Cytowanie Komentarza do Wyjścia 30:11

באחד באדר משמיעין על השקלים – the Jewish court sends [messengers] throughout the cities of Israel and announces that they should bring their Shekalim (i.e., one-half-shekel per adult male, as per Exodus chapter 30, verses 11-16), because on the first of Nisan, one needs to bring community sacrifices from new Terumah/priest’s due, as it is written (Numbers 28:14): “That shall be the monthly burnt offering for each new moon of the year.” Renew and bring a sacrifice from the new Terumah, for we derive the months of the year of here (Numbers 28:14) from (Exodus 12:2): “It shall be the first of the months of the year for you.” Therefore, we advance it by thirty days, which is from the first day of Adar to announce that they should bring their Shekalim.

ויקרא אל משה, “He called to Moses, etc.” Nachmanides, explaining the sequence of the portions in the Torah, writes that after having concluded with the construction of the Tabernacle, a subject which dominated the last four portions with the exception of Parshat Ki Tissa, the Torah now turns its attention to the legislation governing the sacrificial offerings to be brought in the Tabernacle. This is the logical corollary after we have been told that G’d’s glory manifested itself and enveloped the Tabernacle. Part of the legislation about the offerings, are the laws governing who has access to the Tabernacle, and who, even if basically entitled to perform service in the Tabernacle, is temporarily forbidden to do so due to his being in a state of ritual impurity or due to his being drunk. Even the High Priest himself, without being drunk or impure, is forbidden to enter certain parts of the Tabernacle except for a specific purpose on a specific day. (Leviticus,16,2). The priests not only must not be ritually impure when entering the Tabernacle, but they must sanctify themselves prior to performing their service. This additional requirement is based on the presence of the “glory of G’d” in the Tabernacle. Most of the Book of Leviticus deals with sacrificial offerings, the kind of people who present these sacrifices, either voluntary or mandatory, as well as the precise location where these sacrifices are to be offered. There is also a relatively short list of commandments which in one way or another are directly linked to such sacrifices, i.e. which bring in their wake the need to present such sacrifices by the individuals concerned. For instance, the Book opens with voluntary offerings by individuals, and the laws pertaining to them, necessitating the recording of the prohibition for certain fat parts of the animals, as well as all blood, to be forbidden to be eaten. Afterwards, as a corollary of the sin offering, parts of which are consumed by the priests, this brings in its wake the need to inform us generally about which animals may and which may not be eaten. These animals, or even basically “kosher” animals, that have not been killed by ritual slaughter, bring in their wake ritual uncleanness, and confer such on people in contact with them. We read about certain diseases that have a religious background, and therefore are not subject to treatment by physicians, but require the offering of sacrifices upon their termination. Women who have given birth are required to offer certain sacrifices, and are subject to varying degrees of ritual uncleanness for a period of time after they have given birth. The subject of ritual purity is enlarged upon by the laws about incest, and forbidden sexual unions. Women who are menstruating become ritually unclean even to their husbands, until, in due course, they have purified themselves in a ritual bath. The majority of the portions of this Book address themselves specifically to the priests in one way or another. Parshat Kedoshim contains a number of laws applying to all Israelites equally, especially laws governing inter-personal relationships, laws designed to ensure a civilization that functions with minimum inequalities. If the Book commences with the words “Someone called to Moses,” instead of the customary “G’d called to Moses, or similar, this is to remind us that though we are dealing with a separate Book, the train of thought with which the Book of Exodus concluded, i.e. that the glory of Hashem filled and enveloped the Tabernacle is continued here without a break, the Torah now detailing the service to be performed in that Tabernacle. In other words, the subject of the word ויקרא is the כבוד ה' described in Exodus Nachmanides also writes that our sages derive from this introductory word ויקרא, that all conversations initiated by G’d were preceded by a call to prepare Moses that he was about to be addressed by the Shechinah. The word appears only here, as this was the first time Moses was being addressed by a dimension of Hashem in His terrestrial domain, the Tabernacle. Henceforth, this was the standard procedure all the time the Israelites remained in the desert. According to our sages’ understanding, the words מאהל מועד in our context actually have to be understood as if they had been written in an earlier part of our verse, i.e. ויקרא אליו מאהל מועד וידבר אליו באהל כי משה היה שם, “He called to him from the Tent of Meeting and spoke to him because Moses was there.” According to the plain meaning of the text, the meaning is slightly different. Seeing that the glory of G’d filled the Tabernacle, Moses was unable to enter it until he would be invited in, (Exodus 40,35) just as had happened at the revelation at Mount Sinai seven months earlier, when he had been invited to ascend the Mountain. Our verse then describes that on the seventh day of the inaugural rites, the day preceding the first of Nissan, G’d called to Moses out of the Tabernacle, the voice appearing to come out of the cloud. Some commentators believe that what is described here is the basis of the statement in the Talmud Chagigah 14 that every utterance of the Almighty creates an angel that (allegorically speaking) walks in front of Him, as would the page or standard bearer of a terrestrial king. After this angel had alerted Moses to the approach of G’d, He would commence to speak to him directly, or to anyone else whom G’d wished to speak to.

The Gemara in Tractate Berakhot 55a deals with the question of the order of the building of the Tabernacle and the preparation of the vessels. The Gemara's midrash compares the sequence of Moshe's orders to Betzalel (in Parshat Ki Tissa) to the sequence of Betzalel's execution of them (in Parshat Veyakhel). According to the midrash, Moshe's command is, "Make an ark, and vessels, and a tabernacle." The ark before the vessels; and the vessels before the Tabernacle itself. However, even though these are Moshe's commands, Betzalel doesn't accept Moshe's instructions and questions them: "The practice throughout the world is that a person builds a house and only afterward places the vessels in the house; yet you say to me, 'Make an ark, and vessels, and a tabernacle?' The vessels that I make, where shall I put them?" From the dialog between Moshe and Betzalel, as presented in the Gemara, it becomes clear that Betzalel had the divine presence's intent in mind. Indeed, the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded Moshe to build the Tabernacle [first] and the vessels afterward. Yet Moshe chose to present the enterprise of setting the Tabernacle in the opposite sequence, from the vessels to the Tabernacle. Moshe is amazed by Betzalel's wisdom, since he sensed the change in the sequence, so he reacts to his words, while admitting the truth, "Perhaps you were in God’s shadow (betzel El) and you knew."