Shabbat Parashat Terumah - 5785

Shabbat Parashat Terumah - 5785

Rabbi Hal Miller

  And you shall pour for it four rings of gold and place them on its four corners,

  two rings on its one side and two rings on its second side. [Shemot 25:12]

Our verse commands the making and attaching of gold rings to the Ark. In verse 25:26 we

see similar for the Table. These two pieces of furniture are very heavy, many hundreds of

pounds, and gold is not at all a strong metal. If one put the staves through these rings and

lifted very carefully, it might hold together sufficiently for a lift or two, but certainly would tear

itself apart at some point early on in the travels. We do not need to ask why gold was

chosen, given that everything else was in gold, but we have to wonder why some more

stable structure was not selected.

Rashi cites Onkelos that the rings were attached to the box of the Ark near the top next to

the cover. Ramban questions this, thinking that it would be much easier for the Ark bearers

if the rings were near the bottom of the box as it would raise it high enough to clear their

legs while walking and presumably put less strain on the gold rings, plus it would be more

honor for the Ark to be raised up high. Ibn Ezra thinks that there were in fact eight rings,

four at the top and four at the bottom, with the permanent staves at the top, and a second

set for carrying put into the bottom at the time of transporting, but Ramban criticizes this view.

Tosafot (Yoma 72a) is Ibn Ezra's source for there being two sets of poles, one for permanent

attachment and one only used for carrying. This would seem to require two sets of rings, but

it does not specifically mention the second set of rings, nor is it apparent in the verses.

If there were two sets of staves, one high on the box and in four gold rings, and a second

set low for carrying, it could be that the second set of rings was made of iron, which lasts

much longer and takes much more of a beating, but this is certainly not clear from anywhere.

There does not seem to be discussion of the use of a weak metal like gold for a high-stress

job. So, whether with one or two sets of staves and rings, how did the Ark safely travel?

Perhaps the answer can be found from a couple of stories in the Gemara.

First, in Sotah [35a] the Gemara cites Yehoshua [4:11-18] that when the people came to

cross the Jordan River, Yehoshua had the river part, the Kohanim carried the Ark over and

the people followed. But once the people were over, the Kohanim brought the Ark back to

the eastern bank, leaving the Kohanim and Ark on the opposite side. God told them to

"ascend from the river". According to Rashi, the Ark rose and carried its bearers over rather

than the bearers carrying the Ark. This certainly was a miracle and would alleviate any need

for the rings to be strong, but was this a one-time miracle or did it persist throughout history?

In answer, Nachshoni brings next a story in Shabbat [22] about the lighting of the lamps of

the Menorah. He asks whether the lamps were needed for illumination and notes that they

were lit during the day, thus had some loftier significance. Thus when lit during the night they

must also have a higher purpose. He writes, "So too with the Ark. The Kohanim thought that

they were carrying the Ark when in fact it was the Ark carrying them." Since the staves were

only used for transportation but God had commanded they not be removed, there had to be

some other purpose to them. As they were not needed when the Ark was stationary, neither

were they needed when it was being transported.

If the Ark carried itself and also its bearers, the weight on the gold rings would not have been

relevant. Although the staves were removed from the other furnishings when not traveling,

we can extrapolate that the same higher purpose applies to them, so the weight of each item

was not stressing their gold rings either.