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The Bread Machine
The Jews were told to create Lechem Hapanim along with the Mishkan. And so they did.
The Mishkan was assembled in Kislev (Midrash) and erected in Nissan. Why make Lechem Hapanim so many months beforehand??
The Mishkan was a machine. It was brought to Moshe in operating condition, with all its working parts. Unlike korbanos, which were processed in the Mishkan, the Lechem Hapanim were was part of the Mishkan’s function.
That is why they sat there all week long – they functioned in the Mishkan’s operation.
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Presentation
In Vayakhel it says Betzalel put in the Aron’s Badim. In Pkudei it says that Moshe did it. Who dunnit?
A new car comes preloaded with gas, a toy comes with batteries, an iPod with songs. Therefore the Mishkan was presented to Moshe with Badim already in the Aron. However, inserting Badim was Moshe’s job, so he reinserted them.
Similarly, as above, the Shulchan came with Lechem HaPanim even though they were not used.
Presentation is important. Respecting the Mishkan means that it be presented in a functional form, not as a heap of odds and ends.
We need to pay attention to the form with which we present ideas, ourselves, gifts and products. For Presentation dictates value.
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Celestial Fame
At each portion of the Mishkan’s construction it states: ‘the Jews made it as Hashem commanded Moshe’. Again and again. Why?
The Baal Haturim’s explains that Moshe offered to be erased from the Torah in the previous sedra for the sake of saving the Jews. Hashem repaid him by all these extra mentions of his name.
Anyone willing to lose fame and honor for Hashem’s sake are repaid with greater fame and greater honor!
Another suggestion: Torah gives credit in specifics. Instead of a general thank-you, the Torah thanked and acknowledged each and every accomplishment separately. Indeed, each was a separate achievement.
This is how to thank: give detailed acknowledgement, each achievement noted separately.
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Defining Wisdom
Hashem gave wisdom into the hearts of all those who are wise at heart. A Roman matron asked Rabbi Yossi bar Chalafta ‘Wouldn’t it be better to give wisdom to those who have it not, to fools, rather than to those who have it already?’
He ‘Do you lend money to the poor, who need it more, or to the rich, who need it less?’
She ‘To the rich’
‘Why would that be?’ he wondered.
She ‘When I lend the poor I have no assurance for the money. If I lend to the rich my money is secure.’
Said the Rabbi ‘Indeed, Hashem is in the same situation. If He would give wisdom to fools, what would they do with it? Pursue foolishness with greater ingenuity.
Instead, Hashem finds someone who profits from wisdom, and grants him.’
What wisdom do we learn from this exchange?
1. Wisdom is not ingenuity. Many a slow-witted man is wiser than the world’s greatest genius. Wisdom means sense, living with reality. Not IQ.
2. To merit wisdom one must be positioned to use it, one must be enrolled in a program of learning, or a framework of growth, where his wisdom will be put to use. One needs to qualify.
If you implement your knowledge, you will be granted lots more of it!
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Family Connections
Betzalel came from high lineage; he was a grandson of Miriam and a grandson of Chur, a leader of Klal Yisrael. Oholiav, his partner in the Mishkan, was from simple stock, from the low class tribe of Dan. This shows that Hashem gives no recognition given to aristocracy. The simple and the great are all the same to Him. – Rashi
If so, why did only the most distinguished families to serve in the Beis Hamikdash?
Hashem does not value aristocracy in of itself. Sometimes, however, aristocracy enhances the job at hand. The Beis Hamikdash service is more impressive (to us) when done by great people. So we choose noblemen because the service is enhanced by their standing.
We choose them because they can contribute more, not because they are important. Sometimes we give others the stage, when they are more capable. Our only consideration is; Where does Hashem profit more?
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A Modeling Job For You And I
In connection to the Mishkan the Torah commands ‘Six days you should work, and the seventh you should rest’. Rashi explains that Mishkan building stopped on Shabbos.
Here is a simile; Someone walks behind another, copying his every move. He has done nothing specifically unusual – each action itself meaningless – yet their combination means mimicry.
Working during the week is not unusual, neither is resting on Shabbos. But the combination of the two equals imitating Hashem’s workstyle. He too created during the week and rested on Shabbos.
The Mishkan was a micro-universe. Building the Mishkan paralleled creation of the world. As the world was created on Seven days, with six days of activity and one of rest, so was the Mishkan.
And this pattern Jews merit each week anew! They model Hashem!
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An Inside Job
Moshe put the Mizbeach outside the Mishkan and sacrificed a Korban. Then he put the curtains around the Courtyard. The plain reading that first he brought the Korban, then enclosed the courtyard.
