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Pekudai The Gematria of "Mishkan" is 410, the number of years that the first Bet Hamikdash stood. The Gematria of "Hamishkan" is 415, and with the addition of five (representing the world's five letters) it equals 420. This is the number of years that the Gemara says the second Bet Hamikdash stood. The Gematria of "Ha'edut" is 479, the number of years which passed between the building of the Mishkan and that of the Bet Hamikdash. (Rabbenu Bachya) Why is the allusion to five of the second Bet Hamikdash's 420 years hidden? This alludes to the five ways in which the second Bet Hamikdash was inferior to the first. (The second Bet Hamikdash had no Aron, Kaporet, and Keruvim; the eternal flame; Shechinah; Ruach Hakodesh; and Urim V'turim.) ("Chatam Sofer") Why did Moshe give an accounting of the donations that were brought to the Mishkan? Certainly Hashem trusted him, as we read, "In My whole house, he is trusted" (Bamidbar 12:7). Because Moshe heard the scoffers of his generation speaking behind his back; one would say, "Look how fat that son of Amram has become," and another would respond, "Wouldn't you expect the person who was responsible for that wealth of the Mishkan to become fat?" (Midrash Rabbah) Look how low the scoffer can stoop! Not only does he accuse a Tzaddik of a crime, but of the one crime which could not be farther from the truth. The Mishnah (Sanhedrin 81b) states: "If one sees another stealing utensils from the Bet Hamikdash, the witness may kill the perpetrator on the spot." Why? This can be understood based on the following: The Gemara (Baba Kama 79b) says: "Why is a burglar punished by the Torah more severely than an armed robber? Because an armed robber is not afraid of G-d, but neither is he afraid of people. A burglar, however, is afraid of people, but not of G-d." For this disrespect, he must be punished more. A person who steals from the Bet Hamikdash commits the ultimate act of denying G-d; he acts as if Hashem does not know what is happening in His own house, so-to-speak. This is why a zealot may kill this thief on the spot, for such a sin cannot be tolerated. Now we can appreciate the seriousness of the accusations against Moshe. Not only is he accused of stealing from G-d's own dwelling place, but the scoffers accuse Moshe, the person who regularly spoke to Hashem "face-to-face." These scoffers knew very well that Moshe had committed no crime, but they had no shame, for their battle against the Torah enabled them to make personal attacks against Torah scholars as well. (Be'er Yosef) "Moshe was unable to enter the Ohel Moed because the cloud hovered over it. . . ." (40:35) R' Ephraim of Lunschitz (author of Kli Yakar) writes that, physically, Moshe could enter the mishkan. The entering the mishkan to which our verse refers is initiation into the Divine secrets which the designs of the mishkan and its utensils represent. What kept Moshe out of the mishkan was the depth of the secrets and the comparatively limited ability of the one seeking those secrets. The "cloud" shrouding the secrets, i.e., the barrier which exists because man is a physical being, was thick. Just as clouds come between man and the light of the sun, so man's physical nature is a barrier between his mind and the light of the intellect. The midrash says that in the future Hashem will split the River of Egypt creating seven paths for Bnei Yisrael to cross. This, says R' Ephraim, refers to the channels which Hashem will create so that the Seven Wisdoms will reach man unimpeded, just as before Bnei Yisrael received the Torah they had to cross through the Yam Suf (Red Sea).(Olelot Ephraim 117) |
