Then all the wise hearted people of the performers of the work made the Tabernacle out of ten curtains [consisting] of twisted fine linen, and blue, purple, and crimson wool. A cherubim design, the work of a master weaver he made them. (Shemot 36:8)

 

Wise-hearted

The appellation wise-hearted refers to wisdom that belongs to a person as his second nature and whose forms govern his heart at all times, of which it was written when wisdom enters your heart (Proverbs 2:10). Scripture states that Bezalel, Eliav, and their companions were righteous princes of God, upright, wise and comporting themselves in accordance with wisdom in all of their habits. Thanks to their wisdom and righteousness they were granted a great abundance of divine spirit, through which they made the Tabernacle and its vessels as the blessed Lord commanded them.

(R. Yitzhak Shemuel Reggio on Shemot 28:3)

 

Let the wise-hearted be called understanding - this means to say that his comprehension of wisdom will allow him to comprehend understanding in political matters as well, and to observe lessons of stratagems in order to maintain peace with all men. Even though he already contemplated this in his heart in a worthy manner, the sweetness of his words will add value to what he thought in his heart, because the pleasantness of the words and their sweetness will attract people and take hold of them.

(RaLBaG on Proverbs 16:21)

 

The outer garments, which allude to the inner garments, are made by skilled craftsmen, but those craftsmen must also be wise-hearted, for as I explained earlier in several places in my commentary on the Book of Proverbs, wise-heartedness is a very exalted virtue, for the wise man behaves in accordance with the rules of wisdom but may, nonetheless, be involved in an internal battle with his [evil] inclination. A wise-hearted person [in contrast] possesses wisdom internally in his soul and it permeates all the parts of his soul, a precious and pleasant treasure. Referring to this, He said: whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom to offer an explanation of the term wise-hearted, and it explains [the term as referring to] someone whose whole heart is filled with the spirit of wisdom (the term filled referring to his heart being filled). His heart has no room left for lust or the inclination or thoughts opposed to wisdom. These wise-hearted people will make the garments for Aaron to sanctify him, for they understand the significance of those garments and will make them with the intention that they receive their appropriate sanctity.

(Malbim Shemot 28:3)

 

This month shall be for you the first month,

it shall be for you the first of the months of the year

Binyamin Salant

Rashi (Bereishit 1:1) and RaMBaN on parashat Bo follow the midrash¹ in stating that this month shall be for you is the first commandment received by Israel. The first commandment has great significance, since it constitutes the foundation for all the festivals, and is the basis of the Hebrew calendar. That is why it precedes all the other commandments. It is the source of the Sages' authority to determine when months begin and when the festivals are to be observed.

R. Ovadiah of Solferino - known as "Seforno" - explains: This month shall be for you - from here on in the months will be yours, to do with them as you like..."

The author of Sefer HaHinukh writes: "The rationales for this commandment include that Israel observe God's festivals in their seasons... as it is written: Keep the month of the spring to make the Passover... and if it weren't for the establishment of leap years, the festivals would not fall in their proper times." According to Sefer HaHinukh, leap years are established by the authority of the great Sages of each generation.

RaMBaM in Hilkhot Kiddush HaHodesh (chapter 5) states in regards to the determination of the date of Rosh Hodesh [the first day of the month] and the establishment of leap-years: "This can only be done by a Sanhedrin in the Land of Israel, or in a court nearby the Land of Israel, which has been given permission by the Sanhedrin."

Gedalya Alon points out that the determination of Rosh Hodesh and the declaration of leap years was the responsibility of the Great Court in Jerusalem. This served as a lynch-pin connecting diaspora communities with the center in the Land of Israel.²

 

Hodesh - Month

The word hodesh derives its significance from the renewal [hithadshut] of the moon upon the completion of its orbit around the earth. Astronomically speaking, a hodesh is the time needed for the moon to complete its orbit; thus, a month may also be called yarei'ah ["moon"] in Biblical Hebrew. The Hebrew calendar is based upon lunar months but is adjusted to fit the solar year. In the Mishnah (Rosh HaShanah 1:7) we read: "A father and son who saw the hodesh" and "One who saw the hodesh" (ibid). Here the word hodesh refers to the new moon. From there on in, the term became used in Mishnaic and Talmudic language, such as: "they receive testimony of [those who saw] the hodesh" and "they are valid to serve as witnesses to the hodesh" (Mishnah Rosh HaShanah 2:1).

