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אלה פקודי THESE ARE THE SUMS [OF THE TABERNCLE] — In this section are enumerated all the weights of the metals given as a contribution for the Tabernacle, of silver, gold and copper, and also there are enumerated the vessels used for every kind of service in it.

THESE ARE THE ACCOUNTS OF THE TABERNACLE, THE TABERNACLE OF THE TESTIMONY. Scripture uses this expression because the term “Tabernacle” means the curtains of fine-twined linen, which are so called both when the command was given¹And thou shalt make the Tabernacle of ten curtains (above, 26:1). and at the construction of the Tabernacle,²And every wise-hearted man… made the Tabernacle of ten curtains (ibid., 36:8). See also Ramban further on, 39:33. while “the Tabernacle of the Testimony” includes the entire building, which is the Tabernacle made to house the Tablets of the Testimony.
In the opinion of many scholars³Rashi and Ibn Ezra. the phrase these are the accounts of the Tabernacle refers back to all the things mentioned above, the verse stating that the Tabernacle and its vessels, namely, the house and the court and all that was made for them, constituted the service entrusted to the Levites at the command of Moses by the hand of Ithamar [whose duty it was to hand over to each family the service that devolved upon it]. But the holy vessels — the ark, the table, the candelabrum, and the altars — are not included in the term “Tabernacle,” for they were in the hands of Eleazar.⁴Numbers 3:32. The verse refers to the time of the journeying through the wilderness. But this is not my opinion, for why should Scripture mention the entrusting of those things given to Ithamar, and not mention that of Eleazar, which was the more honored one? Rather, these are the accounts of hints at those things that Scripture mentions in the section further on, thus stating that the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was a hundred talents etc.,⁵Further, Verse 25. — from which were made the sockets, the hooks for the pillars, the overlaying of their capitals and their fillets.⁶Ibid., Verses 27-28. And the brass of the wave-offering, which was seventy talents, from which were made the brazen altar and its grating and all its vessels, and the sockets of the court and the pins⁷Ibid., Verses 29-31. — all these Moses gave over by number and weight through the hand of Ithamar. Now the section does not say what was done with the gold, for that was partly in the charge of Ithamar, namely, that used for covering the boards and the bars, and part of it was in the charge of Eleazar — the ark and the cover, the candelabrum, the table, and the golden altar. Now since one cannot know exactly how much gold went into the covering of each of these vessels, Scripture did not say that Moses gave it over to them by number and weight. It is for this reason that Scripture did not mention here the entrusting of the things given to Eleazar, for its intention here is only to speak of the work of the Tabernacle, not of that involved in the journeyings. Do not object [to this explanation] because Scripture mentions here the brazen altar,⁸Ibid., Verse 30. which was in the charge of Eleazar,⁹Numbers 3:31-32. for Scripture had to state that they made it out of the brass of the wave-offering, therefore it was not particular to exclude this one item from the general list of objects of which it said that they were by the hand of Ithamar, this being the way of Scripture in many places.
Scripture does not mention in this section the laver and its base [which were also made of brass, and were under the charge of Ithamar], because it was not made according to a specified weight; instead, he put into it all the mirrors that the women brought together¹⁰see Ramban above, 38:8, towards the end. and thus Moses did not know its weight. It is possible that these were not under the charge of Ithamar [and therefore they are not mentioned], but they come into the category of that which Scripture says [of the children of Kohath, whose work was under the charge of Eleazar], and their charge was the ark, and the table, and the candelabrum, and the altars, and the vessels of the Sanctuary wherewith the priests minister,¹¹Numbers 3:31. for through the laver and its base the priests were enabled to minister at the altar. Thus they do not come into the listing given in this section.

