Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Exodo 25:31

COMMAND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. “This is the section containing the [actual] commandment of lighting the lamps. And the section of V’atah Tetzaveh (And thou shalt command)⁵⁰⁸Exodus 27:20. [where the same subject is mentioned], is stated only for the sake of giving an orderly account of the work of the Tabernacle, explaining what the purpose of the candelabrum is, and the sense of the verse there is as follows: ‘and thou wilt at some future time command the children of Israel on this matter.’” This is Rashi’s language.
But it does not appear to me to be correct, for that section [there in Exodus 27:20] is not in fact adjoined to the section of the candelabrum [which is mentioned previously in Exodus 25:31-40]; and [also] it has already been stated, And he lighted the lamps before the Eternal, as the Eternal commanded Moses,⁵⁰⁹Ibid., 40:25. thus both the commandment and fulfillment were already mentioned and kept! Rather, the need for [restatement of] this section is for two purposes. For there He commanded that they bring you a donation on the behalf of the children of Israel,⁵¹⁰Ibid., 27:21. that is to say, from every man with whom was found pure olive oil [beaten] for the light,⁵⁰⁸Exodus 27:20. together with the other donations for the Tabernacle. And so they did, as it is said, And the princes brought etc. and the spice, and the oil, for the light.⁵¹¹Ibid., 35:27-28. And although it says there, it shall be a statute forever throughout their generations,⁵¹⁰Ibid., 27:21. this refers to the lighting of the lamps. But now the oil which the princes brought as a donation was used up, and therefore He commanded that the children of Israel take from the public treasury throughout the generations⁵¹²Verse 3 here. pure olive oil beaten for the light, as was the first oil [of the princes]. This is similar to the expression, that they bring thee a Red Heifer,⁵¹³Numbers 19:2. meaning that they should seek it and it is to be brought from the public treasury. Also, there [in the section of V’atah Tetzaveh]⁵⁰⁸Exodus 27:20. He stated only, Aaron and his sons shall set it in order etc.,⁵¹⁰Ibid., 27:21. which might mean [set it in order] on the candelabrum, or without the candelabrum if it is broken or lost, as happened when they returned from the [Babylonian] exile.⁵¹⁴Bamidbar Rabbah 15:7: “Therefore when the [First] Sanctuary was destroyed the candelabrum was hidden. And this was one of the five things that were hidden: the ark, the candelabrum, etc.” Therefore now He stated clearly, He shall order the lamps upon the pure candelabrum,⁵¹⁵Verse 4. teaching that they should only light the lamps upon the pure candelabrum. And the interpretation of our Rabbis is as follows:⁵¹⁶Torath Kohanim, Emor 13:12. “Upon the pure candelabrum.⁵¹⁵Verse 4. This means upon the very candelabrum itself, that he is not to support them [i.e., the lamps] with pieces of wood or pebbles [but the lamps are to be upon the candelabrum itself, with nothing intervening between them]. He shall set the lamps before the Eternal.⁵¹⁵Verse 4. This teaches that he is not to set them outside the Sanctuary and bring them inside. Continually,⁵¹⁵Verse 4. even on the Sabbath; continually, even in impurity.”⁵¹⁷If all the priests have been rendered impure, they may yet proceed to minister the Service.

And by way of allusion, it can be said “toward the face of the menorah.” This refers to the Holy One, Blessed be He, the Light of the world. The seven lamps shall give light, for all the branches faced the central branch, and it faced toward the Divine Presence in the west. Thus, it appears as if all the lamps face toward the face of the pure menorah, from which the light emanates from Him, blessed be He, to all created beings. And the phrase when you light [beha’alotcha] uses the term of “ascending,” meaning he should light it until the flame rises by itself. Our Sages of blessed memory said (Tanchuma Beha’alotcha 3) that the menorah was made by itself — this is a great wonder, hinting at the lamp of God, the human soul, which ascends upward by itself if not prevented by sins. It is the work of God, for there are three partners in the creation of a person (Niddah 31a). We have already explained this above in Parashat Terumah (25:31), and it is a correct and clear matter. This is the connection between the lamps rising by themselves and the making of the menorah, for it too was the work of God, as it says, Thus He made the menorah — the Holy One, Blessed be He, made it.

You will observe that the expression מנורה occurs four times in our paragraph, the first two times with the letter ו indicating that the Torah speaks of the celestial Menorah, whereas the last two times the Torah mentions מנרה it is spelled without the letter ו, indicating that the Torah speaks of a different Menorah, the terrestrial one. Moreover, such descriptions of the Menorah as “golden,” and “from its base to its flower,” also clearly hint that the Torah now speaks of the terrestrial Menorah in the Tabernacle. It is interesting that also in the verse in Zecharyah dealing with the vision of the High Priest Joshua the word מנורה is spelled with the letter ו, indicating that it was not a terrestrial Menorah which the High Priest saw in his vision. In the entire Torah the word מנורה is spelled with the letter ו only on three occasions, the two instances here and the verse in Exodus 25,31. We have a statement to this effect by the Massoretes in connection with Exodus 25,31.