In the Shadow of God

Moses is shown the truth, but another man in the shadows understands it

Vayakhel isn’t known as the most exciting parasha of the Torah. If you look at the traditional printed books, you’ll notice that there’s not much commentary around the sides, because everything seems to have been said before. In fact, there’s a very clear mirror-structure present in the book of Exodus. We have two parashot explaining how to build the Mishkan, the Tabernacle in the desert, an explanation of every single detail. Then there is the story of the golden calf, the smashing of the ten commandments, and the eventual pardoning of the people. And then there are two parashot describing how the Mishkan was actually built, which repeat almost exactly every detail that was already told to us. But despite these repetitions, not everything is entirely clear. If Ikea was explaining how to construct the Tabernacle, they would do it much better. Here, there is a rhythmic poetry to the words that goes beyond a construction manual.

וּבַמְּנֹרָ֖ה אַרְבָּעָ֣ה גְבִעִ֑ים מְשֻׁ֨קָּדִ֔ים כַּפְתֹּרֶ֖יהָ וּפְרָחֶֽיהָ׃ וְכַפְתֹּ֡ר תַּ֩חַת֩ שְׁנֵ֨י הַקָּנִ֜ים מִמֶּ֗נָּה וְכַפְתֹּר֙ תַּ֣חַת שְׁנֵ֤י הַקָּנִים֙ מִמֶּ֔נָּה וְכַפְתֹּ֕ר תַּֽחַת־שְׁנֵ֥י הַקָּנִ֖ים מִמֶּ֑נָּה לְשֵׁ֙שֶׁת֙ הַקָּנִ֔ים הַיֹּצְאִ֖ים מִמֶּֽנָּה׃ כַּפְתֹּרֵיהֶ֥ם וּקְנֹתָ֖ם מִמֶּ֣נָּה הָי֑וּ כֻּלָּ֛הּ מִקְשָׁ֥ה אַחַ֖ת זָהָ֥ב טָהֽוֹר׃

And on the lampstand [itself] four almond-shaped goblets, with their knobs and their blossoms, 

a knob beneath two stems, from itself,
a knob beneath two stems, from itself,
and a knob beneath two stems, from itself,
for the six stems that were issuing from itself. 

Their knobs and their stems were from itself,
all of it one-piece of hammered-work, of pure gold. (Exodus 37:20-22)

Especially in the Hebrew, but perhaps even in translation, the rhythm is more powerful than the image. I have no idea what knobs and blossoms look like. (Even today there’s a big debate between Chabad and the rest of the Jewish world whether the branches of the Menorah should be round or straight.) 

And it seems that Moses didn’t understand either. In the rabbinic tradition, there are several times that Moses is described as being stumped by the verbal instructions, and being shown an image instead. He doesn’t understand what the Menorah or the Ark should look like, and he doesn’t understand what a table looks like [Menachot 29a], and he doesn’t even understand what a half-Shekel coin looks like exactly, until God shows him one made of fire [Yerushalmi Shekalim 1:4].  

But in the midrashim, and even in the plain text of the Torah, Moses himself isn’t the one who constructs the Mishkan. He is assisted by a man called Betzalel, a man “filled with the spirit of God in practical-wisdom, in discernment and in knowledge, and in all kinds of workmanship” [Exodus 35:31]. It’s not immediately clear in the Torah why Moses needs this helper, but the midrash gives a powerful description of the relationship between the two of them. The midrash explains all the repetitions in the Torah as part of Moses’s difficulty in understanding.

רַבִּי לֵוִי בַּר רַבִּי אוֹמֵר, מְנוֹרָה טְהוֹרָה יָרְדָה מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם, שֶׁאָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְמשֶׁה (שמות כה, לא): וְעָשִׂיתָ מְנֹרַת זָהָב טָהוֹר, אָמַר לוֹ כֵּיצַד נַעֲשֶׂה אוֹתָהּ, אָמַר לוֹ (שמות כה, לא): מִקְשָׁה תֵּעָשֶׂה הַמְּנוֹרָה, וְאַף עַל פִּי כֵן נִתְקַשָּׁה משֶׁה וְיָרַד וְשָׁכַח מַעֲשֶׂיהָ, עָלָה וְאָמַר רִבּוֹנִי כֵּיצַד נַעֲשֶׂה אוֹתָהּ, אָמַר לוֹ: מִקְשָׁה תֵּעָשֶׂה הַמְּנוֹרָה, וְאַף עַל פִּי כֵן נִתְקַשָּׁה משֶׁה וְיָרַד וְשָׁכַח, עָלָה וְאָמַר רִבּוֹנִי שָׁכַחְתִּי אוֹתָהּ, הֶרְאָה לוֹ לְמשֶׁה וְעוֹד נִתְקַשָּׁה בָהּ. אָמַר לוֹ (שמות כה, מ): וּרְאֵה וַעֲשֵׂה, עַד שֶׁנָּטַל מְנוֹרָה שֶׁל אֵשׁ וְהֶרְאָה לוֹ עֲשִׂיָּתָהּ, וְאַף עַל פִּי כֵן נִתְקַשָּׁה עַל משֶׁה, אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לֵךְ אֵצֶל בְּצַלְאֵל וְהוּא יַעֲשֶׂה אוֹתָהּ, וְאָמַר לִבְצַלְאֵל מִיָּד עֲשָׂאָהּ, הִתְחִיל תָּמֵהַּ וְאָמַר אֲנִי כַּמָּה פְּעָמִים הֶרְאָה לִי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וְנִתְקַשֵּׁיתִי לַעֲשׂוֹתָהּ, וְאַתְּ שֶׁלֹא רָאִיתָ עָשִׂיתָ מִדַּעְתְּךָ, בְּצַלְאֵל, בְּצֵל אֵל הָיִיתָ עוֹמֵד כְּשֶׁהֶרְאָה לִי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עֲשִׂיָּתָהּ.