The commentators argued about whether "these" [are the records] applies to the making of the Mishkan mentioned in parshat Vayakhel, or if it applies to what will be mentioned in this parsha. They also wondered why Moshe made an accounting of what he'd done with the silver and copper but not an accounting of what he'd done with the gold?! Therefore "I shall hazard a guess" (lit. "my heart shall imagine") to say: that "these are the records" applies to the making of the Mishkan mentioned before, since they had already completed the labors of the Mishkan in general and specific, and all that they had to do with the silver and copper had already been completely completed, and therefore Moshe was happy that they'd completed the work with silver and copper and was excited to give an accounting to remove himself from any suspicion. And he didn't want to delay until they'd also finished the priestly garments which are mentioned in this parsha to give an accounting of the silver and gold and copper all at once since of all the things mentioned in this parsha, none have any silver or copper. Since the labor with silver and copper was done, he saw fit to give an accounting immediately. But regarding the gold there was no need to yet give an accounting since they had not yet made the priestly garments discussed in this parsha, and those [garments] had gold, and they still needed more gold and there was no way to yet give an accounting of the gold.

אלה פקודי המשכן, all the individual components described previously are the ones concerning which the Torah wrote ובשמות תפקדו את כלי משמרת הקדש...ביד איתמר, “you shall list by name the objects that are their porterage tasks.” (Numbers 4,32-33) The meaning of the line is that each and everyone of these items was important enough to be known by its specific name. In other words, one did not refer to it only by the name of the category of utensils it belonged to, such as “fork,” but one had a name for each fork. This method of naming each item individually contributed to their being of permanent significance. The Talmud Yuma 71 goes to the length of stating categorically that if anyone thought that once such a utensil had been “used up,” i.e. had outlived its usefulness it would be permanently consigned to oblivion this is not so. It will even resurface after the resurrection of the people who used it when they were alive. This is derived from Exodus 26,15 עצי שטים עומדים, the word עומדים being taken to mean that they will endure indefinitely. Neither will any of the utensils used in the Tabernacle fall into the hands of our enemies. This is the opposite of what happened to the “permanent” Temple, בית עולמים, built by Solomon. It is significant that in the account of what Nebuchadnezzar captured not a word is mentioned about a single item that used to be part of the Tabernacle in the desert.

אלה פקודי המשכן, These are the accounts of the Tabernacle, etc. The Torah uses the word אלה to emphasise that the only true accounts are those following. Whatever man counts when he wants to determine the total of his possessions on earth are only apparent possessions; their count therefore is also only apparent, deceptive. The only true count on earth was of the components which comprised the Holy Tabernacle because it was something containing divine input תרומת השם, and because G'd had His residence within it. [The author implies that the very word מנה, to count, testifies to its being misleading, deceptive. Perhaps we can support this with Bileam's outcry (Numbers 23,10) מי מנה עפר יעקב, "who can count the dust of Jacob?" He referred to the deceptive nature of any "count." Ed.]

אלה פקודי, the count of the silver, gold, and copper contributed.

אלה פקודי המשכן העדות, “These are the reckonings of the Tabernacle of Testimony; when the word משכן appears without further details, such as משכן העדות, it refers to the carpet-like coverings forming the roof of that structure, i.e. the lowest layer of these coverings. In order to make sure that we understand that all parts of the structure are meant, the Torah wrote משכן העדות. The idea is that this was the structure that housed (within the Ark) the Tablets that were testimony to the revelation at Mount Sinai. Nachmanides writes that many commentators take the view that the words אלה פקודי refer back to the section which described the making and assembling pf the Tabernacle, its furnishings, and its surrounding courtyard, as well as the tasks which the priests and Levites were to perform in connection with this Tabernacle, and the sacrificial service. According to their view the tasks over which the son of Aaron, Ittamar, presided, are all included in the פקודים referred to in our verse. Nachmanides does not accept this approach, saying that if it were so, why are the tasks that Eleazar, the elder son of Aaron presided over, not included? Therefore, Nachmanides is of the opinion that the words אלה פקודי וגו' do not refer to what had been written before, but to what follows, namely details of the totals of the donations which had been collected for the project, especially the amounts of silver, gold and copper. The Torah describes the use that was made of the 100 talents of silver contributed for the sockets of the beams of the Tabernacle, the hooks by which the curtains of the courtyard were fastened to their pillars, etc., the copper most of which was used as overlay of the altar in the courtyard, as well as for the various tools used in servicing the fire on the altar, keeping it going around the clock, the vessels needed to remove ashes, etc. All the items that were made of copper and that weighed 70 talents, were under the supervision of Ittamar, son of Aaron. The reason that Eleazar’s name is not mentioned here is that all these items were not handed to him at this time for supervising their transport during the journeys. At this point we are told the amounts of metal used and Ittamar had been entrusted with supervising this. While it is true that the copper altar is mentioned here also, and this was within the domain of Eleazar, so much so that mention had to be made that it was constructed from the donations of copper which, as we already stated, deserved special recognition seeing that this metal was scarce and therefore much in demand. The details of how much gold had been used for that were not mentioned here as some gold was used in furnishings under the supervision of Eleazar, whereas other quantities of gold were used in overlays of the beams which were the mainstays of the Tabernacle, etc. It is completely possible that no one kept track of exactly how much gold was used up in each overlay of wooden furnishings, beams, etc. The basin and its stand have also not been enumerated here as it was not known precisely how much copper was used from the copper mirrors the women had donated for this purpose. Possibly, these vessels were not part of what belonged to the domain of Ittamar

