Комментарий о цитате к Шмот 26:30

ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE FIRST MONTH SHALT THOU SET UP THE TABERNACLE OF THE TENT OF MEETING. In the opinion of our Rabbis⁴³Sifra, beginning of Seder Shemini. who say that this was on the eighth day of the installation [of the priests into their sacred office],⁴⁴On the first seven days of the installation the Tabernacle was put up and taken apart each day. But on the eighth day it was put up and no longer dismantled until they moved away from the encampment at Mount Sinai. Accordingly, since in the opinion of the Rabbis the first day of Nisan was the eighth day of the installation, the expression thou shalt set up the Tabernacle must mean “set it up permanently etc.,” the meaning of the verse is: “you are to put up the Tabernacle and it should remain so; do not dismantle it and do not put it up again, for when the camps will move, the Levites will dismantle it and put it up.” It was not necessary that G-d should command Moses now about the putting up of the Tabernacle during the first seven days, since He had told him at the start, And thou shalt set up the Tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which hath been shown thee in the mountain.⁴⁵Above, 26:30. Now since He explained to him here that On the first day of the first month the setting up of the Tabernacle would be of a permanent nature, Moses thus understood that during [each of] the seven days of installation it would be necessary for him to put it up and to dismantle it. Perhaps this was done in order to train the Levites how to do it, for they would see how he did it and would do likewise. Or it may be that this was done in order to crown the eighth day with this special crown [that the Tabernacle was for the first time not dismantled on that day].
It would appear according to the opinion of the Rabbis that on the first seven days Moses put up the Tabernacle each morning, and it remained standing all day and all the following night, and at each dawn he would dismantle it and put it up again immediately, for Scripture says, And at the door of the Tent of Meeting shall ye abide day and night for seven days,⁴⁶Leviticus 8:35. and there could be no “door” to the Tent of Meeting except at the time when it was erected.⁴⁷Thus since Scripture states that during the first seven days of the installation Aaron and his sons had to sit at the door of the Tent of Meeting, we must therefore conclude that the Tabernacle was dismantled at dawn and put up again immediately. The Sages have already interpreted:⁴⁸Sifra Vayikra, parshata 4. “he shall bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting⁴⁹Leviticus 1:3. — at the time when it is open, and not when [the Tent of Meeting] is taken to pieces.” Similarly, the Rabbis have said:⁵⁰Zebachim 55b. “Peace-offerings which have been slaughtered before the doors of the Sanctuary were opened are invalid, because it is said, and he shall slaughter it at the door of the Tent of Meeting⁵¹Leviticus 3:2. — at the time it is open, and not when it is locked.” Similarly, “at the Tabernacle, [peace-offerings which were slaughtered] before the Levites put up the Tabernacle, or after the Levites had dismantled it, were invalid.”⁵⁰Zebachim 55b. Moreover, [during the first seven days of installation, Moses] used to sacrifice the Daily Offering of the evening and kindle the lamps at night. And in Vayikra Rabbah⁵²I have not found this quotation in Vayikra Rabbah, but in Tanchuma Pekudei, 11. I have seen [the following text]: “Moses used to put up the Tabernacle and dismantle it twice every day. Rabbi Chanina the Great says: three times every day, for [the phrase ‘putting up’ of the Tabernacle] is mentioned three times: thou shalt put up;⁵³In Verse 2 before us. the Tabernacle was put up;⁵⁴Further, Verse 17. and Moses put up the Tabernacle.⁵⁵Ibid., Verse 18. Once it was put up for the Daily Offering of the morning, and once for the special offerings of the installation, and once for the Daily Offering of the evening.” It is possible that all this was done for the sake of practice, so that they would know the procedure for putting it up, and which order to follow, but they never left it in a dismantled state at all [during the seven days of installation].
