Vayakhel/Pikudei: Tedious by Design
In this newsletter dvar Torah from 2012, we examine four answers offered by Ralbag to the most pressing question on both Vayakhel and Pekudei: Why all the needless repetition?
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Vayakhel/Pikudei: Tedious by Design
Vayakhel and Pikudei describe the construction of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and its keilim (vessels) in detail. These parshiyos contain virtually no new material that wasn’t covered in Terumah and Tetzaveh. Why did Hashem include such repetitious passages in His Torah? Ralbag (end of Shemos 40) offers four theories to explain this.
Ralbag’s first explanation is straightforward: perhaps the Jews at the time of the Giving of the Torah were accustomed to this style of writing, and that’s how Hashem dictated it to Moshe. To us it might seem strange for the Torah to describe the architecture and construction of the Mishkan in such painstaking detail, but to the generation of Jews that had just been liberated from Egyptian slavery, such an elaborate description would be enthralling and would only add to the Mishkan’s grandeur. This is an extension of the principle “dibra Torah ki’lshon bnei adam” (“the Torah speaks in the language of man”). We often forget that the Torah was given not just to “bnei adam” in abstract, but to a specific group of bnei adam who lived at a specific time in history.
His second explanation requires a preface. Every single letter of the Torah reflects Hashem’s infinite wisdom. That being said, there are a number of sections in Torah which are exceedingly short and concise yet are disproportionately rich in fundamental truths – more so than many of the longer passages in the Torah. For example, the first parshah of the Shema is only six pesukim long but contains the most foundational ideas in Torah. Likewise, “love your neighbor as yourself” is only a single phrase but expresses the core of Judaism.
Ralbag’s second theory is that the Torah included extensively detailed sections to stimulate in-depth analysis of these more fundamental, concise passages. Ralbag’s reasoning is that if the entire Torah were written in an equally concise manner, the reader might mistakenly conclude that these fundamental passages were written with brevity for purely stylistic reasons. Consequently, the reader would view these passages as being on par with the rest of the Torah and would underestimate their depth and profundity. Therefore, Hashem included long-winded portions of redundant material in the Torah so that when readers encounter these succinct passages (like Shema Yisrael), they will make sure to scrutinize them and mine them to uncover their full ideational content.
Ralbag’s third answer is built upon his understanding of the Mishkan as an allegorical model of the universe. Every aspect of the Mishkan symbolizes or alludes to a specific set of truths in physics and metaphysics. Accordingly, he suggests that the Torah repeats the entire architectural scheme of the Mishkan in Vayakhel/Pikudei in great detail to underscore the fact that every detail is essential to the allegorical “Mishkan curriculum.” Any modification to Mishkan would result in a loss or distortion of the truths it was designed to symbolic reflect.
Ralbag prefaces his fourth explanation by noting that the order of the Mishkan-components differs from Terumah/Tetzaveh to Vayakhel/Pikudei. According to Ralbag, Terumah/Tetzaveh follows the conceptual order of Mishkan, beginning with the keilim which reflect the most fundamental truths in the universe and progressing downwards in their existential hierarchy. Vayakhel/Pikudei, on the other hand, follows the practical order (i.e. the order in which the craftsmen built Mishkan). Thus, Ralbag’s fourth answer is that the Torah repeats the description of Mishkan to make us aware that there is a conceptual hierarchy to the components of Mishkan, and that understanding the sequencing of the descriptions in Terumah/Tetzaveh is the key to unlocking its secrets.
Whether or not we accept Ralbag’s answers, there is a valuable lesson in methodology we can learn from his endeavor: if something in Torah bothers us, we should formulate it as a question and investigate it. Complaining that “these parshiyos are boring!” only leads to frustration, whereas asking the mature question, “What function is served by this repetition?” will lead to greater insight and appreciation of the wisdom in Hashem’s Torah.
What do you think of the Ralbag’s answers? What other answers have you heard for this question?
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