All the weights of the contributions of the mishkon . . . Rashi is answering the question: Why did the verse not say, “And these are the accounts. . .” thereby connecting it to the preceding? Rashi answers, in order that we should not mistakenly think this section refers specifically to the vessels of the mishkon which is the subject of the section that immediately precedes it. For then we would ask: Why does the Torah count and mention the weights [of the vessels, if they were just mentioned]? For this reason it is written, “These are the accounts,” without the connecting “and,” to convey that our section refers also to the weights of the contributions to the mishkon, not just to the vessels of the mishkon.

V. 21. אלה פקודי. Die Auffassung dieser Worte bietet viele Schwierigkeiten. Die allgemeinste Auffassung versteht unter פקודי die Berechnung der eingegangenen Spenden und den Nachweis ihrer Verwendung. Diese Auffassung hat jedoch erhebliche Schwierigkeiten. Es wären dann nämlich die Berechnung und der Nachweis höchst unvollkommen. Es wird nur die Summe des gespendeten Goldes, sowie des gespendeten Kupfers genannt. Vom Silber wird nur die Summe der behufs der Gemeindezählung erhobenen halben Schekel berechnet, nicht aber die Summe des nach Kap. 35, 24 auch als freiwillige Spende eingegangenen Silbers. Das Quantum der anderen Stoffe ist gar nicht erwähnt, und vom Golde ist nur die Berechnung der eingegangenen Spenden, nicht aber der Nachweis ihrer Verwendung gegeben. Dazu kommt, dass es für die Bedeutung פקד als Größenberechnung eigentlich kein sonstiges Beispiel gibt. Es kommt sonst nur von Menschenzählung vor, dort entfernt es sich aber kaum von dem Grundbegriffe: denken. פקודי העדה sind alle die, die unter dem Begriff עדה gedacht werden, die der Begriff עדה umfasst, somit alle diejenigen, die zur Gemeinde gehören und als deren Glieder die Gemeinde ausmachen. Demgemäß wären פקודי המשכן alle die Gegenstände, die unter dem Begriff משכן zu denken sind, die zum משכן gehören und dasselbe wesentlich konstituieren. Es wären dies alle die angefertigten Gegenstände. Indem sie sämtlich unter die eine Bezeichnung פקודי המשכן zusammengefasst sind, wird ihnen sämtlich ihre wesentliche Bedeutung für das משכן vindiziert, es ist keiner derselben für den Gesamtzweck des משכן als משכן העדות gleichgültig. In diesem Sinne werden diese Worte auch von Siporno verstanden, und meint derselbe, die Summe der für dieses משכן zur Verwendung gekommenen Wertmetalle sei darum angegeben, um zu zeigen, wie gering diese Summe im Vergleich zu der an die späteren Tempel verwendeten Schätze sei, und doch habe keines die große Bedeutung in der Höhe wie dieses erste einfache Tempelzelt erreicht; nur in ihm war die שכינה durch die Wolke der Gottesherrlichkeit sichtbar gegenwärtig, nur es fiel nicht in Feindeshand. Den Bauten des zweiten Tempels fehlte sogar der eigentliche sichtbare Bewohner, die Zeugnislade und die Urim Wetumim. So wenig bedeutet die Pracht das Wesen des Tempels. Fügen wir hinzu, dass das משכן auch der einzige Tempel war, der ganz aus freiwilliger Hingebung der Nation hervorgegangen. Bei dieser Auffassung des פקודי wäre nur die Bedeutung des אלה zu bedenken, das, im Anfange des Kapitels, sich in der Regel auf Nachfolgendes, nicht aber auf Vorhergehendes bezieht. Diese Schwierigkeit dürfte jedoch durch die Erwägung sich heben, dass hier im Grunde ja der vorangehende Inhalt noch fortgesetzt wird. Auch im folgenden, vom Kap. 39, 1 an u. w., wird nicht nur von den für das Heiligtum angefertigten Gegenständen gesprochen, sondern es ist dies ganz eigentlich die Fortsetzung des Bisherigen. Es steht somit das אלה in der Mitte der Erzählung von dem Bau des Heiligtums und kann die Gegenstände, auf die es sich bezieht, füglich auch als nachfolgend denken. Wir haben dann zu übersetzen: "dies sind die zur Wohnung, zur Wohnung des Zeugnisses zu zählenden Gegenstände, welche auf Anordnung Mosche für sie bestimmt worden. Sie wurden die Dienstaufgabe der Leviten, durch Itamar, den Sohn Aarons, des Priesters." Dieses letztere hieße: das Gesamtinventar des Heiligtums wurde den Leviten unter Oberaufsicht des Itamar zur Bewahrung übergeben. Sie wurden die גזברים. Diese Bestimmung der Leviten im allgemeinen erhielt dann später (Bamidbar Kap. 3, 5 ff.) ihre speziellere Regulierung; auch die folgenden VV. 22 u. 23 erhielten durch diese Auffassung ihre geeignetere Stellung. Bei Erwähnung des Totalbegriffs der vollendeten Arbeiten werden die beiden Meister genannt, als deren Werk das Ganze vorzugsweise zu betrachten ist.

