ספר שמות

Exodus 39,3. “they hammered out sheets of gold and cut ‎threads to be worked into the blue wool, etc.;” ….., “the work ‎of a skilful craftsman.” A major criterion of the ‎categories of work prohibited to be performed on the Sabbath is ‎called ‎מלאכת מחשבת‎, “work requiring skill.” In order to obtain a ‎more detailed definition of this, the Talmud refers us to all the ‎kinds of work needing skill that were performed in the ‎construction of the Tabernacle. (Compare Beytzah, 13) ‎What the Talmud means is the kind of work performed by ‎Betzalel in connection with the Tabernacle, all of which required ‎for him to be inspired by G’d specifically so that he could carry it ‎out. Seeing that the Tabernacle symbolized the creation of the ‎universe, it is plausible that the type of work, [creative ‎activity, for want of a better expression. Ed.] performed ‎by G’d during those 6 days, (though He only uttered the directive ‎by word of mouth) is what we are to abstain from on the day that ‎G’d abstained from creative activity.‎According to Bereshit Rabbah 12,15, G’d commenced ‎creating the universe by employing only the attribute of Justice, ‎but when He saw that the universe would not be able to be stable ‎and could not endure, He co-opted the attribute of Mercy.‎When G’d created the universe, He had also prepared all the ‎materials that would be required to ensure that the “work” was ‎carried out successfully, i.e. all the gold, silver and copper, etc; ‎originally, He had planned to use only gold. Upon reflection, He ‎decided that it would be better to use primarily silver. Betzalel ‎similarly, used many different kinds of materials in order to create ‎a Tabernacle that would be a fair replica of the universe G’d had ‎created at the time. Just as G’d decided to co-opt the attribute of ‎Mercy to the attribute of Justice when He was in the process of ‎creating the universe, so Betzalel and his assistants proceeded ‎after first working with chunks of gold to beat the gold into thin ‎sheets, i.e. [as when covering the wooden boards with sheets of ‎gold, (Exodus 26,29) not make them nor the shittim wood ‎the exclusive material, and to make golden threads to interweave ‎with blue wool, etc., so that the precious metal gold would not be ‎the exclusive or even predominant raw material. The composition ‎of different materials used in the making of the Tabernacle ‎demonstrated that though gold may be the most precious ‎material, unless the universe also contained less precious ‎materials it just would not be a “universe.”‎‎[This editor finds it difficult to accept that G’d, Who ‎according to all of our sages, intended for man, and amongst man ‎Israel, to be the crowning achievement of the creation, originally ‎intended to only use the attribute of Justice. It is much easier to ‎understand the fact that the term Hashem is not mentioned ‎in the Torah until G’d had created a free-willed human being, one ‎that could rebel against Him, made the involvement of the ‎attribute of Mercy necessary, is much more plausible, especially ‎when we accept the principle of ‎סוף מעשה במחשבה תחלה‎, “the ‎final product was the original vision of the Creator”, as we sing in ‎לכה דודי‎ every Friday night. Ed.].‎