The Relationship between the Temple and the Sacrifices – Parashat Terumah

Article Contents

With God’s help

Faculty of Jewish Studies, Office of the Campus Rabbi

W E E K L Y S H E E T

From the Center for Basic Jewish Studies, Parashat Terumah, 5774

Helena and Paul Schulman Series, No. 1054

The Relationship between the Temple and the Sacrifices

Michael Abraham*

In our Torah portion, the Torah commands that the Tabernacle be built:

‘And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its vessels, so shall you make. And they shall make an ark of acacia wood…’ (Exod. 25:8-10).

Several enumerators of the commandments saw this command as a commandment for all generations to build a Temple, and not only a temporary command to build a Tabernacle in the wilderness. These remarks are based on a statement of Rabbi Judah in tractate Sanhedrin:

So would Rabbi Judah say: Israel was commanded with three commandments upon entering the Land: to appoint a king for themselves, to cut off the seed of Amalek, and to build for themselves the Temple. (Sanhedrin 20b).

Maimonides and his successors saw the source of the commandment in the verse before us:

The twentieth commandment is that we were commanded to build a house of worship. In it there shall be sacrifice and the perpetual burning of fire, and to it there shall be going and pilgrimage, and annual gathering, as will be explained. This is His statement, exalted be He: ‘And let them make Me a sanctuary.’ And the language of the Sifrei is: ‘Israel was commanded with three commandments at the time of their entry into the Land: to appoint for themselves a king, to build for themselves the Temple, and to cut off the seed of Amalek.’ It has thus been made clear that the building of the Temple is a commandment in itself. We have already explained that this general rule includes parts, and that the menorah, the table, the altar, and the rest are all parts of the sanctuary, and the whole is called ‘sanctuary,’ although the command regarding each and every part was specified separately.

Within his remarks, Maimonides determines that the construction of the Temple vessels should not be counted as a commandment in itself, since it is included in the commandment to build the Temple itself. He elaborates on this further in the twelfth principle, where he emphasizes that one should not count the component parts of an act among the acts we were commanded to perform, such as the stages of offering each sacrifice. At the beginning of his remarks there he also states that the construction of the Temple vessels should not be counted as separate commandments, and he proves this from the verses in our portion:

The twelfth principle is that it is not proper to count the parts of a task among the tasks concerning whose performance the command was given, each part separately. It is known that we are sometimes commanded concerning one act, and afterward Scripture begins to explain the manner of that act, clarifying the term it used and stating what it includes. If so, it is not proper to count every command that appears in that explanation as a separate commandment. Thus, His statement ‘And let them make Me a sanctuary’ is one positive commandment among the commandments: that we have a prepared house to which people may come, celebrate, and in which sacrifice will take place, and in which the gathering on the festivals will occur. Afterward it comes to describe its parts and how they are to be made. It is not proper to count everything about which it says ‘And you shall make’ and ‘And you shall make’ as a separate commandment. In precisely this way matters proceed with the sacrifices mentioned in Leviticus. For the one commandment is the general task described in each and every type of sacrifice.

He interprets the subsequent verses in our portion as a specification of the general commandment to build a Temple.

Nahmanides disagrees with him on this point in his glosses to Sefer HaMitzvot. In positive commandment 33, Maimonides counts a commandment for the priests to wear priestly garments during their service, whereas Nahmanides, in his glosses there, cites the position of Halakhot Gedolot, which does not count this as a commandment, because in its view wearing the garments is a preparation for the service and not a commandment in itself. Later in his remarks there Nahmanides writes:

It has already been explained (Principle 12) that one does not count parts of commandments. Therefore we do not count the making of the table, the menorah, and the altar as a commandment, because we were commanded to set the showbread continually before the Lord, and He commanded us concerning the preparation for this service, namely that it be placed on a table fashioned in such-and-such a way and arranged upon it in such-and-such a manner. He commanded us, blessed be He, concerning lighting the lamp before Him, and directed that this lighting be on a golden menorah of such-and-such weight and character. Thus they are sacred implements. The reason the master wrote there did not find favor in my eyes, namely that they are parts of the sanctuary (commandment 20), for the vessels are not parts of the building. Rather, they are two commandments, and they do not prevent one another, for sacrifices are offered in the House even if these vessels are not there.