אלה פקודי המשכן, “these are the records of the Tabernacle, etc.;”

These are the records of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of the Pact -- so that you do not confuse it with another Tabernacle.

אלה פקודי המשכן, “these are the accounts of the Tabernacle;” which “Tabernacle” does the Torah refer to? “The Tabernacle that is testimony to the covenant between G-d and Israel, משכן העדות.” Seeing that this is not the only time the Torah used the expression: משכן, as it also occurs in Numbers 16,27, when it referred to the mishkan of Korach, as well as several times in the Book of prophets, the Torah wished to be precise beyond doubt. There was never another Tabernacle in which the Holy Ark containing the Tablets was housed.

המשכן משכן OF THE TABERNACLE, EVEN OF THE TABERNACLE — The word משכן is mentioned here twice in allusion to the Temple that was taken in pledge (משכן) — as it were — (as a security for Israel’s repentance) by being twice destroyed for Israel’s iniquities (Midrash Tanchuma, Pekudei 5).

And if you say there is still a difficulty: why did [Moshe] not do an accounting of the gold after the priestly garments were finished? An answer to this is: since it says in the midrash (Shemot Rabbah 51:6) brought by Rabbeinu Bachya on this parsha, and this is his language: When Moshe came to give an accounting, 1775 shekels were missing and he forgotten and did not know what he'd done with them. A divine voice cried out: "And [from] THE one thousand and THE seven hundred and seventy five he made hooks for the pillars" (Ex 38:28) to fulfill what is said: "not so my servant Moshe who is the most faithful in my house" (Numbers 12:7). Up until his [Rabbeinu Bachya's] language. It seems that the author of the midrash felt that the two extraneous heh's - as it says "v'et HAelef u'shva HAme'ot" and it should have read: "v'et elef u'shva me'ot" as it says early, "me'at kikar" (38:25) [just "a hundred kikar"] not "HAme'at kikar" ["THE hundred" kikar] with the definitive heh, so why was the definitive heh usd with the words "thousand" and "hundred" in this verse? It must be because Moshe forgot and did not know what he'd done with them [meaning the silver and copper] and Israel was accusing him saying he took them for himself! A divine voice rang out and said, "THE thousand" you are speaking about and THE seven hundred you are saying Moses took - it's not so! Rather he made hooks for the pillars. If so [meaning if that's what happened], after Israel saw that heaven testified for him [Moshe], therefore they no longer wanted to receive an accounting of the gold from him because they said: "If he'd have withheld something for himself from gold - heaven would not have testified for him regarding silver [which is much less valuable], for in the end, he never fulfilled an accounting [for the gold] and a divine voice [nevertheless] called out, "he is faithful in all my house," including regarding the gold! Therefore he didn't give a gold accounting.

