פרשת ויקהל - פקודי תש"ט - עבודת המשכן

And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.

And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into threads, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, the work of the skilful workman.

They beat the plates. This is the only instance in which the Torah explains how the work was carried out. Perhaps this is because gold had never before been used in this fashion and people were puzzled how it was possible to spin gold as wool is spun.

וירקעו את פחי הזהב, the donours of the gold for the priestly garment already flattened the gold into thin stripes so they could easily be converted and cut into “threads” to be embroidered in these garments.

וירקעו את פחי הזהב, the donours of the gold for the priestly garment already flattened the gold into thin stripes so they could easily be converted and cut into “threads” to be embroidered in these garments. וקצץ פתילים, the respective artisan. He used the flat sheets of gold to cut the threads from.

Thus was finished all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting; and the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they.

Thus was finished all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting; and the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they.

It appears that the Torah teaches us a general rule about the way Torah can be observed successfully by showing how the Israelites conferred merits one upon the other. The Torah (in its entirety) is only capable of fulfilment by means of the entire Jewish nation. Every individual Jew is charged with the duty to perform those commandments which he is able to fulfil, keeping in mind his individual status [an Israelite cannot perform service in the Temple, for instance, Ed.] This is the true meaning of Leviticus 19,18: "you shall love your fellow Jew as he is part of yourself." Without the fellow Jew, no individual Jew would be able to function as a total Jew. Each Jew has a task to help another Jew to become a whole Jew by means of his fulfilling commandments which the second Jew is unable to fulfil either at that moment or ever. As a result, the fellow Jew is not אחר "someone else," but is part of "oneself," כמוך. This is the only way in which we can reconcile ourselves to G'd's commanding us to fulfil 613 commandments without which our body and soul are not really truly "healthy." The Torah has actually denied us a chance to fulfil a substantial part of all these 613 commandments. Are we to be permanent physical and spiritual cripples? Clearly, Torah and its observance then is not only a project for the individual but for the community. The Torah drove home this point by legislating laws which can be performed only by women, only by Levites, only by priests, and, in some instances, only by sinners, i.e. sinners who are anxious to rehabilitate them selves. Our verse describing the whole nation as performing what G'd had commanded Moses that they do, teaches this lesson. The reason that this was an appropriate time to teach us this lesson is that the 13 basic raw materials needed for the Tabernacle were as interdependent one upon the other as Jews are dependent upon each other in order to achieve the harmonious personality G'd desires for each Jew to develop into by means of his מצוה performance. It makes perfect sense therefore, that the Torah considers every Jew as having contributed all 13 kinds of raw materials needed for the Tabernacle.

Thus was finished all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting; and the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they.

כן עשו. They did exactly as instructed, neither adding nor subtracting from the instructions.

and the mitre of fine linen, and the goodly head-tires of fine linen, and the linen breeches of fine twined linen,

ואת פארי המגבעות means the beauty of the high caps — this is equivalent to: the beautiful high caps.

According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work.

And Moses saw all the work, and, behold, they had done it; as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it. And Moses blessed them.

According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work.