Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”LTo sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email itistaught@gmail.comThe Walls of the MishkanWhile Yaakov was in Egypt, he planted shittim (a variety of ceder) trees. On his deathbed, he told his sons that there would come a time when G-d would command the Israelites to build a Mishkan out of shittim wood in the desert so they should have this wood ready for this.Rabbi Shlomo bar Yehudah (AKA Rabbi Shlomo HaBavli, a holy poet who lived in the 10th century) wrote a verse about the wood used to build the mishkan being the same wood from the trees that Yaakov planted in his poem Or Yesha, recited in some communities on the first day of Pesach during the morning prayers. The verse in Hebrew reads, "טס מטע מזרזים קורות בתינו ארזים".At this point in the chumash is where G-d gives this command to the Israelites to build the beams of the Mishkan out of this shittim wood which should stand upright.Each beam was to be 10 amos high and 1.5 amos wide. This meant that the Mishkan was 10 amos tall, and since the north and south walls were made up of 20 beams each, the Mishkan was 30 amos long.Two tenons should be made in each beam. This was done by cutting out a section from the bottom of each beam. The cut should be 1 cubit deep and made from the center of the bottom of the beam, leaving 1/4 of the beam's width left on either side.Additionally, 40 hollow silver sockets were made, next to one another, each 1 cubit deep.The tenons were inserted into these sockets cutting the outer edges of the bottom of the beams so they would fit flat into the socket so the sockets (and thus the beams) could be flesh with one another.The southern and northern walls of the Mishkan were made up of 20 beams each, under which there would be 40 tenons and 40 sockets (i.e. 2 of each per beam).The western wall of the Mishkan (also called "end" or back of the Mishkan, with the east being the front) was made up of 6 beams, i.e. was 9 amos long.Additionally, there were 2 more beams placed on either end for the corners. Only 1/2 an amah of each of these beams were visible from the inside, making the interior of the western wall 10 amos long, while the exterior was 12 amos long, with the remaining 1 amah of each corner serving as part of the northern and southern walls.In addition to the tenons at the bottom, the top of each beam had two semi circular incisions for golden rings to be inserted into them to keep the beams touching one another. These rings may or may not have been removable - Rashi isn't sure.There were to be 5 poles made out of shittim wood passing through rings lengthwise along the outer northern, southern and western walls respectively.In actuality, there were only 3 such poles on each wall, placed equidistantly one atop the other (i.e. dividing the 10 cubit wall into 4 equal sections). However the top and bottom poles were made up of two pieces, one piece that extended from one end of the wall (passing through a ring there) to the middle (through another ring there), and the other from the middle to the other end (also passing through 2 rings), which is why the text describes them as being 5. The middle pole extended all the way from one end to the other without division.The middle pole did not pass through rings but rather the wall beams were drilled into it.Each of the upper and lower poles of the northern and southern walls were 15 cubits in length, making for 30 cubits in total in being placed one next to the other and the middle pole was 30 cubits in length.Each of the upper and lower poles of the western wall was 6 cubits in length, making for 12 cubits in total in being placed one next to the other. The middle pole of the western wall was 12 cubits long.Each ring was to have a mouth of gold on either side of it so that when the poles were put through it it gave them the appearance of being gold. The rings and poles were not visible on the inside of the mishkan.They are to assemble all of the parts of the Mishkan and then put it together all at once. Get full access to Sarede’s Substack at sarede.substack.com/subscribe
