Shabbat Parashat Pekudei - 5784

Shabbat Parashat Pekudei - 5784

Rabbi Hal Miller

  These are the reckonings of the Mishkan, the Mishkan of the Testimony, which were

  counted at the word of Moshe. [Shemot 38:21]

Why is the word Mishkan repeated here? At first glance it does not seem necessary to

repeat, and the verse seems to make the same sense by leaving out the first one. The

commentators all offer different thoughts.

Rashi says that the two mentions are allusions to the First and Second Temples, which

were taken as collateral for the sins of Israel. Rav Soloveitchik asks why the Mishkan

would be destroyed if Israel sins, and even if so why it would involve the desecration of

the Temple by Titus. He cites an alternative explanation from Rashi that the word Mishkan

is related to the word mashkon, meaning collateral or security. He would read our verse

as "reckonings of the collateral, the Mishkan of the Testimony". Talelei Oros is similar to

this, but chooses the opposite assignments, calling the first word Mishkan, the resting

place of God, and the second word mashkon, that the Temples were collateral.

Onkelos translates the first as including the keilim, vessels, and the second as including

the Tablets of Testimony that were housed in the Ark. Ramban is similar to this, but with

more specificity. In Shemot 26:1 the Torah says, "You shall make the Mishkan of ten

curtains", thus Ramban says our first word here refers to the curtains and the second

includes the entire Sanctuary.

Kol Dodi sees the repeated word as being a clarification, that the first Mishkan mentioned

is the structure, and the second is in fact the one that teaches us about the sanctity of

those who made its construction possible. The "testimony" is not necessarily the Tablets,

rather testimony about holiness, a reference to God taking the people out of the

contamination of Egypt. It tells that despite all the years in that land, His people were

coming out pure.