Rosh Hodesh was a festive day frequently mentioned in Scripture, but it is important to mention that the Torah already lists it as a festival: On the days of your rejoicing, on your festivals and on your new-moon celebrations, you shall blow on the trumpets for your ascent-offerings and your peace sacrifices, and it shall be a remembrance (Bamidbar 6:6).

This custom continued for some time. Massekhet Sofrim, which was composed after the redaction of the Talmud (some date it as late as the 9^th century), contains formulae of blessings to be recited on Rosh Hodesh, all of which speak of hope and joy. Among these we find:

May joyous occasions abound... may good tidings abound in Israel, may good days abound in Israel, may Torah scholars abound in Israel, the month be sanctified, sanctified on Rosh Hodesh, sanctified in its proper time, sanctified in its being made a leap-month, sanctified with Torah, sanctified with Halakhah, sanctified by those above, sanctified by those below, sanctified in the Land of Israel, sanctified in Zion, sanctified in Jerusalem, sanctified in all of Israel's places [of domicile], sanctified by the mouths of our rabbis, sanctified in the house of meeting, praise the Lord for He is good.³

Many of the Rishonim - including the Rokeah, and the Kol Bo, say that the feast of Rosh Hodesh remains obligatory. Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayyim 419 states: "It is a mitzvah to make much of the Rosh Hodesh feast."

 

Sod ha'Ibbur

According to the Sages, Moses received al the rules for witnessing the new moon directly from God: "This hodesh will be for you - when you see it like this, sanctify it" (Rosh HaShanah 20a). Similarly, the rules for calculating the dates of Rosh Hodesh and of the festivals were given to him: "This testimony shall be given over to you" (Rosh HaShanah 22).

In his Torah Sheleima (volume 13, beginning on page 15), M. Kasher brings various explanations of why the rules for calendar calculations are referred to as Sod Ha'Ibbur [literally: the secret of pregnancy]. The Sages of the Great Court were principally concerned that the secret not be revealed to gentiles, lest they be distorted. Shemot Rabbah (15:23) states: "This month shall be for you, as it says, You alone shall have them, and strangers shall have nothing with you (Proverbs 5:17)... I gave roshei hodashim to you alone." Shemot Rabbah 15:27 states: "That is why the Holy One, blessed be He, transmitted the secret of the moon to Israel, that they would use it to calculate [the calendar], while the gentiles calculate according to the sun."

RaMBaM writes in Hilkhot Kiddush HaHodesh 11:5: "It [Sod Ha'Ibbur] is not to be revealed to just any person - only to the ordained and wise." There was concern that since the determination made by an ordained court was final, if the method of calculation was made public it could lead to disagreements. The story of the controversy between Rabban Gamliel, nasi of the court and R. Yehoshua, av beit din of the court, is well known (Rosh HaShanah 25a).

 

Shabbat Mevarkhim - the Sabbath of the Blessing of the Month

The "pre-emptive" blessing of the month - Shabbat Mevarkhim - receives an interesting explanation in a relatively recent book: "The blessing of the new month was accepted by the community so as to allow the community to agree to the [determination of the date of the start of the new] month. So too regarding the establishment of a leap year, [which is endorsed by the community] in Shabbat Mevarkhim of Adar Bet. It is therefore correct to announce the hour of the molad [the new moon's appearance] before blessing the month, in order that the community agree with the calculation as well" (Torat Rabbeinu Shmuel Salant, ZtZ"L, vol. 1, pg. 110, published by Rabbi Nisan A. Tuchinsky, Jerusalem 5758).

During its orbit, the moon passes between the earth and the sun. A moment before the molad, the moon is entirely dark, and at the moment of the molad it appears as a thin strip of light, which the Mishnah says is shaped like a hermesh - a sickle. Scientifically speaking, when the moon is positioned exactly between us and the sun, its bright side faces away from us and its dark side faces us. That is the molad, the point at which the moon is "born" [nolad] and begins a new monthly cycle. When the year and months were determined on the basis of eye-witness testimony, that testimony was crucially important, so much so that the Sabbath could be violated for its sake (Mishnah Rosh HaShanah 1:4).

