The Rectification of Aaron
“And Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood.” The word “the ark” (הארן), is spelled here without the letter vav, and thus can be permuted to spell Aaron (אהרן). The ark, the most sacred vessel in the entire Tabernacle, and subsequently the Temple, provides a rectification for Aaron who made the Golden Calf. He did not make it intentionally, but that’s how it turned out, yet the Torah explicitly states, “the calf that Aaron made.”
After the sin of the Golden Calf, one needed to pray for Aaron – Moses our teacher prayed fervently to atone for him (and it worked only partially). Everything is related to Aaron and is rectified in the Ark.
The first words of the portion, “And Moses gathered,” are a rectification for “the people gathered against Aaron.” Is there another instance of this word, “gathered” (ויקהל) in the Torah? There is one more: “Korach gathered all the congregation against them” (ויקהל עליהם קרח את כל העדה). This is the dispute Korach and his assembly led against Moses and Aaron. This assembly is the exact opposite of the holy assembly.
Thus, there are three instances of “gathered” (ויקהל) in the Torah: the first with the vocalization meaning, “they [the people] gathered” (ויקהל) and then two times with the vocalization meaning, “he gathered” (ויקהל). The first time, the people themselves gathered against Aaron and demanded that he respond to their will, and so it happened. He descended to the people, with self-sacrifice.
Next, to rectify this, Moses also acted with self-sacrifice, gathered the people to correct the corruption. But then there is suddenly another downfall, the gathering of Korach and his assembly, which will only be rectified by the Mashiach.
At that time, even Korach will be rectified, as hinted to in the final letters of the phrase, “A tzaddik will flourish like a palm” (כצדיק כתמר יפרח). Then truly it will be revealed that, “the entire congregation are holy, and God is in them.” Korach wanted to reveal that every Jew is like Moses, and so it will be in the future. Korach is from the soul root of Cain and Moses is from the soul root of Abel. It is written that today the Torah is from Abel’s side of reality and in the future, the Torah will be from Cain’s side—that is the Torah of Korach in which, “all the congregation are holy,” openly.
The three who gathered the congregation are thus the people [who gathered round Aaron], Moses, and Korach. The sum of their names (העם משה קרח) is 768, or 3 times “Aaron” (אהרן), meaning that Aaron is their average, and all the gatherings ultimately mean to rectify Aaron’s sin with the Golden Calf.
Moses Covered in Awe
After Betzalel made the ark of acacia wood, it is written that, “he overlaid it with pure gold inside and out.” The ark itself is made of acacia wood and is overlaid with another ark made of gold inside and another ark made of gold outside.
Rabbi Chaim of Amdor says that plain gold represents supreme awe. Gold is not love, because love is silver, yearnings. “The superiority of gold over silver” refers to the superiority of awe over love. This type of awe is the awe of shame, the awe of Shabbat, the awe of the Holy of Holies. Gold includes both love and awe, as explained in Tanya regarding “the superiority of gold over silver.”
He further explains that the ark made of acacia wood—the essence of the ark in between the two golden arks—represents the body of Moses and it is seemingly hidden or covered with awe from both inside and out. That is, Moses has no self-awareness. He does not feel himself at all, he is not revealed. Moses, when he is above with God, and Moses, when he is below with the people, are all one. Indeed, Moses had no regard for himself. It says that “Moses went down from the mountain to the people” not spending a moment on the way on his own bodily needs. He has no self-awareness. This is the secret of the ark, the Holy of Holies.
Unification of Awe and Pleasure in the Ark
Gold also represents pleasure. On one hand, the world was not worthy of gold—it was created only for the purpose of the Temple. But gold also signifies the prophecy of Moses, our teacher. On the other hand, one who possesses a lot of gold takes pleasure in his gold. So, gold encompasses both awe and pleasure.
There is a clear allusion to this: the entire verse, “And he overlaid it with pure gold, inside and out, and made for it a gold crown all around” (ויצפהו זהב טהור מבית ומחוץ ויעש לו זר זהב סביב) has the exact same value as, “How beautiful and how pleasant is pleasurable love” (מה יפית ומה נעמת אהבה בתענוגים). Furthermore, the verse contains two expressions of gold, “pure gold” (זהב טהור) and “a gold crown around” (זר זהב סביב) whose sum is precisely the same as “pleasure” (תענוג).
Rabbi Chayim of Amdor does not write this explicitly, but following his reasoning, it stands to reason that the external gold arks primarily represent awe, and the internal acacia wood ark represents pleasure. Moses’ is in the middle, and he too is pleasure. But this is a pleasure that is not felt at all by the self.
