The passuk describes Betzalel as filled with chachma, t’vuna, da’as to build the mishkan. This is a very interesting skill set. Did we need all these for the building? Does it make him a better craftsman? What is the role of all three?
We know Betzalel had some gevaldikeh insight, because Chazal say he corrected Moshe. Moshe thought the order should be the keilim first and then the mishkan, and Betzalel corrected him with the opposite order, and when Moshe heard Betzalel’s mehalech he said “Bezeil keil Hayisa.” So, apparently, he knows something that Moshe didn’t know.
The Gra is bothered by the obvious question – was Betzalel on a greater level than Moshe? The Gra explains that Betzalel was not on a higher darga, Moshe was seeing correctly what the order should be from a higher perspective, and Betzalel was seeing the same thing from the opposite angel. And the Gra gives a mashal of a chosem, a seal that creates a stamp when pressed down into wax. The impression in the stamp on the bottom, is the opposite of what the tzura is in the chosem from above . Moshe was right from the higher perspective. But Betzalel had the da’as to see how it should look from this world. Wow, such gevaldikeh da’as! Is this really impressive? He was able to see it from another angle, which is important, but it doesn’t seem like anything complicated. Is understanding the inverse relationship between a chosem and a stamp such a statement of da’as?
Furthermore, Chazal don’t seem to say Betzalel’s skill set was his building prowess. Chazal in the midrash give a mashal to a worksmith who blows on coals and can bring out the fire within the coals. And the nimshal is that Klal Yisroel created the Eigel with eish, and Betzalel came and fixed it with the eish of the Mishkan. The midrash is not clear – I can understand how the Mishkan is a kapparah for the Eigel, but the midrash sounds like coals of the eigel had a fire in it, and Betzalel is bringing out that fire for the mishkan? What does that even mean? And how is even permissible? What ever happened to “ein kateigor na’aseh saneigor?”
The Meshech Chochma is m’dayek in the passuk, that the yichus goes all the way to Yehuda. Why? So he says, because Yehuda is the progenitor of mesiras nefesh – as we know Nachshon, from shevet Yehuda, jumped into the Yam suf, and Chur, also from Shevet Yehuda, tried to stop klal Yisroel by the egel and was killed for it. So, the Meshech Chochma sees a link between Mesiras Nefesh and the building of the mishkan. What shaychus? So, he explains that Mesiras nefesh requires an abdication of da’as – a person’s da’as will actually prevent them from being moser nefesh, like the Yaavetz points out, that the Spanish Philosophers weren’t moser nefesh in the inquisition because their da’as prevented them. Since b’nei Yehuda were moser nefesh by abdicating their da’as, HKBH gave Betzalel a reward of da’as. If I’m hearing the Meshech Chochma correctly, he’s suggesting that the da’as that will be on display in the Mishkan is a form of mesiras da’as, meaning a hafka’a of a person’s regular da’as. This is noteworthy, and I want to see where we see this hafka’as da’as in the Mishkan.
There are two passukim in Misheli that lists the middos HKBH used in creating the world:1
{יט} יְהוָה בְּחָכְמָה יָסַד אָרֶץ כּוֹנֵן שָׁמַיִם בִּתְבוּנָה::
Mishlei 3:19
Hashem used Chachma to make Aretz, the bedrock. He propped up Shomayim with tvuna. That’s the end of the first passuk.
The next passuk says: {כ} בְּדַעְתּוֹ תְּהוֹמוֹת נִבְקָעוּ וּשְׁחָקִים יִרְעֲפוּ טָל
Mishlei 3:20
With da’as He cracked open the tehom – the depths of the Aretz, and caused the shomayim to drip Tal.
It’s interesting that da’as is separated from Chochma & T’vuna. We would’ve thought HKBH created the world with Chochma, T’vuna and Da’as – all three. But the passuk seems to say that the world was created with the first two. Chochma created Aretz, and T’vuna created Shomayim. After Aretz & Shomayim were created, then da’as draws out the depths of the Aretz and causes Shomayim to drip. Let’s explain this relationship.
Chochma is our first contact with ma’aseh Hashem. There’s a revealed world, which we can see not just with our eyes, but with our understanding. We can detect there are laws of math and physics. Everything is governed by some type of law which we can detect and understand.
The Next darga is t’vuna. It’s detecting a world beyond ours – the world of Shomayim. The Shomayim hovers above the Aretz. Se’uh shomayim eineichem. When we look up to the Shomayim, we don’t readily see anything but we can detect a higher calling. Tov & Ra are from Shomayim. Shomayim represents a second set of laws that we wouldn’t obviously see, if not for the t’vuna which enables us to detect it.