And that which Scripture states here, And the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Glory of the Eternal filled the Tabernacle,⁵⁶Ibid., Verse 34. in the opinion of the Rabbis it refers to the eighth day, for Scripture says, So Moses finished the work,⁵⁷Ibid., Verse 33. and when he had completed this erection on the first of Nisan, the cloud covered the Tabernacle. Now Rashi has already mentioned the interpretation of the Rabbis: “And they came out and blessed the people.⁵⁸Leviticus 9:23. During all the seven days of installation when Moses was putting up the Tabernacle, and officiating therein, and dismantling it,⁵⁹Our Rashi adds: “every day.” the Divine Glory did not rest upon it, and the Israelites felt ashamed, and they said to Moses: ‘Our master! All the trouble which we have taken was only so that the Divine Glory would dwell amongst us, and that we would know that the sin of the calf has been atoned for!’ Then Moses said to them: ‘My brother Aaron is more worthy and meritorious than I am, and it is through his offerings and service that the Divine Glory will rest upon us.’”
And in the Parshath Hamiluim⁶⁰Sifra, beginning of Seder Shemini. (the Chapter of the Installation) we find written: “I might think that the Tabernacle was put up on the first of the month of Nisan, and that the Divine Glory did not rest thereon until the eighth day of the month. Scripture therefore says, And on the day that the Tabernacle was put up, the cloud covered the Tabernacle, even the Tent of Meeting.⁶¹Numbers 9:15. This teaches us that on the day the Tabernacle was put up, the Divine Glory rested thereon through the service of Aaron.” Thus the Rabbis are clearly saying that the cloud covering the Tabernacle was on the eighth day of the installation, which was on the first day of Nisan.
If this is so, then this whole chapter, in the opinion of the Rabbis, took place on the eighth day of the installation. This is indeed so, because Scripture describes the sequence of events as follows: G-d commanded Moses that the final putting up of the Tabernacle should be on the first day of the first month, and then it states that Moses did so and finished the whole work⁵⁷Ibid., Verse 33. [of the seven days of installation], and then [on the eighth day] the cloud covered the tent,⁵⁶Ibid., Verse 34. and so it was always [henceforth whenever they journeyed and put up the Tabernacle at their new place of encampment]. Then Scripture goes back to the beginning of the communication which came to Moses from the Tent, saying, And He called unto Moses.⁶²Leviticus 1:1. All this is now in proper order.
A kind of proof to what the Rabbis have said, [that during the seven days of installation the Tabernacle was dismantled every day], is what Scripture says, And it came to pass on the day that Moses had made an end of setting up the Tabernacle.⁶³Numbers 7:1. Now if he did not dismantle it, what sense is there to the expression, the day that he ‘made an end’ of setting up the Tabernacle, since he began and finished all the work in one day? In that case it should rather have said: “and it came to pass on the day that Moses set up the Tabernacle.” Moreover, it says there [with reference to the eighth day], This is the thing which the Eternal commanded that ye should do;⁶⁴Leviticus 9:6. and the Glory of the Eternal appeared unto all the people.⁶⁵Ibid., Verse 23. The implication of these verses is that the cloud had not yet covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Glory of the Eternal did not yet fill the Tabernacle.
However it may be, from the first day of the installation G-d communicated to Moses from the Tabernacle all the sections from the beginning of the Book of Leviticus until And it came to pass on the eighth day.⁶⁶Ibid., 9:1. But the cloud did not cover the Tabernacle, and the people therefore thought that the communication from there to Moses was directly from heaven, just as it was in the land of Egypt. But in the Midrash Chazit⁶⁷I have not found it in Shir Hashirim Rabbah ( Midrash Chazit ), but in Koheleth Rabbah 1:31. I have found the following text: “And it came to pass on the eighth day.⁶⁶Ibid., 9:1. This really should have been the beginning of the Book of Leviticus. Why then was it written here? Because there is no strict chronological order in the narrative of the Torah.” Now if this is so, then the chapter beginning And He called unto Moses… out of the Tent of Meeting⁶²Leviticus 1:1. happened after and the Glory of the Eternal appeared unto all the people. And there came forth fire from before the Eternal, and consumed upon the altar;⁶⁸Leviticus 9:23-24. and the communication addressed to Aaron, drink no wine or strong drink,⁶⁹Ibid., 10:9. took place on the following day, for it is impossible that G-d should speak to Aaron from the Tent of Meeting before He had spoken to Moses.⁷⁰But if we say, as Ramban does, that G-d already spoke to Moses from the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the installation, then the communication to Aaron, drink no wine nor strong drink, took place on the eighth day of the installation. But I do not know whether this Midrash represents the unanimous opinion of all the Sages, or whether they are the words of a single Sage, for they are mentioned there in the Midrash with reference to Rabbi Yishmael.

