The Gaon Yaakov, brought
in
the Chidushei Geonim (Shema Betzeil . . .)
on the Ein Yaakov
to Berakhot 55a
Moshe
vs. Betzalel?
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The Gemara (Berakhot 55a) presents the following
conversation between Moshe and Betzalel:
When G-d told Moshe to tell Betzalel to make the
Mishkan (structure), Aron (ark) and rest of the
vessels, Moshe switched the order and said, "Make
the Aron, vessels, and Mishkan."
Betzalel replied, "Moshe Rabbeinu, it is the way
of the world to first make a house and then to place
within it vessels. You tell me to make the Aron
and vessels before making the structure. These vessels
that I make, where will I place them? Perhaps G-d
told you that I should make the Mishkan and then
the Aron and vessels?"
Said Moshe, "Were you perhaps in the shadow of G-d
(betzeil Ei-l, a play on words using the name Betzalel)
and knew what he was saying?"
There are several striking difficulties with this
passage.
1. Why did Moshe switch the order from what G-d
instructed him?
2. What was the "argument" between Moshe and Betzalel
concerning the proper order?
In order to answer these questions we must understand
the nature of the vessels of the Mishkan. They were
not merely physical, but rather physical with a
spiritual interior, much as a person has a body
and a soul. The work of making the Mishkan is referred
to by the Torah as "Maaseh charash vechosheiv,"
a work of physical craftsmanship, charash, and inner
content, chosheiv. A refined Divine Light that animated
the vessels of the Mishkan was introduced into it
by Betzalel and his unique group of craftsmen.
All of the aspects of the Mishkan had this combination
of the physical and the spiritual, but not all in
the same proportions. The courtyard beams were predominantly
physical; the beams of the Mishkan itself slightly
more refined; the vessels' physicality was even
more ethereal; and the Aron, though it had a physical
side, was of a very lofty nature, almost bordering
on the spiritual.
Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu to give over the instructions
of the Mishkan "as he was shown on the mountain."
To Moshe, who had so refined himself to the degree
that he was more angelic than human, the Aron was
the first item of the list. It was the most spiritual
of the vessels and Moshe viewed its spirituality.
Moshe would never have the question Betzalel had,
"Where will I put these vessels?" for Moshe Rabbeinu
saw them as essentially spiritual entities that
would not be limited by physical space.
Betzalel, however, who was to make the Mishkan as
a combination of the physical and the spiritual,
was first conscious of the physical side of the
vessels. His task was to take the inner spiritual
content of the vessels and introduce it into a physical
exterior. The order of construction would have to
be first structure and then contents, for these
vessels were limited by physicality.
Moshe did not switch G-d's message (question 1 above)
but transmitted it accurately from his own perspective.
He and Betzalel had no argument about the order
the Mishkan was to be made, but each came to it
from their own perspective, Moshe from the spritual
and Betzalel as the one who was to insert the spiritual
essence into the physical. |