These appear as two separate worlds. Shomayim & Aretz. But the emes is, that’s not true at all. HKBH b’da’ato penetrated the tehom, and dripped Shomayim into it. B’emes Aretz has within it the tochen of Shomayim. If you delve into the depths of Aretz, you’ll see Shomayim in it.
Without da’as we’d see them as two separate entities. We would say “you can have tov in Aretz, but the real tov is in Shomayim” and that causes a person to detach from Aretz in an attempt to reach shomayim. But b’emes, with da’as you can reach Shomayim thru the Aretz.
L’mashal, Chazal say without Torah, we could’ve learned zrizus from an ant, or tznius from a cat, and so on. This means that Torah is not a different world that hovers on top of this world. And it also means that the physics and governing laws of this world are not just self-contained laws that have no shaychus to shomayim. But, aderaba, thru the world of Aretz we can gain a shaychus to Shomayim. True da’as understands that the tochen of Shomayim is within the world!2
Chazal say, that Moshe was mat’mi’a – How can HKBH be shoreh shchina in such a small, limted makom? Hein HaShomayim u’shmei Hashomayim lo y’chalkelucha. How can HKBH be contained within any measure? HKBH answered that within the measure there’s a tehom, and the tehom has no sof. Meaning, HKBH said it’s a fair question. The Bayis with it’s middos can’t contain HBKH. But if there’s da’as, you can be boke’ya into the endless tehom.
It’s like the story of Elisha who was able to bring out the endless oil from the jug. If you look at the jug, you’d say there’s only an amount of oil that fits the measure of the jog. Elisha was megaleh that the content is not limited to the middah of the jug, because there’s a tehom within it.
Let’s go back to the Gra’s mashal of the stamp of the chosem. There’s a gevaldikah omek to the mashal. A chosem has protrusions and sunken spots. The protrusions – meaning the peak, the high point of the chosem is depth of the stamp. Meaning the highest point of Shomayim gets driven into the omek, the depths of this world. You can detect the height in the depths.
We mentioned the Chazal that Klal Yisroel sinned with the eish that brought out the eigel, and Betzalel was mesaken it with the mishkan, like a smith who blows the coals. And we wondered what does one have to do with the other? The teretz is on the surface, the furthest thing from HKBH is Avoda Zara. L’chorah there’s no makom, there’s no hint of E-lokus in Avodah Zara. And that’s correct on the surface. But Betzalal was able to be yored into the tehom, and b’da’ato he can detect an eish Kodesh that was present even within the ma’aseh ha’egel. It’s an incredible omek – we know Ein kateigor naaseh sanegor, you can’t bring any hint of averia into the mishkan. So why is the fire of the eigel allowed in the mishkan? The answer is that had the fire been a shtik avodah zara, then ein Hachi nami, it would have no makom in the Mishkan. But Betzalel saw that in the omek of the fire, there was a Kodesh kadashim within it!
We mentioned the middah of mesiras nefesh in the binyan hamishkan. If you think about it, how’s it shayich to be moser nefesh? Everything has a drive of self preservation. It’s one of the strongest drives in the world. People can’t contemplate their non-existence. So how do they let themselves go with mesiras nefesh? The teretz is Mesiras nefesh requires da’as of the person’s tehom. You’re right – if all I am is my limited frame, it’s impossible for me to let that go. But with da’as you can see that there’s more to me than my guf. Da’as helps me realize that even if you break the guf, even if you are boke’ya the Aretz, there’s a tehom within the guf that goes beyond the guf. Without that his’galus, it would be impossible to be moser nefesh. A person needs to daher the omek in himself!
The Mishkan is obviously the high point of klal yisorel b’chalal. But it’s related to our avodah b’frat in Yeshiva. On the surface, Yeshiva is needed to learn the mitzvos with their halachos, and very practical, tangible things. And yes, that is a chelek of Avodah in Yeshiva. But that’s a very shitchiyus understanding of our avodah. The avodah in our personal mishkan is to be boke’ya into the tehom. We need to develop a da’as that can crack the surface and find the ein sof within. You will never find the true shchina on the surface. To us, the ein sof lies davka in the tehom. The deeper in Torah you go, the more you will hear e-lokus. And not just deeper in Torah, but deeper in yourself. You have crack open yourself, introspect, study, understand your omek. HKBH doesn’t speak to us from Shomayim. He speaks to us from the tehom. Your tshuka should be for a da’as to hear the omek of your tehom. The Ein-sof is within, not without. With your da’as you are unlimited. That’s our connection to HKBH. That’s the tzel keil that we need to hone in our avodas Hashem.
Good Shabbos!