משכן העדות, the Torah begins to list the many ways in which this Temple (Tabernacle) was superior to those that superseded it. Firstly, it was the משכן העדות, so named because the Tablets of the Testimony were deposited therein. Secondly, אשר פקד על פי משה, it had been put up at the command of Moses; thirdly, עבודת הלוים ביד איתמר, the entire service of the Levites had been entrusted to the illustrious Ittamar, son of Aaron. Fourthly, ובצלאל בן אורי בן חור למטה יהודה עשה, the divinely inspired Betzalel was its principal architect. In view of all the above advantages of this structure none of it fell into enemy hands.
By contrast, the Temple erected by Solomon, most of the work for which was performed by labourers from Tzor, even though the Shechinah came to rest on it, was eventually destroyed, all of it having been lost totally. The inferiority of that structure is evident from the fact that the building itself was in need of regular, almost annual, repairs, as we know from Kings II 22,5 The second Temple was so inferior that it could not even be called משכן העדות, the residence of the Testimony, the Tablets having long since been lost. Neither had it been established by G’d’s command but by a dream that a gentile named King Cyrus dreamed that it was his duty to build a temple to the G’d in heaven. Compare Ezra 8,15. Moreover, there were hardly any Levites that bothered to return to the land of Israel at the time to take part in that return to Zion. In addition to this, consider that among the people building this second Temple, there were also pagans called Tzidonim and Tzurim, as documented in the Book of Ezra.

Taken as “collateral” by being destroyed twice . . . You might ask: Is there not only one משכן extra, to be interpreted, for one is needed for the simple meaning? The answer is: Scripture altered the wording, saying המשכן [and then simply] משכן , rather than writing either both with a ה or both without a ה . Perforce, the ה conveys “the” special משכן , i.e., the Eternal House, which is the Beis Hamikdosh. If this is so [that it is referring to the Beis Hamikdosh,] the question arises: why does Scripture refer to it as משכן ? Perforce, [as Rashi explains]: “This is an allusion. . .”

The Torah may also have used the word פקודים in preference to such words as ספור or מנוי as we have been told in Baba Metzia 42 that matters which have been "counted" do not enjoy lasting blessing. The Torah wished to emphasis that all the materials contributed for the construction of the Holy Tabernacle enjoyed lasting blessing. Normally, G'd objects to headcount; in this instance G'd did not object to a count. On the contrary, every single component contributed and accounted for increased the amount of blessings G'd bestowed on the Holy Tabernacle.

העדות, “the testimony;” The Tabernacle served as testimony to the gentile nations that Hashem had forgiven His people for the sin of the golden calf. It proved that His glory resided amongst them again. An alternate interpretation: the word עדות, serves as testimony on behalf of Moses that at the time when the people suspected him of having stolen from the shekalim which had served Moses at the census, Moses had asked that once the Tabernacle would be complete its existence should serve as testimony that he had not taken a single piece of silver for himself. The people examined the amounts of silver used in the construction of the Tabernacle and found that the silver they thought had disappeared had actually been used in making the hooks for the hangings around the Tabernacle’s courtyard. This is hinted at in the text of the Torah in Exodus 36,7, where the respective first letters in the line: והמלאכה היתה דים , “the raw material they had was sufficient,” have a numerical value of 15, i.e. there had been 15 hooks in those hangings which had been constructed from the “excess” silver not used up for making the sockets of the boards and the entrance pillars. In our daily morning prayers 15 adjectives of the Lord being Truth recited immediately after the kriat sh’ma are appended as a reminder of this.

the Tabernacle of the Pact this Tabernacle, the tablets of the Pact were placed in it.

משכן העדת THE TABERNACLE OF THE TESTIMONY — The Tabernacle was a testimony to Israel that God had shown Himself indulgent to them in respect to the incident of the golden calf, for through the Temple He made His Shechinah dwell amongst them (Midrash Tanchuma, Pekudei 6).

