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The Israel
Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash
Parashat Hashavua This
parasha series is dedicated ******************************************************** This
parasha series is dedicated ******************************************************** PARASHAT
TETZAVEH The
Complementary Verses of the Command Concerning the
Mishkan By Rav
Yehuda Rock The four complementary verses
that conclude the commands concerning the Mishkan map out the important
milestones in the narrative of the Torah, from the time of the forefathers up
until Sefer Bamidbar.
Before we examine the above
assertion, let us first clarify what it is that we are referring to as the
"complement to the command concerning the Mishkan." The command to build the Mishkan
occupies two entire parashot – Teruma and Tetzaveh – as well as
five more sections in Parashat Ki Tisa (30:11-31:11). Clearly, though, these latter five
sections, along with the last section in Parashat Tetzaveh (on the
subject of the incense altar, 30:1-10) are appendices, as it were, that are
attached to the body of the command. This impression is created by
the structure of the command. The
command to build the Mishkan, as set out in the parashot of Teruma
and Tetzaveh (Shemot 25-29) follows a fairly clear structure: it
starts from the inner parts of the Mishkan and moves outward. Parashat Teruma starts (after the
command to collect the necessary raw materials) with the fashioning of the
vessels that are located in the inner part of the Mishkan: the In Shemot 29:38 we find
the details of the daily sacrifice, which is manifestly meant as the conclusion
of the command concerning the Mishkan.
The daily sacrifice is presented as the central service performed upon
the altar, facing the Tent of Meeting, and as the service that allows the Divine
Presence to dwell there – which is cited at the outset of the command concerning
the Mishkan as being its objective. I shall not address here the
question of why the parashiyot that follow are not integrated into the
body of the command concerning the Mishkan. (For a discussion of the subject see my
shiur on Parashat Korach.) For our purposes it is sufficient that
the discussion of the daily sacrifice (29:38-46) is seen as completing the main
command concerning the Mishkan. As
stated at the outset, we shall focus on the final four verses
(43-46). The text of the command
concerning the daily sacrifice reads as follows: This is what you shall offer
upon the altar: lambs of the first year – two each day,
continually. You shall offer one lamb in the
morning, and the other one towards evening. And a tenth measure of flour…
and a drink offering… for the one lamb, And the other lamb… like the
meal offering of the morning, and like its drink offering, for a sweet savor, an
offering by fire, to God. It shall be a daily burnt
offering for your generations, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before
God, where I will meet with you to speak with you there. And I shall meet there with Bnei
Yisrael, And it will be sanctified with
My glory. And I shall sanctify the Tent of
Meeting and the altar, And I shall sanctify Aharon and
his sons to minister to Me, and I shall dwell amongst Bnei
Yisrael And I shall be their
God, And they will know that I am the
Lord their God Who took them out of the I am the Lord their God.
(38:-46) Verses 38-41 address the
offering of the daily sacrifice. Verse 42 characterizes this
daily service in two respects.
Firstly, it is a continual service, for all generations. Secondly, it is a sacrifice made to
God. What defines it as such is the
fact that the altar is at the "entrance to the Tent of Meeting," with the "Tent
of Meeting" representing – as its name testifies – a place of meeting between
God and Bnei Yisrael. The practical
expression of this meeting is that God speaks to Moshe as he stands in the Tent
of Meeting (as described in Bamidbar 7:89 – "And when Moshe came to the
Tent of Meeting to speak with Him…"). Verses 43-46 describe the
results of the continual, daily offering in the Mishkan with a series of seven
verbs in the future tense: by virtue of the daily sacrificial service, "I shall
meet… it will be sanctified… I shall sanctify… I shall sanctify… I shall dwell…
I shall be… they will know…." It is clear that these objectives are not the
purpose of the daily sacrifice alone; they are the purpose of the Mishkan as a
whole, which achieves its completion in the daily sacrifice. This is highlighted especially in the
fifth verb – "I shall dwell amongst Bnei Yisrael" – which clearly matches up
with the purpose of the Mishkan as set out at the beginning of Parashat
Teruma (25:8), "Let them make Me a Sanctuary, that I may dwell in their
midst." However, it is not only this
fifth verb that has appeared previously in the text as a goal which is fulfilled
by means of the Mishkan. As well
shall see, all seven are either explicitly stated or hinted to in other places
in the Torah. Let us review them in
order of their appearance here: ·
"And I shall meet there with Bnei
Yisrael, and it shall be sanctified with My glory" (43). As stated, this concept
of "meeting" is hinted at earlier, in verse 42, as the factor that defines the
location of the altar as being "before God." Thus, the "meeting" is both a
condition for the daily service (in order that this service will
be "before God," as described in verse 42) and its result (as described
in verse 43). This meeting, together with its
practical expression, has already appeared previously as the central purpose of
the Mishkan. The section on the
Ark, at the beginning of Parashat Teruma (25:10-22) ends with a
description of the role of the Ark and the keruvim (verse 22): "And I
shall meet with you there, and I shall speak with you from above the covering,
from between the two keruvim that are upon the Ark of Testimony – all
that I shall command you (to pass on) to Bnei Yisrael." The essence of the
purpose of the ·
"And it shall be sanctified with
My glory" – the goal of sanctifying the Tent of Meeting has not been explicitly
stated until now, but it is hinted to.
