you were shown. The Holy One had shown Moses Our Teacher a Lampstand of fire that he should copy in gold. Even though Moses could not copy a Lampstand, the Holy One said: throw the gold in the fire and a finished Lampstand will come out of it.³⁶Tanhuma, Beha’alotekha, 3.

Bahya asks a question. Because it is written in the verse, with their pattern, with a bet, and it is not written, like their pattern, with a kaf, this teaches us that Moses could not copy as he had been shown. He was shown a heavenly fire and that fire is not like our fire, since our fire can be comprehended, but the fire from heaven is not so. It is pure spirituality.³⁷Bahya, Exodus, 25:40.

Toldot Yizhak writes. The Ark alludes to a scholar, who should be with his heart as he is with his mouth. He should know that if he will have the proper faith in his heart, so that he can have this world and the next world. He can become like an angel, since the Cherubs refer to angels. They were on the Ark, even though the Ark was made of wood. So too, the person is flesh and blood, yet he can attain the level of an angel in the next world. The Table alludes to wealth of this world. The Lampstand alludes to the next world, which is pure light. The boards of the Tabernacle refer to the students who study with the rabbis and stand around him, like the boards around the Tabernacle. The sheets of the Tabernacle refer to the householders who bring students and protect them, like the sheets protected the Tabernacle, so that no wind or rain went into the Tabernacle.³⁸Toldot Yizhak, Exodus, 25:31.

וראה ועשה AND SEE AND MAKE — See here, in the mountain, the pattern which I shew thee. This teaches you that Moses was puzzled about the workmanship of the Menorah until the Holy One, blessed be He, showed him the pattern of it in a candlestick of fire (Menachot 29a).

אשר אתה מראה WHICH WAS SHOWN THEE — Translate as the Targum does: דאת מתחזי בטורא which thou hast been shown on the mountain. If it were punctuated with Patach (מַרְאֶה) it would mean which you show to others,” now, however, that it is punctuated with חטף קמץ (our קמץ חטוף, short Kametz) it signifies, “which thou hast been shown” — i. e. which others show thee [for the punctuation distinguishes between the words denoting “one who does something” and “one who has something done to him” (i. e. between the active participle מַרְאֶה and the passive participle מָרְאֶה).]