There are those who say that even initially they [the people] did not request an accounting from Moshe, but rather Moshe himself wanted to acquit himself, and that is why it says "which were accounted at the word of Moshe."

It bears witness for Yisrael . . . But the fact that God gave them the [second] tablets does not bear witness. [Rashi knows this] because God could have given them [the tablets] in order not to actively reject them [from Torah observance]. Although they sinned, they were like apostate Jews, who are still called Jews. For it is written (Yehoshua 7:11), “Yisrael has sinned” — [interpreted in Sanhedrin 44a to mean] although one has sinned, he is still called Yisrael. (Re”m) But it seems to me that [Re”m’s explanation is incorrect.] Those who sinned in the presence of witnesses, after being warned, were killed by the Levites. If there were witnesses but no warning, they died in the plague. And if there were neither witnesses nor a warning, they were examined in the manner that a sotah is examined. Thus, whoever remained had not sinned. [Nevertheless, the tablets merely stated laws and obligations, whereas the mishkon was an open testimony of God’s love.]

We may also be able to understand the word אלה as reflecting an advice given to us in Vayikra Rabbah 21,5. We are told there that the remedy for someone who has committed a string of sins is to engage in the performance of a string of מצות, good deeds. The only proper way to rehabilitate oneself from sin is through demonstrating this by deed. The string of מצות one performs serve as a demonstration to G'd that one has truly reformed oneself. The Torah enumerates all the components of the Tabernacle, i.e. אלה, thereby pointing at the string of good deeds performed by the Israelites who had previously been guilty of the sin of the golden calf. The reason that the Tabernacle is called משכן העדות, the Tabernacle of testimony, is that it testified to the fact that G'd had forgiven the sin of the golden calf. If you will examine the details of the sin of the golden calf, you will find that the Israelites performed מצות corresponding to each of the parts of that sin when they contributed to and helped erect the Tabernacle. They had expressed the wish for a god to walk ahead of them (32,1) and they now had erected a Tabernacle which would be evidence that the true G'd was in their midst and that His presence would precede them. They had built an altar (32,6) for the golden calf and offered total offferings on that altar; they had now erected a copper altar for the offering of total offerings; they had contributed their gold to enable the golden calf to be made; they had now contributed their gold and precious possessions to help build the Tabernacle. They had removed their nose-rings at the time in order for those to serve as raw material for the golden calf; they now not only contributed the nose-rings but all kinds of other personal jewelry as well for the building of the Holy Tabernacle. We have already explained on 35,22 that during the episode of the golden calf the Israelites appointed themselves to make the golden calf; in this instance they were content to entrust Betzalel with the construction of the Tabernacle. At that time they had said: אלה אלוהיך ישראל; now the Torah describes the completion of the Tabernacle by using the parallel term אלה פקודי המשכן.

ביד איתמר, “by the hand of Ittamar;” even though Moses was the commander in chief, it was necessary to mention Ittamar also, as authority is not exercised over the Jewish people by fewer than at least two people.

עבדת הלוים THE SERVICE OF THE LEVITES — The things in the Tabernacle which were counted and its vessels constituted the service entrusted to the Levites in the wilderness — to carry them, to take them down and to set them up, each man according to the burden which was assigned to him, as is set forth in the section נשא (Numbers 4).

To carry, to disassemble, and to set it up . . . Rashi is answering the question: Is not the simple meaning of the verse that the work of the Levites was to make the accounts of the mishkon, i.e., to count the vessels of the mishkon? [But this cannot be, as the Levites were not involved at all with the construction of the mishkon.] Thus Rashi explains: “. . .To carry, to disassemble. . .”

The use of the word אלה may reflect yet another consideration. Seeing that Moses (alone) had made the count of the materials contributed for the Tabernacle, the Torah testifies that his count was indeed accurate. The Torah goes out of its way by stating that it accepted Moses' count by using the words על פי משה, "according to what Moses said;" the reason the Torah did not write אשר פקד משה, was to demonstrate that Moses needed no witnesses to confirm the accuracy of his count. We encounter something of a similar nature in Leviticus 23,2 where G'd employs the word אלה מועדי השם calling the dates fixed by the Sanhedrin for certain festivals to occur "My festivals." G'd does not doublecheck the calculations of the Sanhedrin. We live by the Torah Moses has handed down to us orally. It would have been an insult to send in "auditors" to check his calculations. The Torah has made it clear in 36,3 that Moses alone accepted all the donations.