At the end of Parashat Mishpatim, we find a description of God's
revelation upon And Moshe ascended the mountain,
and the cloud covered the mountain.
And God's glory rested
upon And the appearance of God's
glory was like a consuming fire at the top of the mountain, before the eyes of
Bnei Yisrael. (24:15-17) When our verse refers to "My
glory," it is the same "God's glory" referred to at the end of
Mishpatim. A further
allusion is the use of the word "rested" (va-yishkon), which hints to the
Mishkan. The same revelation that
was perceived by Moshe, in preparation for the command to build the Mishkan,
will come to the Tent of Meeting in the wake of the completion of the Mishkan:
"And it will be sanctified with My glory." ·
"And I shall sanctify the Tent
of Meeting and the altar" (44) – the sanctification of the Tent of Meeting is
referred to already in the previous verse, since the Tent of Meeting is the
subject of the clause "And it will be sanctified with My glory." The new element
that is introduced in verse 44 is that with the sanctification of the Tent of
Meeting – and perhaps as a result of it – God will also sanctify the altar. The sanctification of the altar has been
mentioned already in our chapter, in the command concerning the seven days of
consecration (29:36-37): And you shall offer a bull on
each day for a sin offering for atonement, and you shall cleanse the altar when
you have made atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to sanctify it. For seven days you shall make atonement
for the altar and sanctify it, and the altar shall be most holy; anyone who
touches the altar shall be holy. These verses are talking about
sanctification of the altar by Moshe, by means of anointment, while in our verse
it is God Who sanctifies the altar.
Nevertheless, these appear to be two stages in the same process that is
aimed towards the same goal. First,
man (Moshe) sanctifies and consecrates the altar for the sacrificial service – a
sanctification that is expressed through the act of anointing – and then God
confirms the sanctification and accepts the altar and the sacrifices as His
own. ·
"And I shall sanctify Aharon and
his sons to minister to Me" – the sanctification of Aharon and his sons for
priesthood is repeated several times in Parashat Tetzaveh (chapters
28-29): As for you – bring to you Aharon
your brother and his sons with him from among Bnei Yisrael, to minister to Me…
(28:1) And they shall make Aharon's
garments, to sanctify him that he may minister to Me… (3) And you shall dress Aharon your
brother in them, and his sons with him, and you shall anoint them and consecrate
them and sanctify them, that they may minister to Me… (41) And this is what you shall do
with them, to sanctify them to minister to Me… (29:1) He shall be sanctified, and his
garments, and his sons, and his sons garments with him…
(21) And they shall eat those things
with which atonement was made to consecrate them and to sanctify them….
