Based on this explanation, some other perplexing issues in our parshah are resolved:
Regarding the tally of the donations to the Mishkan in our parshah, there is a discussion in many commentators, considering:
- (a) The Torah only tells us how silver and copper were used, not gold. (The Torah only records the total amount of gold used.)
- (b) Even regarding the silver, the sum is only of “the silver from those of the congregation who had been counted” — every person had to give “half a shekel” (as the contribution for the sockets). However, the Torah does not specify the quantity of silver contributed as part of the voluntary Mishkan offerings. (As Rashi explicitly says, the silver donations, in general, were used to manufacture the vessels.)
- (c) Aside from gold, silver, and copper, the Jewish people contributed ten more materials to the Mishkan offerings, as detailed in Scripture. Why does the verse not mention that Moshe gave the Jewish people an account of these donations?
- (d) Scripture says that the Jewish people brought offerings to the Mishkan until there was a “surplus” — they brought more than the amount needed. Why doesn’t the Torah provide a total of this “surplus”?
Regarding the last three questions, commentators explain: Moshe only gave an accounting of the most valuable materials, but not of the materials and details that were not as important and precious. (Along these lines, the total silver of the Mishkan donations was not a large number, and the “surplus” was not considered noteworthy.)
However, this explanation is inadequate: If the reason that “all the weights... are enumerated...” is because a charity trustee must report the accounts of the charity funds to avoid suspicion, etc., this should apply both when dealing with a large and a small quantity: Based on the principle, “You shall be clean before Hashem and before Israel,” a complete detailed account must be publicized, or at least, it should be rounded to the nearest shekel.
Thus, a difficulty emerges: How is it possible that Rashi does not address these questions? These questions arise based on pshat. In fact, some commentators resolve these questions, offering various solutions (each following his own approach).
However, based on the explanation provided above, there is no difficulty at the outset: By informing us of the accountings in our parshah, the Torah does not intend to say that Moshe transmitted a detailed accounting of all the donations to the Mishkan. Instead, the Torah informs us that Moshe, as the appointee over the Mishkan, conducted these counts to keep track of the donations. To inform us of this, the Torah only needed to provide an example — the totals of the primary offerings, “the silver, the gold, and the copper.”
Therefore, the fact that Moshe did not give the Jewish people a detailed accounting of the use of the gold also poses no difficulty. Moshe’s intention was not to detail what had been done with the donations and how they were used to avoid suspicion (the Torah details the uses of the donations merely incidentally). Instead, in Rashi’s nuanced words, “all the weights of the donations to the Mishkan are enumerated” — the totals of the weights appear in this parshah (“these are the pekudei”) — because this is the tafkid {role} of the appointee.
Therefore, there is no need to mention how the gold was used. Consequently, the Torah does not spell out the details — not even in passing, as it did with the other offerings.
