RABEINU BACHAYEI
“They made the tunics of linen and the turban of linen, and the splendid headdresses of linen and the linen breeches of twisted linen.” Shmos 39,27
These two verses contain the word שש meaning linen, five times, and the word בד which also means linen once, making a total of six times that the material “linen” is repeated here. Whereas the word did have to be mentioned once, the other five times it has been mentioned are meant to convey additional information, allegorical or otherwise.
The sages in Yuma 71 offer a number of additional insights based on the repetitions of these words. One of the insights they offered is that בד and שש both mean “linen,” seeing that the tunic had been described as made of בד in Leviticus 16,4. The expression בד for linen describes the manner in which flax (the raw material for linen) grows out of the ground in long strands, fibers. This plant is identical to the one known as פשתים. The reason the Torah refers to it as שש (i.e. ”six”) is because the strands used to weave it consist of six threads spun together. Had the word occurred only one extra time, we would have thought that though it is preferable that these strands consist of six threads each, this is not mandatory. The repetition of the word another time means that this kind of six-fold strand is mandatory.
“The Tabernacle was erected.” Shmos 40,17
Bamidbar Rabbah 14 states that another Tabernacle was erected at the same time as the Tabernacle Betzalel had constructed. This is a reference to the “Tabernacle” of the נער, the angel Mattatron, whose task it is to act as “general manager” of the Lord, running the universe, and particularly earth, on His behalf. The name of this angel is the same as that of his Master. Thus far the Midrash.
We find further remarks about this subject in Bamidbar Rabbah 12,12 on the verse (Numbers 7,1) ויהי ביום כלות משה להקים את המשכן, “it was on the day when Moses completed erecting the Tabernacle, etc.” The wording there is that at the time G’d told Moses to erect the Tabernacle, He told the angels to construct a similar structure in the celestial regions. Both were erected at one and the same time. We also read about this phenomenon in Chagigah 12 where the wording is a little different, the Talmud speaking about an altar in heaven paralleling the making of the altar on earth. On that altar the souls of the righteous would be “sacrificed” to the Lord by the archangel Michael to atone for the sins committed by the Israelites while they are in exile. All of this is based on the expression את המשכן in Numbers 7,1 instead of merely המשכן.
“Moses erected the Tabernacle, etc.” Shmos 40,18
Our sages in Menachot 99 taught that one increases or adds to levels of holiness and never decreases them. They derive the first half of their statement from the censers of the people who had supported the rebellion of Korach and offered incense in them. G’d commanded that theses censers of the 250 men who had paid with their lives for their mistake be subsequently used to make a copper cover for the main altar in the courtyard of the Tabernacle (compare Numbers 17,3). The rule that levels of sanctity are not to be reduced is derived from our verse here. The Torah writes the following sequence: “Moses erected the Tabernacle; he put down its sockets and emplaced its boards and inserted its bars and erected its pillars. The wording indicates that Moses repeated this procedure many times over; the Torah carefully refrains from mentioning that he “dismantled” any part of the Tabernacle in the process. Only actions which resulted in additional sanctity are spelled out.