(33)
The above verses show that the essence of the purpose of making the
priestly garments and of consecrating Aharon and his sons is to sanctify them
for priesthood. Here too, as in the
case of the altar, there are two stages of the same process that leads to the
same goal: first Moshe sanctifies and consecrates Aharon and his sons for Divine
service, and then God confirms this sanctification and accepts the
kohanim as His servants, who are close to and minister to
Him. ·
"And I shall dwell in the midst of Bnei
Yisrael" (45)– We have already discussed this phrase as conveying the crux of
the purpose of the Mishkan, as stated at the beginning of Parashat
Teruma: "Let them make Me a Sanctuary, that I may dwell in their
midst." ·
"And I shall be their God" – we
will examine this objective together with the next
one: ·
"And they will know that I am
the Lord their God Who took them out of the land of Egypt, to make My dwelling
among them" (46). These expressions appeared in almost identical form at the
beginning of Parashat Vaera, when God tells Moshe about the plan for the
Exodus from Therefore, say to Bnei Yisrael:
I am the Lord. And I shall take you
out from under the burdens of And I shall take you to be My
nation And I shall be Your
God And you will know that I am the
Lord your God Who brings you out from under the burdens of This goal of Hashem being our
God was set forth already at Avraham's circumcision: And I shall establish My
covenant between Me and you, and your descendants after you, for their
generations, as an eternal covenant, to be your God – and to your descendants
after you… and I shall be their God. (Bereishit
17:7-8) From all the way back to the
time of Avraham's circumcision, then, the purpose of the forging of the covenant
had been clear, with the primary substance of the covenant being the forging of
a relationship between the nation and God.
In Parashat Vaera we are told that the aim of the Exodus from
Thus, these verses, describing
the purpose of the completion of the Mishkan and the commencement of the Divine
service that is performed in it, actually describe the realization of God's
long-term plans that were expressed long before, starting with the covenant with
the forefathers, continuing through the plans for the Exodus from Egypt and
God's revelation to convey the command concerning the Mishkan, and ending with
the purposes of the Mishkan in general, and of each of its constituent parts:
the Ark and the keruvim, the consecration of Aharon and his sons for
priesthood, and the sanctification of the altar. The next stage of our study will
examine how the completion of the Mishkan and the commencement of the Divine
service actually bring the aforementioned objectives to realization. If we follow the continuation of the
story, we see the milestones on the path of realizing these
objectives. The completion of the job of
building the Mishkan, with all of its vessels, occurs towards the end of
Parashat Pekudei: …and Moshe completed the work
(Shemot 40:33). Immediately afterwards, we
read: And the cloud covered the
Tent of Meeting, And God's glory filled
the Mishkan And Moshe was not able to come
to the Tent of Meeting, for the cloud rested upon it, and God's glory
filled the Mishkan… (40:34-35) And He called to
Moshe, and God
spoke with him from the Tent of Meeting, saying…. (Vayikra
1:1) These verses are a perfect
parallel to the revelation discussed above, at the end of Parashat
Mishpatim, just prior to the command concerning the Mishkan (Shemot
24:15-17): "And Moshe ascended the
mountain And the cloud covered the
mountain And God's glory rested
upon And the cloud covered it
for six days And He called to Moshe on
the seventh day from within the cloud And the appearance of God's
glory was like a consuming fire at the top of the mountain, before the eyes
of Bnei Yisrael…." In other words, the same
revelation that God showed to Moshe and to Bnei Yisrael prior to the command
concerning the Mishkan, and which God promised would be recreated in the Tent of
Meeting once it was completed – "and it shall be sanctified with My glory" – is
what now fills the Mishkan. However, there seems to be a
problem: the promise of "it shall be sanctified with My glory" is uttered in
connection with the daily sacrifice, as a description of what is going to happen
in the wake of the commencement of the Divine service in the Mishkan. In practice, however, it appears that
the promise is realized immediately upon the completion of the building of the
Mishkan, without any mention of the sacrificial service taking place in
it! There is a well-known dispute
among the commentators concerning the order of events at the end of Parashat
Pekudei and in the first part of Sefer Vayikra; we shall not
elaborate on it here. The view of
Ibn Ezra would seem to make the most sense. He maintains that the text does in fact
follow the chronological order of the events: God's glory filling the Mishkan,
described in Parashat Pekudei, took place at the beginning of the month
of Nissan, immediately upon completion of its building. Thereafter, following the command
concerning the sacrifices (Parashat Vayikra, and perhaps the first
part of Tzav – see my shiur on Parashat Tzav), came the
seven days of consecration, as described in the second part of Parashat
Tzav (Vayikra 8). Then,
on the eighth day of consecration – which apparently was on the 8th
of Nissan – we are told: And it was, on the eighth
day… For on this day God will appear
to you… And Moshe said: This is the
matter that God commanded that you do, in order that God's glory will appear
for you… And Aharon came close to the
altar, and he slaughtered the calf of the sin offering which was for
himself… And he slaughtered the burnt
offering… and he brought the offering of the people… and he sacrificed the burnt
offering… and he sacrificed the meal offering… besides the burnt sacrifice of
the morning… And he came down from offering
the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And Moshe and Aharon came to the Tent of
Meeting… And God's glory appeared
to all of the people. And a fire came out from
before God, and it consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the
fats And all the people saw, and they
shouted, and they fell upon their faces. (9) Once again in Parashat
Shemini, then, there is a description of a revelation of "God's glory," in
the form of a "consuming fire." Here it does indeed follow the commencement of
the sacrificial service: the sacrifices are no longer being offered only to
sanctify and consecrate the altar, and to inaugurate the kohanim (as
during the seven days of consecration), but rather is an expansion of the daily
sacrifice, an inauguration of the altar with its regular service –albeit in
expanded form, to mark the beginning.
