Maggid of Mezrich --Torah Ohr--Tetzaveh
If this is so, Betzalel, who made the Mishkan, which is the
soul of all the worlds, needed to know how to put the life-force into the
worlds. He needed to know the letters through which the worlds were
created. Furthermore, everything that
was in the worlds was in the Mishkan.[4]
For proof of this, it was written in the Gemara “with ten[5]
utterances was the world created.”[6] There is a dispute there
between rabbis about whether there are 9 or 10 times God caused things to come
into being. But, “The words ‘in the beginning’ are also an utterance”[7]
There is a difficulty as to why it didn’t say, “and God said to
him, [vayomer]” How such a thing was said, there is no understanding. It can
only be understood on its lower level, and this appears in the Translation
[Targum], for the translation of the word dibbur, or speech is “aresht”[8] And this “speech” “dibbur”
is the base matter from of all the utterances [ma’amarim], from which all of
the 9 other utterances originated.
And the Mishkan [which was a reflection of above] needed to be
like this. This is the menorah. which Moshe Rabbeinu had a difficulty with[9]. And it could not be made by
any man’s hands from among them, for on it was the witness that the Shechinah
rested on Israel[10]. And this is called “shemen
zayit”.- Olive oil. For the brilliance of itself rested upon it, like the light
on the oil. And all of the other utterances are called “zayit” olive for the
oil is contained within it.
Therefore the words “vayedaber adonai lemoshe lemor” - “HaShem
spoke to Moses saying...” or “and HaShem said to Moses...”[Vayomer...] do not appear here.
For this is the interpretation of the phrase shemen zayit -- olive oil:-- its “dibbur” --its source --is not able to be understood, not even with the words vayomer, which are words expressing a thought about something, [so] it doesn’t belong [here].[11]
For this is the interpretation of the phrase shemen zayit -- olive oil:-- its “dibbur” --its source --is not able to be understood, not even with the words vayomer, which are words expressing a thought about something, [so] it doesn’t belong [here].[11]
[1] Exodus 27:20: (JPS): “You shall further instruct the
Israelites to bring you clear oil of beaten olives for lighting, for kindling
lamps regularly. Aaron and his sons shall set them up in the Tent of Meeting,
outside the curtain which is over [the Ark of] the Pact, [to burn] from evening
to morning before the Lord. It shall be a due from the Israelites for all time,
throughout the ages.”
[2] Brachot 55a: “ Rab Judah said in
the name of Rab: Bezalel knew how to permute the letters by which the heavens
and earth were created. It is written here, And He hath filled him with the
spirit of God, in wisdom and in understanding, and in knowledge, and it is
written elsewhere, The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He
established the heavens,25 and it is also
written, By His knowledge the depths were broken up.26 R. Johanan
said: The Holy One, blessed be He, gives wisdom only to one who already has
wisdom, as it says, He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that
know understanding. R. Tahlifa from the West heard and repeated it before
R. Abbahu. He said to him: You learn it from there, but we learn it from this
text, namely, In the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom.”
[2]
[3] Numbers Rabbah (12:11): "Who
hath established all the ends of the earth? ' Did Moses, then, establish all
the ends of the earth? No; but he set up the Tent of Meeting and with it the
world also was set firm. R. Joshua b. Levi expounded this in the name of R.
Simeon b. Yohai: It is not written in the text, ' Setting up the tabernacle '
(Num. VII, 1), but SETTING UP ETH3 THE TABERNACLE which indicates that he set
up, together with this one, another tabernacle which is called ‘tent’, just as
the Tabernacle was called ‘Tent of Meeting’; as you read, Spreadeth them out as
a tent to dwell in (Isa. XL, 22). For before the Tabernacle was set up the
world was unstable, but when the Tabernacle was erected the world was firmly
established. For this reason it says, SETTING UP ETH THE TABERNACLE."