Birkat HaLivana ["The Blessing of the Moon"], as it is referred to by Sephardic custom (Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayyim 426); is called Kiddush Levana by Ashkenazim (see Mishnah Brura ad loc). These different names may derive from the midrash (Shemot Rabbah 15:24):

This month will be for you. What blessing should one say, having seen the moon? When Israel would sanctify the [new] moon, some of the Rabbis would say: "Blessed be the Renewer of moons," and some would say, "Blessed be the Sanctifier of moons, and some would say: "Sanctifier of Israel" - for if Israel does not sanctify it, it is not sanctified at all...  

Some ask why, today, when we establish the time of the blessing of the moon by mathematical calculation, do we continue to bless or sanctify the moon? The answer to this is that we are not blessing the moon itself; rather, we are only blessing its renewal. The laws of Rosh Hodesh in the Shulhan Arukh (Orah Hayyim 426) begin by stating: "One who sees the renewed moon recites the blessing: 'Who created the heavens with his speech, etc.'" Mishnah Brura, Biur Halakha states: "The rationale for concluding [Kiddush Levana] with the Aleinu prayer, recited in praise [of God] is that when we go outside to be in the moon's presence, and we rejoice in its presence, it might be supposed that we are honoring the moon. Because of this, we recite Aleinu LeShabei'ah, which concludes with the words, "For He is the God in heaven above, etc." We go out [to bless the moon] only in order to view the power of the Holy One, blessed be He, Who chooses to grant light to all the earth's inhabitants."

This also explains why we do not look at the moon for very long. Magen Avraham writes: "One should look at it but once and afterwards it is forbidden to look at it." The Vilna Gaon's version of Birkat HaLivana includes the following instructions: "Do not begin with [a recitation of] the verses, but rather with the blessing, 'Who created the heavens with his speech,' and conclude with, "May it be a good sign and good luck for us and all of Israel." A note there warns: "Be careful not to bow" (Siddur Azor Eliyahu, pg. 134). In the tractate Sanhedrin 42a, where the blessings are first formulated, he who recites the blessings is praised: "And R. Aha bar Hanina said that R. Assi said that R. Yohanan said: Anyone who blesses the moon at its appropriate time, it is as if he met the Shekhinah." In his Iyynim, Rabbi Adin Steinszaltz explains:

Because the blessing of the moon alludes to Israel's future renewal. And it is said in the name of the MaHaRShA: The moon symbolizes the Shekhinah.

1. Tanhuma Yashan: "R. Yitzhak said: The Torah only needed to begin from this month will be for you. And why did it begin with Bereishit? To make known the power of His valor…"

2. Toldot HaYehudim Be'Eretz Yisrael BeTkufat HaMishnah VeHaTalmud, vol. II, pg. 126 (Kibbutz HaMe'uhad: 1977)

3. Chapter 19: 5, 9.

Binyamin Salant is a member of Kibbutz Saad

 

In the "Tabernacle of Love" All Are Equal Before God

Bezalel was the name given him by his nation. The Holy One Blessed be He called him by five names that were connected with the Tabernacle of love. [He was called] Re'ayah (from the verb ro'eh, "see"), for God showed all of Israel that he had been fashioned from the beginning to construct the Tabernacle. Ben- Shoval, for he came to stand up the Tabernacle. Yahat, for he inspired hitato (the fear of) God in Israel. Ahumai, for he connected (iha) Israel with God. Lahad, for he raised up hod (majesty) and splendor in the Tabernacle, which was Israel's splendor.

And Rabbi Ada bar Hiyya said: Lahad, for the least important (hadal) tribe attached itself to him concerning the Tabernacle. Which was that? At his side was Ohaliav son of Ahisamakh, of the tribe of Dan (Shemot 38:23). Rabbi Hanina ben Pazi said: No tribe was greater than the tribe of Judah, and none less important than Dan, [whose founder] was a son of a servant-woman, of whom it is written: Dan's sons: Hushim (Bereishit 46:23). God said: let him [Bezalel] join together with him [Ohaliav] so that his spirit shall not be haughty, for the great and the small are equal before God.