At first glance, Nahmanides is simply repeating Maimonides’ view, according to which the construction of the vessels is not counted as separate commandments. But closer inspection reveals that he means something entirely different. In his view, true, one does not count the construction of the vessels as separate commandments, but not because they are included in the commandment of building the Temple. Rather, because they are included in the commandments of the service themselves. The construction of the table is part of the commandment of the showbread that must be placed upon it. On his approach, constructing the vessels is a preparation for a commandment, that is, the preparation of the means required for carrying out the commandment itself. He therefore adds at the end of the passage that Maimonides’ position, which sees the vessels as part of the House itself, does not find favor in his eyes. In his opinion, the vessels are not part of the House; rather, the House and the vessels are two commandments that do not even prevent one another.

At first glance, this dispute depends on one’s conception of the Temple’s role. Maimonides opens his remarks in commandment 20 with the following language: ‘that we were commanded to build a house of worship. In it there shall be sacrifice and the perpetual burning of fire’—that is, on his view, the purpose of the Temple is to be a ‘house of worship.’ In such a conception it is fairly clear that the Temple vessels are part of the building itself, since the entire purpose of the building is the use of the vessels. At the beginning of the passage from Principle 12 cited above, the wording is also very similar. But Nahmanides, in his commentary on our portion, writes:

And He said, ‘And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’ (Exod. 19:6); thus they are holy, fit that there should be among them a sanctuary in which He may cause His presence to dwell in their midst. Therefore He first commanded concerning the matter of the Tabernacle, that He should have a house among them, consecrated to His name, and there He would speak with Moses and command the children of Israel. The principal purpose of the Tabernacle is the place where the Divine Presence rests, namely the Ark, as He said (below, Exod. 25:22), ‘And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the cover.’ Therefore He mentioned here first the Ark and the cover, for it comes first in rank.

And the inner meaning of the Tabernacle is that the glory that rested upon Mount Sinai should rest upon it in hidden form. Just as it says there (above, Exod. 24:16), ‘And the glory of the Lord rested upon Mount Sinai,’ and it is written (Deut. 5:21), ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness,’ so it is written regarding the Tabernacle, ‘And the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle’ (below, Exod. 40:34). And regarding the Tabernacle it mentions twice, ‘And the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle,’ corresponding to ‘His glory and His greatness.’ And in the Tabernacle, the glory that appeared to them at Mount Sinai was always with Israel… Thus Scripture also says (Exod. 29:42-43), ‘where I will meet with you there, to speak to you there, and it shall be sanctified by My glory,’ for there will be the meeting place for speech, and it shall be sanctified by My glory.

One who looks carefully at the verses stated concerning the giving of the Torah at Sinai, and understands what we wrote about them (see below at verse 21), will understand the inner meaning of the Tabernacle and the Temple and will be able to contemplate it… And it is written (1 Kings 8:44-45), ‘and they shall pray to the Lord toward the city that You have chosen and the House that I have built for Your name, and hear in heaven’; and he stated explicitly, ‘But will God indeed dwell with man upon the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You’ (2 Chron. 6:18). And it is written concerning the Ark, ‘to bring up from there the Ark of God, over which the name, the name of the Lord of Hosts who sits enthroned upon the cherubim, is called’ (2 Sam. 6:2). And in Chronicles (1 Chron. 13:6), ‘to bring up from there the Ark of God, the Lord who sits enthroned upon the cherubim, whose name is called there,’ for the Name sits enthroned upon the cherubim.

From these words of Nahmanides, the conception emerges clearly that the purpose of the Tabernacle and the Temple is the indwelling of the Divine Presence among Israel on earth, and not, as Maimonides holds, that it is a ‘house of worship.’ According to Maimonides, the central element of the Temple is the altar, whereas according to Nahmanides the central element is the Ark, which in itself serves no sacrificial service or other commandment. The sacrifices are only one of the functions carried out in the Temple, and perhaps they also contribute to its being a place for the Divine Presence.

If so, it is now completely clear why Nahmanides thinks the vessels are not part of the House. The House is intended for the indwelling of the Divine Presence, and the vessels are intended for the service, and these two are commandments that do not prevent one another, for sacrifices are offered even when there is no House, whereas Maimonides sees the vessels as part of the House, since in his view the entire House is intended for the offering of sacrifices.

