Musar su Esodo 31:18

Rashi disagrees with the words of the Zohar in פרשת כי תשא on 31,18 stating that the fact that the donations for the Tabernacle are not reported in the Torah until after the episode of the golden calf does not mean that Moses had not collected the donations already prior to it. The Torah is not obligated to report matters in a chronological order. [In our editions of Rashi there is a bracket which quotes another Zohar which specifically includes the mixed multitude in the donations for the Tabernacle basing itself on the words "from everybody;" Ed.] this statement is also found in the Midrash Tanchuma on פרשת תרומה. It is very puzzling why Rashi makes such an effort to use the verses in פרשת תרומה and פרשת ויקהל respectively to prove the principle that the Torah does not need to report events in chronological order. Whereas Rashi is quite correct in claiming that Moses communicated the instructions to bring donations for the building of the Tabernacle on the morrow of the Day of Atonement, but how do we know that he had withheld this information from the Jewish people since before they made the golden calf, i.e. for several months? Perhaps he himself had not been told about it until then?

We find the Torah described as G–d's, i.e. תורת ה'; we also find it described as Moses' Torah, i.e. תורת משה. I have dealt with this apparent anomaly in the introduction to my treatise called תולדות אדם as well as in my treatise מסכת שבועות. G–d gave Moses a number of general rules when He gave him the Torah. This is alluded to in Exodus 31,18: ויתן אל משה ככלתו לדבר אתו הר סיני, "G–d gave to Moses when He finished speaking with him at Mount Sinai, etc." Our sages in Shemot Rabbah 41,6 comment that this gift refers to the principles of Torah exegesis that G–d gave to Moses at that time. Moses realized then that there is an oral Torah also. G–d confirmed to Moses that this was indeed so. This is why the oral Torah is called תורת משה, i.e. Moses' bride. Once Moses had formed this relationship with his spiritual bride he gave up his physical bride, i.e. he no longer lived with his wife as man and wife. This is why the Zohar describes Moses' title as איש האלוקים with the words בעלה דמטרניתא, "husband of this spiritual 'matron'" (who has her root in the emanation תפארת and whose mystical dimension דעת was previously refined by passing through the emanations חכמה and בינה). We find a further allusion to this concept in Job 28,12: והחכמה מאין תמצא ואיזה מקום בינה, "But where can wisdom be found; where is the source of understanding?" The Tziyoni writes that the word מאין is the mystical dimension of the letters in the name משה. The numerical value of the word זנגזגאל, Moses' teacher, is the same as that of the word מאין, i.e. 101. [the angel that called to Moses from the burning bush, cf. Targum Yonathan ben Uzziel Exodus 3,2. Ed.] This number 101 is reminiscent of the statement of our sages that in order to ensure that one understands what one has learned one has to study it 101 times (Chagigah 9b). While it is true that the title איש אלוקים has been accorded by the Bible not only to Moses but to a total of ten personalities namely Elkanah, Samuel, David, Shayah, Iddo, Elijah, Elisha, Michah and Amotz, yet there is a difference between the other nine men and Moses. Whenever Moses is described by this title he is referred to as איש אלוקים. This means that he was the "husband" of the Divine i.e. the emanation מלכות, much as Elimelech is described as the husband of Naomi, i.e. איש נעמי in Ruth 1,3. The same term with the other prophets means "a man of G–d," i.e. someone who has displayed close affinity with G–d. Another difference which marks the description of Moses as איש אלוקים is that whenever Moses' name is mentioned in such a connection Moses' own personal name always precedes his description as איש האלוקים, such as in our portion in 33,1. The same does not hold true with the other men who have been accorded the title איש אלוקים. When our Rabbis stated: אין בעל מת אלא לאשתו, "a husband's death affects primarily his wife" (Sanhedrin 22a), they may well have alluded to the "marriage" between Moses and Matronita. When the period of mourning observed by Israel after Moses' death is described in the Torah (34,8) we find the expression: ויתמו ימי בכל אבל משה, "The days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end." Note that the numerical value of the word בכי, weeping is 32, and the word אבל is 33. Adding these two words you arrive at the numerical value of the current name of G–d א-ד-נ-י=65. Allegorically speaking, this means that Moses was mourned by his "wife" i.e. the (junior) attribute of G–d Matronita with whom he shared the last 40 years of his life on earth.