This event seems better suited as a fulfillment of the promise "And it
shall be sanctified with My glory," and includes not only the Tent of Meeting,
but "I shall sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the altar." Why, then, does God's
glory fill the Mishkan even before the commencement of the service in it, on
Rosh Chodesh Nissan? It seems that the answer to this
question is quite simple.
Concerning the daily sacrifice, our parasha tells us "a daily
burnt sacrifice for your generations, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,
where I shall meet with you, to speak with you there." Having the Tent of
Meeting as a place of meeting and dialogue is a condition for the daily
sacrifice to be considered as being offered "before God." The situation is
something like the paradox of tongs only being able to be created by means of
other tongs: the Divine Presence must be the result of the service, but the
service cannot be carried out "before God" so long as the Divine Presence is
absent! For this reason the Divine
Presence descended to the Mishkan at first in concealed form, and only
afterwards was revealed. At the end
of Parashat Pekudei we are told that God's glory filled the Mishkan, but
the cloud covered the Mishkan and God's glory could not be seen; even Moshe
himself was unable to enter the Tent of Meeting because of the cloud. God speaks from inside the Tent of
Meeting to Moshe, who stands outside (in contrast to the opinion of the
commentators, who maintain that God's call to Moshe at the beginning of Sefer
Vayikra facilitated his entry).
This continues throughout the seven days of consecration, as well as
during the sacrificial service of the eighth day. Thus, the Tent of Meeting indeed became
the place "where I shall meet with you, to speak with you there," and the
service took place "before God." It was only after the sacrifices of the eighth
day that Moshe and Aharon entered the Tent of Meeting for the first time, and
then God's glory appeared to the people, when the fire – the same consuming fire
that is the appearance of God's glory, as explained at the end of
Mishpatim – emerged from the Tent of Meeting and consumed the sacrifices
upon the altar. Only now was the
Tent of Meeting truly sanctified with God's glory, such that God truly met with
Bnei Yisrael there, and together with the Tent of Meeting God also sanctified
the altar, by accepting the sacrifices through the revelation of the consuming
fire upon the altar. Not all of the expressions from
our parasha appear here.