ביד איתמר BY THE HAND OF ITHAMAR — He was the officer appointed over them (the Levites) with the duty to hand over to each “house of the father” (בית אב) the service that devolved upon it.

The reason that Moses gave a detailed account of what he had received was so that he would not be suspected of dishonesty; actually, it was quite inconceivable that a man with whom G'd spoke constantly could be dishonest. Surely G'd would not speak with him if he was even slightly dishonest. Moses may have reasoned that although G'd had commanded him to receive all these donations alone (see our commentary on Exodus 25,2), "G'd's ways are straight, and the honest people can walk them although the wicked will stumble even on straight roads."

Yet another reason for the peculiarly worded sentence: אלה פקודי המשכן משכן העדות, is that the last words are a confirmation of the first words. The meter of the verse is this: "How do we know that the amounts reported by Moses as the total contributions for this project are accurate and have not been understated? Answer: The Tabernacle itself is called the "Tent of Testimony." In this connection it is worthwile to recall a statement in Shemot Rabbah 52,4 on 39,33 ויביאו את המשכן אל משה, they brought the Tabernacle to Moses. We are told there that all the scholars were unable to devise a way to erect the Tabernacle. In the end they took all its components and brought them to Moses. Moses was ovecome by the Holy Spirit and immediately put up the Tabernacle. Thus far the Midrash. Here we have proof of Moses' integrity seeing we have a principle that G'd does not perform miracles for dishonest people. [The author has made the same claim in Parshat Vayechi see our translation on page 433. Ed.]

We may ask: "what kind of proof is it to claim that Moses' ability to erect the Tabernacle proved his integrity? Was he not an exceptionally powerful individual, stronger than any other Israelite?" The Torah therefore added in our verse: עבודת הלוים ביד איתמר. We know that it was the task of the Levites to transport the planks for the Tabernacle under the supervision of Ittamar (Numbers 1,51); they were the ones who had to dismantle these planks and to put them up again (each one was 20 feet tall and had a circumference of over 12 feet plus its golden overlay). We note therefore that the people's and their leaders' inability to erect the Tabernacle was not due to lack of physical prowess; otherwise how could the Levites have managed such a task?" Moreover, if physical prowess was the reason Moses managed to erect the Tabernacle, why did the Torah have to mention Ittamar altogether in this context? Why did the Torah not mention also Eleazar, Ittamar's brother? When you adopt my explanation that Moses' ability to do what no one else had been able to do was proof of his integrity, the words עבודת הלוים ביד איתמר make sense as it disabuses us of the premise that only a Moses was strong enough physically to erect the Tabernacle.

What we have said so far still does not exclude the possibility that Moses' ability to erect the Tabernacle was not due to supernatural help but that his intellectual powers were equal to the challenge to put together and erect the Tabernacle. The Torah therefore adds in the next verse that Betzalel son of Uri made everything G'd had commanded Moses to do. Our sages deduce from this verse that Betzalel even carried out details which Moses had not told him about and that Moses subsequently expressed his approval. The Torah goes on to say that Betzalel's assistant Oholiov also contributed to his knowledge; our sages in the above quoted Midrash Shemot Rabbah 52 stated that even all the combined wisdom of these two architects of the projects did not suffice to enable them to erect the Tabernacle. There really had been no need to tell us once more of Betzalel's contribution to the project. If the Torah nonetheless mentioned it again it may have been to exclude the assumption by the reader that in the end the Tabernacle was erected without supernatural assistance, i.e. to remind us that Moses had a divine assist. Once the erection of the Tabernacle by Moses is accepted as demonstrating divine assistance, his accounting may certainly be considered as approved by G'd.