Rabbi Hanina said: A person should never let his honor make him haughty, for the Tabernacle was built by these two tribes together. Even the Temple was built that way, [by] Solomon from Judah and Hiram from Dan, for it is said, he was of the tribe of Naftali, the son of a widow-woman (I Kings 7:13). In Chronicles it is written: the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (II Chronicles 2:13). His father was from Naftali, and his mother from Dan.

(Tanhuma Ki Tissa 13)

 

Which way did the Cherubim Face?

How did they stand? R. Yohanan and R. Elazar [disagree about it]: One says they faced each other, the other says they faced the Temple. How does the one who says they faced each other deal with the verse, and they faced the Temple (II Chronicles 3)?

There is no difficulty - one refers to times when Israel does God's will [and they face each other] the other refers to times when Israel does not do God's will. How does he who claims that they faced the Temple deal with the verse and they faced each other (Shemot 25)? [The answer is that] they turned slightly away [to look at each other]. It is taught: Onkelos the Convert said: The cherubs (II Chronicles 2:3) were formed like children and they turned their faces [to the Ark] like a student taking leave of his teacher.

(Bava Batra 99a)

 

The Calf and the Tabernacle

The Israelites were commanded: Bring Me gifts, gifts of all that was needed for constructing the Tabernacle. Afterwards, when the command was executed, we read that all those whose heart moved them brought the gifts. The midrash reads this passage carefully, noting that when a good cause is involved, e.g., building the Tabernacle - all those whose heart moved them brought gifts. All those whose heart moved them is not a collective name for all of the people, all of the community, or all of the public. In contrast, when the people themselves wanted to worship what they saw as a god - the calf - it is written: and all of the people removed their golden nose-rings.

So: for the good - all those whose heart moved them, for the bad - all of the people.

The worship of God does not derive from an innate human drive. It requires that man make a psychological effort to overcome his nature and accept the yoke of the kingdom of heaven upon himself. However, people are naturally driven to idolatry...

(Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz ztz"l, He'arot le'parashiyot ha'shavua, pp. 63-64)

 

The Inner Contents and Outer Appearance of a Torah Scholar Must be the Same, Just as it was with the Ark that Contained the Tablets.

R. Hanina De'Tzforan said: Betzalel made the Ark out of three boxes, two of gold and one of wood. He placed the wooden one inside a golden one, and a gold one inside the wooden one, and then covered their edges with gold, in order to fulfill a positive commandment: and cover it with gold, inside and out¸ and afterwards it is written: And he made a gold molding around it. From here [we learn] that the inner contents and outer appearance of a Torah scholar must be the same, for it says, cover it with gold, inside and out.

(Tanhuma Va'Yakhel 7)

 

The Tabernacle as a Divine "Concession" and Atonement for the Sin of the Calf

And Moses blessed them - how did he bless them? "May it be God's will that the Divine Presence shall dwell in the product of your hands: May the favor of the Lord, our God, be upon us... (Psalms 90:17)" Rabbeinu Behayeiy explained: This is in accordance with that which is said in the beginning of the Psalm: A prayer of Moses, the man of God, etc. However, this is not enough to make the point if there is no mention of the Tabernacle in the whole psalm. But I say that the beginning and end of the psalm hint clearly at the building of the Tabernacle, for in the beginning it says, Lord, you have been our refuge in every generation, and this is in agreement with what Solomon said in his prayer at the Temple's consecration: Even the heavens to their uttermost reaches cannot contain You, how much less this House - that is in keeping with what is said, You have been our refuge - You are the world's refuge, but the world is not Your place and refuge. If so, how could it ever occur to anyone to say that they would prepare a house for You to be located in? And he proved it, since before the mountains were born and the land and earth created throughout eternity You are God - if God needed to occupy a space, which space did He occupy before creating the world? Rather, the world is certainly not His place. Quite to the contrary, may He be blessed is the place and refuge for the whole world. And how could it be that God commanded him to build a house for Him, as if He was going to live there? Regarding that, he said by means of an answer, You return man to dust; You decreed, "Return you mortals!" God had to concede His honor and make Himself a dwelling among the mortals in order to absolve them for the sin of the calf, for according to the Sages the Tabernacle was built entirely as atonement for the calf (Tanhuma Pekudei 6).

(Kli Yakar Shemot 39:43)

 

 

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