Most conspicuous is the omission of the sanctification of Aharon and his
sons for priesthood. From our verse
it would seem that this was meant to happen together with the sanctification of
the altar. From a thematic point of
view, too, we would have expected it to occur close to their inauguration during
the seven days of consecration. Apparently, the sanctification
of the kohanim by God was indeed meant to happen on the eighth day, and
would have happened then had it not been for an unexpected hitch: the sin of
Nadav and Avihu (10:1). Instead of
"and I shall sanctify Aharon and his sons," there is an episode following which
we are told, "I shall be sanctified among those who are near Me." Instead of
God's glory, appearing as a consuming fire, sanctifying Aharon and his sons, it
ends up consuming his sons. It is
not clear how exactly the sanctification of Aharon and his sons would have been
expressed had it not been for the sin (perhaps fire would have emerged from the
Tent of Meeting and consumed the incense on their censers), but the sin of Nadav
and Avihu disrupted the course of events from their planned
progression. Almost all the rest of Sefer
Vayikra (with the exception of the story of the blasphemer) records the
giving of commandments. We shall
not elaborate here on the reason for their being given and/or written at these
particular stages; therefore we shall continue with Sefer
Bamidbar. The first two chapters of
Sefer Bamidbar deal with the census of Bnei Yisrael and the ordering of
the camps around the Mishkan. The
opening command concerning the ordering of the camps reads as
follows: Every man of Bnei Yisrael shall
pitch by his flag, with the insignia of their fathers' houses; they shall encamp
around the Tent of Meeting. (Bamidbar 2:2) For the meantime we will skip
over chapters 3-4. In chapter 5,
God commands Moshe concerning those individuals who must temporarily be removed
from the various parts of the camp: God spoke to Moshe,
saying: Command Bnei Yisrael, that they
should send away from the camp anyone with tzara'at, and anyone who has
experienced an issue, and anyone who is impure through contact with the
dead… So that they will not defile
their camps, in the midst of which I dwell. (1-3) The Torah explains the sending
away of those who are ritually impure from the camps of In between the ordering of the
camps and the command to send out those who are ritually impure, in
Bamidbar 3-4, we find two different subjects: 1. 3:1-4 These are the generations of
Aharon and Moshe on the day that God spoke to Moshe at And these are the names of the
sons of Aharon: the eldest – Nadav, and Avihu, Elazar, and
Itamar. These are the names of the sons
of Aharon, the kohanim who were anointed, whom he consecrated to
minister. But Nadav and Avihu died before
God when they offered a strange fire before God in the wilderness of Sinai, and
they had no sons. So Elazar and
Itamar ministered in the sight of Aharon, their father. 2. 3:5 – 4:49 Appointment of the
leviim, their sanctification, and their charge for
service. The connection between these two
subjects seems quite clear: the leviim are given to the kohanim to
serve them; for this reason, the matter of the kohanim ministering
precedes the matter of the appointment of the leviim. However, as explained, the sending away
of those who are ritually impure – which appears after both of these subjects –
is the result of the ordering of the camps, which took place in chapter 2. Why, then, do chapters 3-4 come between
chapter 2 and the command to send away those who are ritually
impure? It seems that the function of
the beginning of chapter 3 (ministering of Aharon and his sons) is to signify
God's acceptance of the ministering of the kohanim, after this acceptance
had been postponed in the wake of the sin of Nadav and Avihu. Apparently, this acceptance had to be
put off until after the ordering of the camps; then, once the camps were in
place, the acceptance of the kohanim was necessary before the sending
away of the impure was required. It would seem that the sin of
Nadav and Avihu was an attempt to promote themselves above Bnei Yisrael. As Moshe explains to Aharon, God
declares, "I shall be sanctified among those who are close to Me" – meaning,
only the kohanim who are close to Me will be the ones to sanctify; they
will be the ones to perform the service in the Mishkan, "and I shall be honored
in the face of the entire nation" - i.e., My response, the revelation of God's
glory and the resting of the Divine Presence, will be revealed to the entire
nation, not only the kohanim.
Nadav and Avihu, who failed to internalize this message, wanted to bring
God's glory first and foremost upon themselves. For this reason they brought the foreign
incense (see my shiur on Parashat Korach). In order to emphasize and reinforce the
message that the sons of Aharon had not understood, God postponed the acceptance
of the kohanim and their sanctification until after the stage where the
revelation of God's glory had become a phenomenon that cast its light over all
of Am Yisrael – until after the ordering of the camps around the Tent of
Meeting, signifying that God dwelled in the midst of Am
Yisrael. Similarly, in the commandments
concerning sanctity in the parashot of Kedoshim and Emor
(Vayikra 19-22), the commandments pertaining to the sanctity of
The continuation of Sefer
Bamidbar, following some halakhic units (5:5 – 6:27), brings us to the
description of the sacrifices brought by the princes for the inauguration of the
altar. We shall not elaborate here
on the relationship between this inauguration, at the initiative of the princes
of And when Moshe came to the Tent
of Meeting to speak with Him, He heard the Voice speaking to
him from above the covering that was upon the Ark of Testimony, from between the
two keruvim, And He spoke to him.
(7:8-9) Once again, it is the same
message from our parasha: it is the Divine service that leads to the
meeting and the dialogue. Translated by Kaeren
Fish
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