Rabbi Abraham Abulafia, the visionary and unconventional twelfth century Kabbalist, introduced a concept he called, “a whole and a half.” At its core, this concept is mathematical, stating that we find many things in the Torah that are related to one another like a whole to a half.
Many times, the two things can be categorized as masculine and feminine, with the whole representing the masculine and the half representing the feminine. Examples of a whole to a half relationship abound in Torah, with one of the strongest concentrations appearing in this week’s parashah of Terumah, which describes the construction of the mishkan, a portable Tabernacle. Many of the Tabernacle’s spatial dimensions are whole and half numbers, other dimensions have a ratio of a whole to a half between them. The following are a few examples in brief.
The acacia wood panels were one and a half cubits wide each. Each of the panels was supported underneath by two silver sockets; thus, the relationship of sockets to panels was 2 sockets to each panel—a 2:1 ratio, which is a whole to a half.
The Golden Altar, on which the incense was burned, was a cubit in length and a cubit in width and two cubits in height; thus, its height relative to its width and length was 2:1, another whole to a half relationship.
The courtyard surrounding the Tabernacle was one hundred cubits long by fifty cubits wide, again a ratio of 1:1/2.
Two sets of curtains, surrounding the inner sanctuary, each containing fifty loops, were connected by fifty golden loops. Thus, one hundred loops in the curtains were connected by fifty golden hooks, a ratio of 2:1.
The golden Table of Showbread, which held twelve loaves of bread, embodied a 2:1 ratio in terms of its length and width (two cubits in length and one cubit wide). Furthermore, its height was a cubit and a half. The twelve loaves were placed six on one side and six on the other; therefore, each side had half of the whole number of loaves.
The Holy Ark, which housed the two tablets of the law on which were engraved the Ten Commandments, was a cubit and a half in width, a cubit and a half in height, and its length was two and a half cubits. The Ark itself was made of three boxes—a box of acacia wood placed between two boxes of pure gold; thus, the two golden boxes surrounding an inner wooden box created a ratio of 2:1, a whole and a half. Two angel-like cherubim rested upon the Ark’s cover, another instance of a 2:1 ratio. The cover’s dimensions were two and a half cubits in length and a cubit and a half in width.