Shemot Rabbah 51 explained that the erection of the Tabernacle represented the atonement for the sin of the golden calf. We have also been told in Chulin 5 that being guilty of the sin of idolatry is tantamount to one's having violated all the commandments of the Torah. The words אלה פקודי should be translated the same way as does Onkelos who renders the words in Leviticus 27,34: "These are the commandments" as: אלין פקדיא. If we were to apply this translation to our verse, we would have to understand the words אלה פקודי in the sense of: "these are the instructions, read commandments, i.e. the Tabernacle represented all of G'd's commandments and thereby compensated for the sin of the golden calf. [In modern Hebrew the word פקודה means "a military order" as most of you are aware. Ed.] We may find an allusion to this when we look at the numerical value of the letters in the words פקודי המשכן which total 615, i.e. the 613 commandments plus 2 for the two Tablets they were recorded on. The meaning of the words then is: אלה, "these" will help G'd forget the 613 commandments which Israel violated when it served the golden calf.

The reason the Torah adds: עבודת הלוים, "the service by the Levites" is, that we are to remember what happened for all times. We are not to think that seeing that G'd had forgiven the sin of the golden calf, the privilege of performing the service in the Tabernacle would revert to the firstborn from whom it had been taken away because of their involvement in that sin. In our verse the entire tribe of the Levites is included in the description "priests," seeing that the priests too are referred to as Levites on occasion such as in Deut.27,9.

The Torah continues: ביד איתמר, to make it clear that the exclusion of the firstborn from their erstwhile position as priests affected not only their right to offer sacrifices or to carry the Holy Ark, etc., but even the right to perform the tasks over which Ittamar presided. These comprised duties involving materials of a relatively minor degree of sanctity such as the beams of the Tabernacle and all that belonged to them (Numbers 4,29-33). All of this was a reminder that the sin of the golden calf had not been erased in such a way that no trace of it could be detected. The best proof of this is what G'd said in Exodus 32,34 that whenever He has occasion to punish the Jewish people He will add an extra measure of punishment as part of what they have not yet received.

The words פקודי המשכן also allude to the expression "appointment" such as in Numbers 4,16 where Torah describes Eleazar as being "in charge of" i.e. "appointed" over the oil for lighting, incense, etc. The Torah in our verse hints that all the appointees for the Tabernacle were "in charge" of the respective parts of the Tabernacle or its appurtenances assigned to them. They had to ensure that the Tabernacle continued to exist and take the necessary precautions to prevent any part of it from deteriorating or disintegrating. Inasmuch as the Tabernacle represented the Torah, the task of the first of its appointees was to maintain משכן העדות, the Torah proper. As long as the Israelites would study the Torah and live by its precepts the continued existence of the Tabernacle was assured. Failing that, there would be no Tabernacle. This is what the sages in Bamidbar Rabbah meant when they commented on Psalms 78,60: "He forsook the Tabernacle of Shiloh, the Tent He had set up amongst men." The Midrash observes that we must understand the wording as: "G'd had set up a Tent by means of man." If people prepare themselves spiritually to study Torah and to observe it, not only the commandments engraved on the Tablets and the written Torah, but אשר פקד על פי משה, the oral Torah Moses taught the people, then we are assured of G'd setting His Tent amongst men. This is the second group of "appointees" then that we are told about in our verse. The third group of "appointees," were the people performing the service involving the Tabernacle, i.e. the Levites; the fourth group of appointees were Aaron and his sons. The Torah mentions "Aaron's son" rather than Aaron himself and even the word בן אהרון may refer to Eleazar (seeing everybody knew that Ittamar was Aaron's son). This was because Aaron's share in the sin of the golden calf affair had not yet been completely atoned for. This occurred only after the seven days of the inaugural offerings and the death of his two older sons on the eighth day when Aaron offered sin-offerings. The Torah therefore mentions the fact that he too was an appointee only obliquely, by mentioning who was the father of his son. The fifth appointee was Betzalel who had performed the work for the Tabernacle and Oholiov his assistant. You therefore find that there were a total of five appointees to ensure the permanence of the Tabernacle. 1) The Torah itself; 2) Moses who was entrusted with teaching; 3) The Levites who had to erect and dismantle the Tabernacle every time the Israelites journeyed; 4) the priests who had to perform the sacrificial service and who were counted with the Levites of the houses of Kehot and Gershom whose duties were also considered עבודה; 5) Betzalel and Oholiov who were in charge of construction. This then is the meanig of אלה פקודי המשכן, "these are the appointees of the Tabernacle."