Of course, one may continue and ask what lies at the root of this dispute itself: why does Maimonides see the Temple as an instrument for offering sacrifices, whereas Nahmanides sees it as a means for the indwelling of the Divine Presence? Here we can only raise a conjecture without substantiating it: perhaps, for Maimonides, the man of Jewish law, the Divine Presence has no significance as a metaphysical entity, and in his eyes Jewish law deals only with practical obligations, that is, commandments. The late Yeshayahu Leibowitz, when discussing the sanctity of the Land of Israel, used to cite the language of the Mishnah (Mishnah Kelim 1:6): ‘And what is its sanctity? That from it they bring the omer, the first fruits, and the two loaves, something not brought from any of the other lands.’ He saw the sanctity of the land in terms of the commandments through which it is expressed. So too with the Temple: he holds that its sanctity concerns the commandments carried out there. But Nahmanides, who was steeped in the mystical tradition, sees metaphysical significance in the Temple and the Land of Israel themselves, beyond the commandments associated with them. But this is only a conjecture that requires separate clarification.

‘And let them make Me a sanctuary’… ‘so shall you make’

Yehudah Zoldan*

In the command concerning the construction of the Tabernacle it is said: ‘And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its vessels, so shall you make’ (Exod. 25:8-9).1

What is the meaning of the repetition, ‘And let them make Me a sanctuary… so shall you make’? Rashi explained:2

‘According to all that I show you’—here, the pattern of the Tabernacle. This verse is connected to the verse immediately above it: ‘And let them make Me a sanctuary… according to all that I show you.’

‘So shall you make’—for future generations. If one of the vessels is lost, or when you make for Me vessels for the permanent Temple, such as the tables, menorot, basins, and stands that Solomon made, you shall make them in the pattern of these.

According to Rashi, the verse contains two instructions: the Tabernacle and its vessels must be built according to God’s command, and there is an additional instruction for the future, for generations. When the Temple is built in its permanent place, its vessels are to be made according to the same format as the Tabernacle’s vessels. And even if a particular vessel is broken or stolen, a new one must be made as it was. Nahmanides3 challenged these remarks of Rashi:

I do not know that this is true, that Solomon was obligated to make the vessels of the permanent House in the pattern of these. For Solomon made the bronze altar twenty cubits long and twenty wide (2 Chron. 4:1).

According to Nahmanides, the actions of King Solomon in building the First Temple prove the opposite: the bronze altar that Moses our teacher built was five cubits by five cubits,4 whereas the bronze altar that King Solomon built was twenty cubits by twenty cubits. One may point to additional changes in the Temple vessels as compared to the vessels of the Tabernacle: King Solomon built two large cherubim that stood on the floor of the Temple,5 he set up ten basins6 and built ten menorot.7 The returnees to Zion in the days of the Second Temple enlarged the dimensions of the altar that King Solomon had built8 and more.

Nahmanides interprets the verse in our portion differently from Rashi:

According to the plain sense, there is no need for all this. Rather, the repetition comes for reinforcement and exhortation. He said: ‘And let them make Me a sanctuary’—a house and vessels, like a king’s sanctuary and a royal palace (Amos 7:13). ‘And I will dwell among them’—in the house and on the throne of glory that they will make for Me there. ‘According to all that I show you, the pattern of this Tabernacle’ about which I said that I will dwell among them, ‘and the pattern of all its vessels.’ And the repetition ‘so shall you make’ means that all of you should do so with eagerness and diligence. It is like the repetition, ‘Thus did the children of Israel; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did they’ (Exod. 39:32), for because this is a command, He said, ‘so shall you make.’

The repetition of the words is solely for reinforcement and exhortation in the building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and nothing more.