R. Levi bar Rabbi said, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses (in Exod. 25:31), ‘And you shall make a menorah of pure gold.’ He said to Him, ‘How shall we make it?’ He said to him ‘Of hammered work shall the menorah be made.’ Nevertheless Moses had difficulty; for when he descended, he had forgotten its construction. He went up and said, ‘Master of the world, I have forgotten it.’ He showed Moses again, but it was still difficult for him. He said to him ‘Observe and make it.’ Thus He took a pattern of fire and showed him its construction, but it was still difficult for Moses. So the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, ‘Go to Bezalel and he will make it.’ Moses spoke to Bezalel, and he made the Menorah immediately. Moses began to wonder and say, ‘In my case, how many times did the Holy One, blessed be He, show it to me; yet I had difficulty in making it. Now without seeing it, you have made it from your own knowledge. Bezalel (btsl'l), were you perhaps standing in (b) the shadow (tsl) of God ('l) when the Holy One, blessed be He, showed it to me?’ (Bamidbar Rabbah 15:10)

This text is quite shocking. Hearing the words isn’t enough, and seeing an image isn’t enough, and in the end, Moses isn’t enough. But more importantly, maybe, is that direct divine revelation isn’t enough. Moses knows what God wants, but Betzalel seems to understand it. The Midrash plays with the name of Betzalel and makes it mean ‘in the shadow of God’, as if to say that the indirect suggestion is more powerful than explicit orders. Perhaps Betzalel was able to listen to the poetry of the instructions and be inspired by them to unleash his own creativity, while Moses was expecting Ikea-style instructions, which isn’t what a spiritual life should ever look like. 

One of the most famous commentators of the Torah, the Tanach and the Talmud was Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, Rashi. He lived here in France, but some interpret his name to mean Rabban Shel Yisrael, the rabbi of all of Israel. It’s impossible, in a Jewish context, to engage with the study of Torah without at least referring to Rashi’s comments: either to agree or to disagree, but never to ignore. For me, one of the most profound comments of Rashi on the Torah are the four or five places¹ where he comments simply:  Eini Yode’a, “I don’t know what this means”.  It's important, because he chose to express his ignorance rather than to simply not write anything. In one text I found recently, a contemporary reader points to a contradiction in his commentary, and Rashi writes back to say that he made a mistake, and later manuscripts correct it. To me, this humility adds rather than detracts from his authority. In fact, in at least one of the places where he admits that he doesn't understand something, he nonetheless is able to describe it. At the beginning of the chapter dealing with the priestly clothes, Rashi tries to understand one of the garments called an Ephod. He says:

ואפוד. לֹא שָׁמַעְתִּי וְלֹא מָצָאתִי בַּבָּרַיְתָא פֵּרוּשׁ תַּבְנִיתוֹ, וְלִבִּי אוֹמֵר לִי שֶׁהוּא חֲגוֹרָה לוֹ מֵאֲחוֹרָיו, רָחְבּוֹ כְּרֹחַב גַּב אִישׁ, כְּמִין סִינָר שֶׁקּוֹרִין פורצי"נט בְּלַעַז, שֶׁחוֹגְרוֹת הַשָּׂרוֹת כְּשֶׁרוֹכְבוֹת עַל הַסּוּסִים

 EPHOD — I have heard no tradition nor have I found in the sources  any description of its shape, but my own heart tells me that it was tied on behind the high priest; its breadth was the same as the breadth of a man’s back like a kind of apron which is called pourceint in old French which noble ladies wear when they ride on horses. (Rashi on Exodus 28)

I like to imagine that, like Betzalel, it is the ability of Rashi not to be certain that opens up his heart, and opens up the possibility to imagine what might be. In the case of Betzalel, at least, his inspired imagination was right, it retroactively matched what God wanted. Even though Moses is undoubtedly the hero of the Torah, I am attracted by the character of Betzalel. He just came out of slavery in Egypt, according to the Talmud he was only thirteen years old, but somehow it was he that managed to make this construction a reality, through intuition and trust. I don’t know what it’s like to be Moses, speaking to God face to face. But being in the shadow of God is closer to our religious life. Perhaps, without understanding exactly what is expected of us, we may find the strength to go out and do it.

Shabbat shalom.

1. I remembered four places in the Torah where Rashi admits to not knowing. But the Facebook community helped me find another few. Just for the record, I’ll write them all here: Genesis 30:11, 32:15, 35:13, 43:11; Exodus 24:13; 25:21, 25:29, 26:24, 27:10, 27:19, 28:4; Leviticus 8:11, 10:15, 13:4, 14:14; Numbers 21:11, 26:13, 26:16; Deuteronomy 18:2 and 33:24. See here for around twenty more in the Talmud commentary: