ואת המשכן תעשה עשר יריעות, "And you shall construct the Tabernacle out of ten strips of cloth, etc. This number is an allusion to the ten directives G'd used when creating the universe. The Torah wants to tell us that construction of the Tabernacle was as important to G'd as creation of the universe itself. Constructing the Tabernacle would also confer as much merit on the Israelites as if they had personally brought about the creation of the universe which was created by means of ten directives.

There are still other considerations behind the requirement to use such materials as twisted linen of specific colours, goats' hair, etc. It is not accidental that G'd commanded ten strips of cloth to be made of linen whereas He commanded eleven strips of cloth made of goats' hair (verse 7) to be constructed and to be placed on top of the ten inner strips of cloth. Also the commandment to join five each of the linen strips of cloth together to form one unit, or in the case of the strips of cloth made of goats' hair, to combine two units of five or six strips together, this too was not arbitrary. The reason for all this was that G'd thereby symbolically impressed the three basic letters of His Ineffable Name on these four sections of strips of cloth joined in units of 10+5+6. (י+ה+ו). G'd commanded that all of these strips of cloth be four cubits wide, regardless of whether they were made of linen or of goats' hair. The number four symbolises that G'd's name contains four letters. You will find that our sages in Shabbat 6 state that a minimum of 4 handbreadths square and ten handbreadths height is required to qualify as a private domain. This is an allusion to the four letters in the Ineffable Name of G'd adding up to the number 26. Similarly, 4 by 4 plus 10 adds up to 26, i.e י+ה+ו+ה. Seeing that the letter י is relatively holier than the other letters in G'd's name, the unit of ten strips of cloth made of linen formed the inner cover of the Tabernacle, being closest to (directly exposed to) the Holy Ark. The reason the strips had to be joined in units of five is an allusion to the thought that the first letter ה in G'd's name is always associated with the letter י. This is part of the mystique of the reading of the letter י. When you read (look at the spelling of) that letter as if it were a word, i.e. י־ו־ד, you are combining the י with the letters ו and ד, which between them make up the shape of the letter ה, although you actually read only a single letter. This is part of the mystical dimension חכמה and some of these mystical apects are alluded to in the details of the coverings of the Tabernacle. The first two letters of the word חכמה add up to 28, corresponding to the length of these various strips of cloth the Torah commands as coverings for the Tabernacle. The third letter of the word חכמה, i.e. the letter מ whose numerical value is 40, is represented by the width of 40 cubits which the two units of linen strips amount to when joined together width-wise. The fourth letter in the word חכמה, i.e. the letter ה, equals 5, which is represented by the fact that 5 such strips of cloth had to be sewn together into a unit. It also alludes to the five different kinds of kind deeds that derive from the emanation חכמה. Subsequently, G'd commanded the making of eleven strips of cloth out of goats' hair, their number (11) to complete the name of G'd, i.e. ו־ה. They were to be divided into units of five and six respectively to form an allusion to these two letters in the latter half of G'd's Ineffable Name. The combined width of these eleven strips of cloth of goats' hair, i.e. 44 cubits, are an allusion to the mystical dimension of the spelling of the Ineffable Name as words, i.e. יוד־הא־ואו־הא. When you spell the name in this fashion you obtain a total of 45. (We have already explained on Genesis 48,5 that a discrepancy of a single digit when working with numerical values is compensated for by either adding or subtracting the entire word as required in order to make up this digit, i.e. 44 plus or minus the word serving as basis of the gematria.

ועשית את הקרשים למשכן. "You shall construct the boards for the Tabernacle." The word למשכן indicates that only the coverings qualified for the term "Tabernacle," not the boards supporting the tent.

עצי שטים עומדים, "of acacia wood, standing up." Our sages in Yuma 72 say that they were standing up the way they grew. Apparently they derived this from the fact that the Torah did not write the word עומדים prior to the words "acacia wood" but afterwards. Alternatively, the word עומדים, "standing up" could have been written after the word למשכן. Had the Torah written the word in that order I would have considered it as part of the directive, i.e. that these boards were not to be used lying down. As it is, the word only describes the condition of the boards, i.e. that they were in the same position as when they still grew in the earth.

