"You shall make a menorah of pure gold, it shall be miksha-beaten out…" (24: 31).
The continuation of the verse is difficult. The Hebrew reads "te-ase," in the nifal form, and should be translated [according to Rashi] 'it shall be made on its own.' In the midrash this indicates that Moshe didn't know how the menorah was to be made. Hashem said to him "throw the gold into the fire, and it will be made on its own!" That is why the passive form of the verb is used.
Rashi mentions the same problem in his comment to verse 40 [below].
"See and construct according to the form that you are shown on the mountain"
The problems that Moshe had with the building of the menorah were willed by G-d and therefore necessary for the proper building of that vessel. Hashem made a demand of Moshe that Moshe couldn't possibly fulfill. Moshe realized that it was impossible to have the Menorah beaten out by an artisan: the making of the menorah required some kind of Divine intervention.
"Shlomo made all the furnishings for Hashem's temple: the altar of gold... the lamp stands, five on the right and five on the left…" (Melachim I, 7: 48).
In this case, there is no hint of difficulty in making the extra candelabrum. Shlomo does not mention that he needed direction from Hashem to construct the new lamps. In fact, he had no difficulty making ten new ones!
This matter is also mentioned elsewhere: "He made golden candelabrum, ten of them…" (Divrei Hayamim II, 4: 7). Rashi explains that five were place to the right of the Menorah of Moshe and five others to the left.
The gemara relates (Shekalim 18a) that only the Menorah of Moshe was actually lit. The others were purely decorative!
Moshe had to build the first Menorah. Shlomo had the Menorah built by Moshe to use. As a result, Shlomo was more easily able to build the additional menorahs. In other words, it was not the process of construction that Moshe found to be so difficult; he certainly could have done as Hashem directed him to do. However, there was some other aspect of the Menorah that he felt he would not be able to construct and turned to Hashem for help. Shlomo apparently did not have to build this Menorah, the special one, but only built copies, and that is why he was able to build ten separate ones without difficulty.
"You shall bring the shulchan and arrange it and bring the menorah and light its lamps" (40: 4).
The menorah was different that the other vessels. It did not have a particular function in the Temple and did not serve the priests when they brought the sacrifices. In fact, the sacrifices were all brought in the temple during the day, and the menorah was lit only at night. In fact, the menorah was lit only when the Temple was empty and not a place of sacrifice. Apparently, the menorah had a different purpose. The lights of the Menorah represented the potential of wisdom available to us through the Torah. The light was a mashal for this wisdom, bursting forth from the "holy place" to enhance the entire Jewish people.
Moshe represented the greatest achievement in wisdom of all time. He was the one who studied the Torah as a student of Hashem's in heaven, and was the wisest man of all. So Hashem turned to Moshe and said that the Menorah was special and only he could make it. The Menorah was to be a source of wisdom, literally, which would be fashioned by Moshe himself, the wisest of men. It would not be made of sections, which might indicate that wisdom was divisible but would be beaten from a single piece of gold by the wisdom of Moshe our teacher.
The Hebrew word te-ase is spelled tav, yod, eyin, sin, heh, and this is considered a full spelling. The yod second letter being optional (either spelling is "correct")!
Ibn Ezra makes an interesting comment. "In the carefully written Torah scrolls from Spain, France and across the sea, the yod is missing from this word. On the other hand, I have seen texts which were checked by the wise men of Teveria and they all agreed that the yod in this word is properly placed. And some have learned that the yod has special significance in the derash of the verse, as follows. The yod which has the numerical value of "ten" is alluding to the ten candelabrum that king Shlomo would make for the permanent Temple.
The implication is that when Moshe made the Menorah in the desert he included the ten that Shlomo would eventually make and since the first was made miraculously, with G-d's help, there was no need to request special assistance in making the other ones for the Temple.
Gut Shabbos, Chaim Brovender
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