Torah Reading for Terumah

i.e., the branches extended from the two sides of the sphere itself in both directions. Thus we have learned in Melechet HaMishkan: 2 The Candelabrum was 18 handbreadths tall: the legs and the adjoining flower were three handbreadths tall – i.e., the flower mentioned with the base, as it says: 3 “from its base to its flower”; above that were two handbreadths of smooth space; then one handbreadth containing one goblet of the four goblets, and one sphere and one flower of the two spheres and two flowers mentioned regarding the main stem of the Candelabrum, as it says: “its spheres and flowers – engraved,” 4 from which we learn that the stem contained two spheres and two flowers besides the three spheres from which the branches extended, as it says here: “a sphere below the two branches…”; then two handbreadths of smooth space; then one handbreadth containing a sphere, with two branches extending from it in both directions, rising up to the level of the height of the Candelabrum; one handbreadth of smooth space; another handbreadth containing a sphere with two branches extending from it; one handbreadth of smooth space; another handbreadth containing a sphere with two branches extending from it, rising up to the level of the height of the Candelabrum; then two handbreadths of smooth space – leaving the three top handbreadths, containing three goblets, a sphere, and a flower.

Thus there were 22 goblets: 18 for the six branches – three for each one – and four on the main stem of the Candelabrum, making 22 altogether; and 11 spheres: six on the six branches, three on the main stem of the Candelabrum from which the branches extended, and an additional two on the main stem of the Candelabrum, as it says: “its spheres – engraved,” the minimum of the plural form “spheres” being two – one below at the base, and the other in the top three handbreadths together with the three goblets.

And it had nine flowers: six for the six branches, as it says: “a sphere and a flower on one branch,” 5 and three for the main stem of the Candelabrum, as it says: “its spheres and its flowers – engraved,” the minimum of the plural form “flowers” being two, and another one stated in Parashat Beha’alotecha: “from its base to its flower.” And if you study this above-quoted mishnah carefully, you will indeed find all these components according to their number prescribed above, each in its proper place.

i.e., be careful to make the loops all exactly the same distance from one another, and that they measure the same on one tapestry as on the other, so that when you spread one set of tapestries next to the other, the loops at the edge of one tapestry will be exactly opposite the loops at the edge of the other; and this is the meaning of the term מַקְבִּילֹת: “opposite one another.” Similarly, the Aramaic translation of נֶגֶד “opposite” is לָקֳבֵל.

The tapestries were 28 cubits long and four wide, so when five tapestries were attached together, their width totaled 20 cubits; and the same with the second set. The Tabernacle was 30 cubits long from east to west, as it says: “20 planks for the southern side,” 8 and similarly to the north, and each plank was one-and-a-half cubits wide, making 30 cubits from east to west. The width of the Tabernacle from north to south was ten cubits, as it says: “For the back of the Tabernacle, to the west, you must make six planks, and you must make two planks for the corners,” 9 making ten cubits, and I will explain these verses in their place. When placing the length of the tapestries across the width of the Tabernacle, the middle ten cubits served as the roof over the space of the width of the Tabernacle, and another cubit on each side for covering the width of the top of the planks, which were each one cubit thick. There thus remained 16 cubits, eight on the north side and eight on the south, covering most of the height of the planks, which were ten cubits high, with the two lower cubits thus remaining uncovered.

The width of the tapestries was 40 cubits when joined, 20 cubits for each set. Thirty of them served as the roof over the space of the length of the Tabernacle, another cubit was above the width of the tops of the planks on the west side, and another cubit was to cover the width of the pillars on the east side, for there were no planks on the east side, but four {five} pillars where the Screen was spread, hanging on hooks there in the form of a curtain. There thus remained eight cubits hanging down over the back of the Tabernacle on the west side, with the lower two cubits remaining uncovered. This I found in Baraita d’Arba’im VeTesha Midot. However, in Tractate Shabbat 10 it states that the tapestries did not cover the thickness of the pillars on the east side, and nine cubits hung down over the back of the Tabernacle; and the following verse supports this opinion: “You must position the Curtain under the clasps that couple the two sets of tapestries,” 11 and if it were as stated in the above baraita, it emerges that the Curtain was one cubit further west than the clasps.