The moral-ethical significance of the word קרשים becomes evident if one transposes two letters of the word so that it reads קשרים, "forming connections." By means of these boards the celestial forces and the terrestrial forces were to unite. The need for them to be ten cubits high alludes to the number ten which is essential whenever matters of sanctity are at issue.

When the Torah requires that the width of these boards be one and a half cubits, this is an allusion to the way we celebrate the redemption from Egypt by eating both a whole מצה and a half מצה; the former symbolises freedom, the latter slavery. This is the mystical dimension of the letter ה and the letter ד. Passover reminds us of both our status as slaves and our new-found status as free men.

The total number of boards, i.e. 48, alludes to the mystical dimension of Isaiah 54,12: ושמתי כדכד שמשותיך, "I will make your "windows" [inlets for spiritual input from the celestial spheres, Ed.] of rubies." The word כדכד=48.

The mystical meaning of the sockets, i.e. אדנים, is self-explanatory by the fact that their very name alludes to G'd the Master. Perhaps we can best phrase this as "when The Master (G'd) is your foundation (read socket), then the Tabernacle has a chance to fulfil its purpose." The reason that these sockets number 100 is that the square root of 100 is ten, and we have already mentioned that the number 10 appears whenever spiritual values are involved. The number 100 is also the tenth in a graduated levels of "steps" in Kabbalistic literature.

והקמתה את המשכן, "And you shall erect the Tabernacle, etc." According to Rabbi Avraham ibn Ezra, Moses was to relay these instructions to the people described earlier as חכמי לב. Rabbi ibn Ezra considered the totality of the commandment to construct (and erect) the Tabernacle and concluded that just as all the directives which had been given to Moses in direct speech did not mean that Moses personally was to carry them out, so this commandment too was addressed to the people who were to perform the work of construction. I do not agree with Rabbi ibn Ezra's premise. All the directives given to Moses in direct speech meant that only he himself was to carry them out unless G'd repeated the instructions and said specifically that others should execute the directive. In those instances the reason G'd addressed Moses himself in the first instance was that inasmuch as Moses would delegate the work he himself would receive credit for it as if he himself had perfomed all the details personally. Although in our portion the directive about all the details of the building of the Tabernacle were addressed to Moses, the Torah repeats them in פרשת כי תשא when Betzalel, Oholiov, and all the חכמי לב, men of understanding heart, were put in charge of supervising the execution of all these plans. In 31,6 the Torah specifically charges these people with carrying out "all that I have commanded you (Moses)." This is the Torah's way of making clear that Moses personally was not involved in the construction of any of these parts. Seeing that G'd's instructions to Moses to erect the Tabernacle were not repeated, however, means that only he himself was charged with that task. In fact it was Moses who personally erected the Tabernacle as we know from 40,18 where the Torah reports Moses as personally erecting the Tabernacle. This is what our sages say in Shemot Rabbah 52. Any other interpretation is to be disregarded.

ונתתה את הפרכת…והבאת שמה מבית לפרכת, "You shall hang up the curtain…and bring it within the curtain, etc." This appears to teach that the dividing curtain was to be hung prior to the Holy Ark being brought inside the Holy of Holies. In 40,3 G'd said to Moses: "You shall place the ark of testimony there and you shall cover the ark with the curtain." This appears to mean that the ark was already inside the Holy of Holies when the curtain would separate it from the Sanctuary proper. Moses also appears to have acted in accordance with the instructions in chapter 40 seeing that we read in 40,20: "And he took and put the testimony in the ark and set the staves on the ark and put the ark cover above, upon the ark."

Apparently we must resolve this contradiction by understanding our verse here as meaning that the curtain should be completed before the ark was to be placed inside the Holy of Holies. The curtain was not to be hung, however, before Moses had placed the ark of testimony inside the square provided for the Holy of Holies. In our verse no mention is made at all of the ark being introduced into the Holy of Holies. Our verse deals only with the eventual function of the dividing curtain, namely to separate the Sanctuary from the Holy of Holies. This is why there was no need to speak about the order in which these furnishings were arranged inside the Tabernacle.