[4] Zohar II:231b: Now, the Tabernacle
below was likewise made after the pattern of the supernal Tabernacle in all its
details. For the Tabernacle in all its works embraced all the works and
achievements of the upper world and the lower, whereby the Shekinah was made to
abide in the world, both in the higher spheres and the lower. Similarly, the
Lower Paradise is made after the pattern of the Upper Paradise, and the latter
contains all the varieties of forms and images to be found in the former. Hence
the work of the Tabernacle, and that of heaven and earth, come under one and
the same mystery. It is written: “Lift up your eyes on high, and see: who hath
created these? He that bringeth out their hosts by number.... Not one faileth”
(Isa. XL, 26). Are we to imagine from this that by lifting his eyes upwards a
man can know and see what is not permitted to know and see? No. The true
meaning of the passage is that whoever desires to reflect on and to obtain a
knowledge of the works of the Holy One, blessed be He, let him lift his eyes
upwards and gaze on the myriads of the hosts and legions of existences there,
each different from the other, each mightier than the other. Then will he,
while gazing, ask, “Who created these?” Indeed, as has already been expounded
elsewhere, “Who created these?” amounts to saying that the whole of creation
springs from a region that remains an everlasting “Who?” (Mi?), in that it
remains undisclosed. “He that bringeth out their host by number”, for inasmuch
as that region is undisclosed it brings forth everything by means of the sound
that issues from the trumpet, the sound that constitutes the “number” of all
the celestial hosts and the sum of the whole of creation; and from thence also
proceeds the mystery of sublime faith through all the supernal “sides”, and
then extending in grade after grade downwards...
[5] Avot 5:1:"WITH TEN [DIVINE]
UTTERANCES WAS THE WORLD CREATED. AND WHAT IS THIS [SCRIPTURAL] INFORMATION
[MEANT] TO TELL, FOR SURELY IT COULD HAVE BEEN CREATED WITH ONE UTTERANCE? BUT
IT IS THAT PENALTY MIGHT BE EXACTED FROM THE WICKED WHO DESTROY THE WORLD THAT
WAS CREATED WITH TEN UTTERANCES, AND TO GIVE A GOODLY REWARD TO THE RIGHTEOUS
WHO MAINTAIN THE WORLD THAT WAS CREATED WITH TEN UTTERANCES."
[6] Rosh HaShanah 32b:
[6]
[6]GEMARA. To what do these ten
kingship verses correspond? — R. Levi said, To the ten praises that David
uttered in the book of Psalms. But there are a large number of praises there? —
It means, those among which occurs, Praise him with the blowing of the shofar.
R. Joseph said: To the ten commandments that were spoken to Moses on Sinai. R.
Johanan said: To the ten Utterances by means of which the world was created.
Which are they? The phrase ‘and he said’ occurs in the account of the creation
only nine times? — The words ‘in the beginning’ are also an utterance, as it is
written, By the word of the Lord the heavens were made.
[7] Ibid.
[8]Psalms 21:3:
[8]ג תַּאֲוַת לִבּוֹ,
נָתַתָּה לּוֹ; וַאֲרֶשֶׁת שְׂפָתָיו, בַּל-מָנַעְת
[8]3 Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and the request of
his lips Thou hast not withholden. Selah
[8]
[9] Numbers Rabbah 15:4--”Another
exposition of the expression, WHEN THOU LIGHTEST. You find that Moses
experienced more difficulty in understanding the construction of the
candlestick than he did in that of all the other vessels of the Tabernacle,
until the Holy One, blessed be He, showed it to him with His finger. “
[10] Zohar I:74a--
[10]And the house in its being built,
was built of stone made ready at the quarry; and there was neither hammer nor
axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house in its being built (I Kings VI, 7).
He said: The phrase “in its being built” (behibbonotho) implies self-building,
as though without the hands of artisans. Were not, then, Solomon with all his
workpeople engaged in the work of building? It was here as with the
candlestick, in regard to which we read, “And thou shalt make... of beaten work
will the candlestick be made” (Ex. XXV, 31). If the candlestick was to be made
of itself, why say “thou shalt make it”? In reality it was made of itself, by a
miracle. So soon as the artisans set their hands to the work, it showed them
how to proceed in a manner quite novel to them, the reason being that the
blessing of the Almighty rested on their hands; and similarly here, in the
building of the Sanctuary. It was built of its own accord, though seemingly by
the hands of the labourers; it showed the workers a design which guided their
hands and from which they did not turn their eyes until the whole building of
the house was completed.
[10]
[10]Shabbat 22b:
[10]R. Shesheth objected: Without the
vail of testimony ... shall [Aaron] order it: does He then require its light:
surely, during the entire forty years that the Israelites travelled in the
wilderness they travelled only by His light! But it is a testimony to mankind7
that the Divine Presence rests in Israel. What is the testimony? — Said Rab:
That was the western branch [of the candelabrum ] in which the same quantity of
oil was poured as into the rest, and yet he kindled [the others] from it and
ended therewith.
[11] “Vayomer” being words relating to
thought see Zohar II:17a.
what do you think the clear clear olive oil that you you bring represents?
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