With no curtain, the courtyard is part of the Machane Leviya, the Levite camp, not part of the Mishkan. Moshe technically sacrificed a Korban outside the Mishkan, normally forbidden.
The Malbim explains that it was allowed because as the Mizbeach and courtyard were yet un-dedicated, sacrifice was allowed anywhere one pleased, as a Bamah.
Of what significance was this sacrifice then?
The Mishkan courtyard was the Mizbeach enclosure. It was not simply an empty ground. It needed a live Mizbeach to give it definition. So the Mizbeach needed to be sanctified prior to setting the courtyard.
How? Its very usage consecrated it. (Rashi). It was sacrificed on, making it a Mizbeach. The curtains enclosing it afterward were hallowed because they encircled a Mizbeach.
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Clouding The Issue
At the very end of the sidra the Torah dramatically recounts how Moshe set up the Mishkan and Hashem’s cloud of Glory filled it. It was no longer possible to enter.
Then the pasuk tells us that Hashem’s Glory, – the pillar of cloud – signalled the Jews when to travel and when to stay put.
Does this have to do with the Mishkan events?
The Clouds were present from the beginning. When the Jews left Egypt, the clouds led them. But the clouds left when the Jews camped. They were not needed.
Hashem no longer merely stepped in to lead His People when needed, rather He was now moving in amongst them, 24×7.
This cloud – the very cloud that previously led them, came now to fill the Mishkan. It represented His Presence. The message here is that this was the very same cloud; it was the one to lead them when they broke camp.
It told the Jews they hosted Hashem Himself – not merely a representation. And thats why it left the Mishkan when it took to leading them.
They hosted Him, and He led them.
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A Try And A Prayer
When the Jews brought the finished Mishkan to Moshe, he admired how perfectly they had made it – exactly as Hashem specified – and blessed them. Rashi records the blessing ‘May Hashem rest on your handiwork!’
The doctor said ‘The operation was an unquestioned success. Unfortunately, however, the patient did not make it’
The scientist scratched his head, perplexed. All the parts were right. Yet the new car did not run.
Two brothers open ice-cream parlors next to one another. One becomes a millionaire, the other goes bust.
What’s the secret sauce? What determines success or failure?
Shchina, Providence.
Moshe was giving them the ultimate brachah: may the Mishkan do it ultimate purpose. May Shchina rest here.
We don’t have Moshe’s bracha. We do our hishtadlus – our business acts, and may or may not be successful. So what we need is Tfilla. Do your very best and hand it over to Him: pray for success.
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Do You Qualify?
Who was chosen to build the Mishkan? What were the credentials needed?
The pasuk answers “all those whose heart lifted them to volunteer or the work…”
Indeed, it was not necessarily the greater craftsman who was honored to build the Aron, but rather the man who stepped forward, even if he was a lesser artisan than the man reticent in the shadows. Not ability, but willingness dictated who received the job.
This is significant.
A. It means that the man who built the Mishkan was whose mother complimented him more, who had more empowering teachers, and who had a rebbe who believed in him. Thats what makes people step forward!
B. So in life: many achievements go to the person who steps forward, not to the most able.
C. Perhaps part of education ought to be learning to step up to the plate, for that greatly affects life success!
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The Menorah was created out of a gold kikar, ‘it and all its attachments’ (such as the tweezers used to clean it etc.).
The simple reading is that the tools used with and around the Menorah were to be created out of the very kikar the Menorah itself was, together a total weight of one kikar. (Rashi).
Why did it need to be gold at all? What connection is there between the Menorah and its tools? And why did it need to be part of the same kikar?
(If one tool went lost, did they need to melt down the Menorah itself, add a bit of gold, and start anew?)
Similarly, the big Mizbeach was made of copper. And so were its pots, shovels, pitchforks – all else related to it. Why? So that it would match?
The Shulchan was made out of gold. As were its shelves, rods etc. Why??
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Service Before All
The Meil had bells and pomegranates on its bottom. The Torah comments that these were ‘for service’. (In Tetzave the pasuk also uses those words, 28:35, but there its unclear if it refers to the trimmings or the wearing of the Meil itself).
This is in fact the only thing specified so in the entire Torah! What about it is so significant??
The Kohen Gadol’s vestments were gorgeous and impressive. They could be to dignify him, for he was a high and mighty person, or to dignify his service he was performing before Hashem. Its pretty unclear what their purpose was.
One thing gave it away; the bells he wore. They only dignified the service – that he not walk in unannounced. They served him in no way. Therefore those bells determined the nature of his entire wardrobe: it was work clothing, luxurious because his work was so significant, not to dignify him.
Thats why the bells were specified; ‘To Serve!’
And that needs to be our motto too; we serve. Our status and rewards need to be out of the picture…