(כ ,יט ‘כז) תצוה ואתה ...נחשת החצר יתדות וכל
And all of the pegs of the courtyard were copper... and you shall command (21:6).
The Zera Shimshon says that the end of last week’s parsha’s connection to the beginning of this week’s parsha contains an interesting hint. The word נחשת stands for נ’ר ח’דש ש’קלים ת’ראה, You will understand נר חדש שקלים because of ואתה תצוה.
The Zera Shimshon explains this cryptic hint as follows. These three mitzvos are the three mitzvos that Moshe Rabbeinu had trouble understanding. נר refers to the Menora, which Moshe Rabbeinu had trouble figuring out how to model. חדש was the New Moon, which Moshe Rabbeinu also had trouble understanding. As for שקלים, Moshe Rabbeinu had difficulty in understanding the concept of the half shekel that the Jewish people were to give in order to count them, as opposed to a whole shekel.
The Zera Shimshon asks: Moshe Rabbeinu was commanded many much more difficult to comprehend commandments. What was so difficult in these three seemingly simple mitzvos that Moshe Rabbeinu could not understand them?
The Zera Shimshon explains that when Hashem commanded Moshe Rabbeinu the mitzvah of the new month, the reason why Moshe Rabbeinu did not understand it was as follows. The way Hashem told the mitzvah to Moshe Rabbeinu implied that the moon would renew itself. The cycle of the moon and specifically, its becoming smaller, represents exile and hard times for the Jewish people (see Zohar Yisro 85a and Yalkut Divrei HaYamim 1082). Since Moshe Rabbeinu thought that he was going to enter Eretz Yisroel, and the Jews would not go into galus again, the whole idea of the moon cycle did not make sense to him.
Moshe Rabbeinu’s difficulty in understanding the making of the Menorah was because Shlomo HaMelech made ten menorahs in the Beis Hamikdash. The Shach explains that Shlomo HaMelech did this in order to weaken the power of the 70 nations (each of the ten menorahs was of seven branches). Moshe Rabbeinu could not understand why he was only commanded to make one menorah of seven branches and not ten menorahs to weaken the 70 nations. Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu to only make one menorah of seven branches because at that point, the Jews only needed to weaken the power of the seven nations in Eretz Yisroel. However, since Moshe Rabbeinu thought that he was going to enter Eretz Yisroel and end the power of the 70 nations over the Jewish people, he could not understand why Hashem had not commanded him to make ten menorahs to weaken the 70 nations.
With regard to shekalim, Moshe Rabbeinu could not understand why Hashem had commanded him to use a half a shekel as opposed to a whole one. The Shach says that the word שקל ni א”ת ב”ש has the numerical value of 26, the full name of Hashem. The Gemara (Eruvin 18b) says that from the day the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, the world is only worthy of using the first two letters of Hashem’s name. However, since Moshe Rabbeinu thought that he would enter Eretz Yisroel, and the Beis Hamikdash would never be destroyed, when Hashem told him to use a half a shekel, it was a hint that Hashem’s name would not be full. This was something that Moshe Rabbeinu at this point could not initially understand.
All this is hinted at by the wording of last week’s parsha entering into this week’s parsha, based on the Zera Shimshon’s hint: And all of the pegs of the courtyard were copper... and you shall command. The word נחשת, copper, stands for נ’ר ח’דש ש’קלים ת’ראה. We understand נר חדש שקלים because of ואתה תצוה. Since Moshe Rabbeinu would leave this world, as hinted at by the fact that he doesn’t appear in this parsha, he couldn’t understand these three mitzvos specifically, since he thought he would enter Eretz Yisroel, and each of these mitzvos had aspects that did not coincide with this understanding.
ZERA SHIMSHON
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