OFFERING Part 3b The Tabernacle (Exo 26)

EXO 26
The Tabernacle
1 And the tabernacle you shall make with ten curtains consisting of twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet wool [four varieties in each thread, one of linen and three of wool and each thread twisted six times, giving a twenty-four-fold thread]. A cherubim design [figures interwoven on both sides] of the work of a master weaver you shall make them.

Rashi’s Commentary
Of twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet wool—Thus there were four different materials in every thread, one of linen and three of wool, each of the strands of which a thread was composed being sixfold. Consequently the four materials intertwined into one thread gave a twenty-four-fold thread (Baraita DeMelekhet HaMishkan ch. 2; Yoma 71b).

A cherubim design of the work of a master weaver—Cherubim were figured on them (on the curtains) in the process of weaving them, not afterwards by embroidery which is needlework—but by weaving it on its two surfaces, one design on one side, a different design on the other; e.g., a lion on one side and an eagle on the other side, just as the silken girdles are woven which are called in old French fesses (Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim 8:4; Yoma 72b).

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. JOH 1:14

3 Five of these curtains shall be joined [by sewing] to one another, and the other five curtains shall also be joined to one another.

Rashi’s Commentary
Shall be joined—They sewed them together with a needle, each five separately.

. . . that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. JOH 17:21

4 You shall make loops of blue material on the edge of the end curtain that is in the first set, and likewise you shall make them on the edge of the end curtain in the second set.

Rashi’s Commentary
לֻלָאֹת, lazoles in Old French, loops. Similarly Onkelos translates it by עִנוּבִין, which has the meaning of “looping.”

Curtain that is in the first set—i.e. the loops shall be made on the curtain that is the end in the set. The combination of five curtains is here termed חוֹבֶרֶת.

And likewise you shall make them on the edge of the end curtain in the second set—i.e. on that curtain that is the end—הַקִּצוֹנָה is connected in meaning with קָצֶה, end—it is as much as to say: “the end in the set.”

6 And you shall make fifty golden hooks, and you shall fasten the curtains to one another with the hooks [inserting one end of the hook into one loop, and the other end, into its corresponding loop]; so shall the tabernacle become one.

Rashi’s Commentary
Golden hooks—Fermels in old French. They put one end of them into the loops on one set and the other end into the loops on the other set, thus fastening the loops together by means of them.

. . . from whom the whole body, joined and held together by what every ligament supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. EPH 4:16

7 And then you shall make curtains of goat hair for the tent over the [lower curtains of the] tabernacle—eleven curtains shall you make them.

Rashi’s Commentary
Curtains of עִזִים—i.e. goat hair (cf. Rashi on Exo 25:4).

For the tent over the tabernacle—i.e. to spread them over the lower curtains (over those which had been already placed over the tabernacle).

You younger men, likewise, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.” 1PE 5:5

9 And you shall join five curtains by themselves and the other six curtains by themselves; and you shall fold [two cubits of] the sixth curtain [the “surplus” vis-à-vis the lower curtains] before the front of the tent [the screen on the east (as a bride’s face is veiled in modesty)].

Rashi’s Commentary
And you shall fold the sixth curtain which was additional in these upper curtains over and above the lower curtains.

Before the front of the tent; half of its breadth (two cubits) was hanging and folded over the screen which was on the east side before the entrance, whereby the tabernacle gained the appearance of a modest bride who has her face covered by a veil.

12 And the additional draping in the curtains of the tent, half of the additional curtain [i.e., two cubits] shall hang over the rear [the west] of the tabernacle.

Rashi’s Commentary
The rear of the tabernacle—This means the west side, because the entrance was on the east side which was therefore its front. The north and the south are accordingly called the “sides” in the right and the left directions.

13 And the cubit from here and the cubit from there of the excess [of the length of the lower curtains] in the length of the curtains of the tent will hang over the sides [north and south] of the tabernacle [curtains] to cover it [for purposes of adornment].

Rashi’s Commentary
And the cubit from here and the cubit from there—i.e. on the north and on the south.

Of the excess in the length of the curtains of the tent—i.e., which were in excess over the curtains of “the tabernacle” by two cubits.

Will hang over the sides of the tabernacle—On the north and on the south as I have explained above. The law here teaches you a rule of life—that a man should take care of his artistic objects (this the law does by commanding that the beautiful lower curtains should be protected by coarse upper ones) (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 422).

14 You shall make a covering for the tent [the roofing of goat hair] of ram skins dyed red, and a covering of porpoise skins above.

Rashi’s Commentary
A covering for the tent—For that roofing of goat hair (which is termed tent in this section) make still another covering of ram skins dyed red, and above this also a covering of porpoise skins. These uppermost coverings however covered the roof only (were not hanging over the sides), their length being 30 cubits and their width 10. This is the opinion of R. Nehemiah, but according to R. Judah, there was only one cover, half of it being of ram skins dyed red and half of it of porpoise skins (cf. Shabbat 28a).

This work, “OFFERING Part 3b The Tabernacle (Exo 26),” is a derivative of:
[“Pentateuch with Rashi's Commentary on Exodus”] (https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Exodus?lang=bi) by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, used under Public Domain.

[“The Rashi Chumash on Exodus 26”] (https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.26?ven=The_Rashi_chumash_by_Rabbi_Shraga_Silverstein&lang=en&aliyot=0) by [Rabbi Shraga Silverstein,] (https://www.sefaria.org/shraga-silverstein) used under [CC BY 3.0.] (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

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