출애굽기 26:26의 주석

בריחים are BOLTS, as the Targum translates it: עברין; in old French esparres.

בריחים חמשה, there would be five rings attached to each of the boards (planks) from the outside in order to slip the bolts or bars through them. In addition, in order to accommodate the בריח התיכון, the central bolt, each plank had to be hollowed where the hole was drilled to insert the central bolt therein.. As a result of all this the silver sockets at the bottom, the outside and interior bolts higher up and the clasps joining the planks together at the top, made for a solid structure once it had been assembled. According to the plain meaning of the text there were actually three bolts which qualify for the description בריח התיכון, “the central bolt.” One of them ran from north to south, and the other two ran from east to west parallel to each other on the two long walls of the Tabernacle. Seen in such a way, the Tabernacle was kept solid by the manner in which the corner planks were fitted to each other. This was achieved by the fact that the central bolts entered holes drilled from two directions in these two corner planks. According to the view of our sages (Shabbat 98) there was only one “central” bolt, and it described two turns when negotiating the two 90 degree turns at the northwest and southwest corners of the structure.

Each section being one fourth. . . [You might ask:] Why did Rashi divide it into three sections, [and say, “Placed at three equidistant places”]? He could have divided it [more simply]: from the top of the plank to the top bar is like from the top bar to the middle bar. And from the middle bar to the bottom bar is like from the bottom bar to the bottom of the plank — thus dividing it into four sections. [The answer is:] Both sides of the top bar are equal. From the top of the plank to the top bar is like from top bar to the middle bar. Therefore, these sides are considered as belonging to the top bar. Similarly, both sides of the middle bar are equal. From the middle bar to the top bar is like from the middle bar to the bottom bar. Therefore, these sides are considered as belonging to the middle bar. Similarly, the sides of the bottom bar are equal. From it to the middle bar is like from it to the bottom. Therefore, they are considered as belonging to it. That is why Rashi divided into three sections and not four. (Re”m)

ועשית בריחים, “you shall make bolts;” according to Rashi, these bolts were to be attached to the outside of the planks in three rows spread over the height of ten cubits which was their height. Seeing that the Torah had spoken of 5 plus five plus five bolts, Rashi means that they were not each as long as the entire combined length of the planks in each direction, but were inserted through the rings holding the bolts from each end, being 15 cubits long each. There were therefore 4 bolts along the upper half of the long wall, and 4 bolts along the lower part of that wall, and 4 bolts along the western wall (which was 12 cubits wide on the outside.) The bolt in the middle, described as הבריח התיכון, “the bolt running centrally all around was long enough to traverse the holes drilled in each plank so that it could go in at the eastern end of the northern wall and come out at the eastern end of the southern wall, (describing a u shaped path.) Since the latter was about 70 cubits plus long, it was equivalent to three of the other bolts. We have examples of how to fasten sections of parchment to one another in a Torah scroll, where the length of the section from top to bottom is sewn at intervals of approximately one third from the top three times, or when the land of Israel is divided into three parts for the purpose of where to position the cities of refuge for people who had killed unintentionally and were afraid of a family member of the deceased wishing to kill him as an act of retribution. (Compare Talmud, Megillah folio 19, or Makkot 9)

חמשה לקרשי צלע המשכן FIVE FOR THE BOARDS OF THE ONE SIDE OF THE TABERNACLE — The five were really only three, but the upper and the lower bolts were each composed of two pieces, the one reaching to the middle of the wall from one side and the other reaching to the middle of the wall from the other side, the one passing through the outermost ring from one side and the other passing through the outermost ring from the other side, until, passing through all the intermediate rings, they met one against each other. Thus the upper and lower bolts were two which were made up of four. As to the middle bolt its length was equal to that of the entire wall passing from one end of the wall to the other end, for it is said, “And the middle bolt etc. shall reach from extremity to extremity.” This was therefore in one piece, and so we have the five of which this passage speaks. For the upper and lower bolts had rings on the boards into which were to be inserted two rings for each board. The bolts were משלשים i. e. placed at three equidistant points along the ten cubits that formed the height of the board, thus dividing the height into four equal portions, — one portion extending from the upper ring to the top of the board, another from the lower ring to the bottom, each portion being a quarter of the board’s height, and the other two portions were between the rings (from one ring to the central bolt and from there to the other ring). This was done in order that all the rings in one row should be exactly opposite one another so that the bolt could be easily inserted. The middle bolt, however, had no rings, but the) wards were grooved right through their thickness and it (the middle bolt) passed through them by way of these grooves which were exactly opposite one another (all in one straight line). This is the meaning of what is stated, “[and the middle bolt] in the midst of the boards.” The upper two and the lower two bolts on the north and south side were each 15 cubits long, whilst the middle bolt was 30 cubits long. That is what Scripture means by saying of this bolt that it shall reach “from extremity to extremity” — from east to west. Of the five bolts on the west side the length of the two upper and the two lower ones was each six cubits whilst the middle one hade its length twelve cubits corresponding to the aggregate width of the eight boards (each of which was one cubit and a half). This is how it is explained in the Boraitha treating of the construction of the Tabernacle.