Musar do Wyjścia 25:3

We have now learned that the three parts of the Tabernacle correspond to the three parts of the universe concerning which King David said in Psalms 103,20: "Bless the Lord, O, His angels, mighty creatures who do His bidding, ever obedient to His bidding. Bless the Lord all His hosts, His servants who do His will; bless the Lord all His works, through the length and breadth of His realm." David's son Solomon also adopted his father's outlook when he alluded to this in three consecutive verses in Song of Songs 5,13-15. Three different parts of the human body form the subject of those verses, each one representing a different aspect of the universe and how man's composition reflects this division of the universe into three constituent parts. I (Rabbenu Bachyah) have explained this in detail when I discussed Jacob's dream of the ladder." Thus far the quotation from Rabbenu Bachyah.

We have said that the ladder also alludes to the Holy Temple; we find the concept of the Holy Temple similarly divided into three levels corresponding to the three divisions of the letters in the alphabet. The first set of donations for the Tabernacle mentioned in the Torah (Exodus 25, 3) comprises זהב, כסף, ונחשת, gold silver and copper. Gold always represents something "above," copper something "below," whereas silver corresponds to the elements bridging the gap between what is above and what is below. The seven arms of the candelabra, which provide spiritual illumination, correspond to the seven major planets which illumine the physical world. The twelve precious stones that the High Priest wore in his breastplate, the אבני זכרון, correspond to the significance of the group of twelve letters, and the 12 מזלות. We see how in the word וישכב, which we divided into the two words יש-כב, all these concepts are represented, and why the Mishnah in Uktzin spoke about 310 = יש reserved for the Jewish people.