THOU SHALT SET UP THE TABERNACLE OF THE TENT OF MEETING. G-d did not explain to Moses in this command the order of putting it up, as it is clearly set forth in the actual construction: and he laid its sockets, and set up the boards thereof etc.⁷¹Further, Verse 18. The reason for His not explaining it here is because He had already shown it to him visually, as He said, And thou shalt put up the Tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which hath been shown thee in the mountain.⁷²Above, 26:30. Similarly, He shortened the account here, saying, And thou shalt put therein the ark of the Testimony,⁷³Verse 3. and did not mention and in the ark thou shalt put the Testimony,⁷⁴Above, 25:21. for since He used the phrase: the ark of the Testimony, Moses would understand this, since the ark is only termed “the ark of the Testimony” when the Tablets of the Testimony are in it, and they were already commanded at the beginning, And thou shalt put the ark-cover above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the Testimony that I shall give thee.⁷⁴Above, 25:21. It was necessary here to mention it only in order to tell him the order of priority, namely that the putting of the ark with the Tablets [into the Tabernacle] should precede the setting up of all other vessels. Similarly He shortened the account of the table and the candelabrum, since He had already commanded him in what place of the Tabernacle they were to be set up.⁷⁵Ibid., 26:35. He also shortened the subject of the dressing of Aaron and his sons, saying merely, And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments,⁷⁶Further, Verse 13. and with reference to Aaron’s sons He said, and thou shalt put tunics upon them,⁷⁷Ibid., Verse 14. for He had already told and commanded Moses in detail about the order of putting on their garments.⁷⁸Above, 29:5-9. Here the intention was only to fix the time of the dressing in its correct order, namely, after the whole Tabernacle had been set up. Of the priestly garments He mentioned only the tunics, because it is with them that the dressing began.

“A sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.” Since the Tabernacle was made entirely by God’s command [seemingly] by itself, as in all the work of the Tabernacle it says, And you shall set up the Tabernacle according to its proper manner which you were shown on the mountain therefore it says Your hands have established it. And it uses the term Your hands — implying two — as Rashi explains, that the world was created with one hand while the Temple was created with two hands, etc. And in the first chapter of Ketubot (5), they said, “Greater are the works of the righteous than the works of heaven and earth, for heaven and earth were created with one hand, as it is said Indeed, My hand has founded the earth, and My right hand has spread out the heavens (Isaiah 48:13), while regarding the works of the righteous it is written, A sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.”
The reason for this is that the upper realms, due to their superior nature, were created with the right hand, and the lower realms with the left hand. But the Temple, which is the intermediary that joins the upper and lower realms, was created with both hands, because there is the dwelling place of the Divine Presence with the lower beings, as it is said, And I will dwell among them. And from there was also created man, who is intermediary between the upper and lower realms. This is the concept of the ladder that was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven, with its middle portion aligned with the Temple, for it is the intermediary, as mentioned.
And regarding why they called the Temple “the work of the righteous” when the verse says Your hands have established it — meaning God’s hands — this is because both have a share in this building. For the Holy One, blessed be He, showed Moses the form of the entire Tabernacle already built, and as it says, thus he made the Menorah — the Holy One, blessed be He, made it, and likewise all the work of the Tabernacle.