‘So shall you make’—for future generations—according to what I show

Rabbi Moses Sofer (Hatam Sofer) also addressed these comments of Rashi and Nahmanides and offered his own explanation. Thus he wrote to his father-in-law, Rabbi Akiva Eger:

It appeared to me that this is the meaning of the verse: ‘According to all that I show you, the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its vessels, so shall you make’ (Exod. 25:9)… In my humble opinion, this refers back to the beginning of the verse: ‘According to all that I show you’ now—so shall you do for future generations, according to what I show. With every building I will show how it is to be made, this one different from that one. If so, the Holy One, blessed be He, testified from the outset that He would grant understanding in writing by His hand to His prophets, and there is nothing here that His prophets innovated contrary to the law of the Torah.9

In his remarks, the Hatam Sofer alludes to the verse ‘All this in writing, from the hand of the Lord, He gave me understanding of all the works of the pattern,’10 which King David says to his son Solomon after describing to him the structure of the Temple and its vessels and all that he had prepared for the building of the House. The message to King Solomon is that the entire building plan was transmitted to him from God, and in writing.

A rabbinic midrash describes the transmission of a scroll that passed from generation to generation, in which it was stated how each Temple, and apparently also its vessels, was to appear:

‘Now therefore stand still, that I may contend with you’ (1 Sam. 12:7). Rabbi Jeremiah said in the name of Rabbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac: The scroll of the Temple, which the Holy One, blessed be He, transmitted to Moses, was given while standing. This is as it is written: ‘But as for you, stand here with Me’ (Deut. 5:28).

Moses stood and transmitted it to Joshua—while standing; this is as it is written, ‘Call Joshua and present yourselves’ (Deut. 31:14).

Joshua stood and transmitted it to the elders—while standing; this is as it is written, ‘And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem… and they stood before God’ (Josh. 24:1).

The elders stood and transmitted it to the prophets—while standing; this is as it is written: ‘Now therefore stand still, that I may contend with you’ (1 Sam. 12:7).

The prophets stood and transmitted it to David—while standing, but there is no verse for this [that is, there is no proof of this from a verse]

David stood and transmitted it to Solomon his son—while standing: ‘But You, O Lord, be gracious to me and raise me up, that I may repay them’ (Ps. 41:11).

‘All this in writing, from the hand of the Lord, He gave me understanding’: ‘all this in writing’ teaches that it was transmitted by tradition. ‘He gave me understanding’ teaches that it was given through divine inspiration.11

A different homily on this verse teaches that it is also possible to interpret and probe what is written in that scroll, and to alter the structure:

Rabbi Jeremiah said in the name of Rabbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac: The scroll that Samuel transmitted to David was given to be expounded. What is the reason? ‘All this in writing’—this is the tradition. ‘From the hand of the Lord’—this is divine inspiration. ‘He gave me understanding’—from here that it was given to be expounded.12

The words of the midrash call to mind the Mishnah that opens Avot concerning the transmission of the Torah from Moses through the elders and the prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. But in the midrash the subject is the transmission of the Temple’s structure, together with the possibility of changes and adaptations as needed. The Torah’s command, ‘so shall you make,’ for future generations requires consideration and deep insight into the need to change and adapt the structure of the House to the condition and reality obtaining each time. The Second Temple was different from the First, and the area of the altar was enlarged because of the unique needs of the period.13

The First and Second Temples differ from the Tabernacle, and there are also differences between the Temples themselves. Maimonides wrote:

The building that Solomon built is already explained in Kings, and likewise the building that will be built in the future, although it is written in Ezekiel, is not explicit and clear. When the builders of the Second Temple built in the days of Ezra, they built it like Solomon’s building, and according to some of the matters explained in Ezekiel.14

According to Rabbi Yom Tov Lipmann Heller, the structure of the Third Temple is written in the book of Ezekiel, but there is great difficulty in understanding the text. In the future, the builders will be helped by what is known concerning the structure of the Second Temple, and they will gain understanding in interpreting the verses in Ezekiel:

So too, when we merit to build the future building, the Holy One, blessed be He, will open our eyes, and the earth will be full of knowledge of the Lord, and we will understand what is obscure in the words of Ezekiel and build it. Nevertheless, the account of the Second Temple is necessary, for most and the main elements of the building are founded on God’s plan, which He gave David understanding of, and it will not be moved. Rather, what God, blessed be He, will grant us to expound further from the verses will be joined to this, such that through this account of the Second Temple we will be able to understand and expound the building in Ezekiel. Were this account not written in a book, we would have no way of orienting ourselves regarding that future building, which will be built speedily in our days.15

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