When Moshe erected the Mishkan the Torah writes that
"he took and put the eidus [i.e., the Luchos]
into the Aron and set the poles on the Aron,
and put the Poroches above on the Aron, and he
brought the Aron into the Mishkan . . .."
(Shemos, parshas Pekudei, 40:20-21). The Torah tells
us that first the eidus was put into the Aron
and later the poles were set on to the Aron.
There are certain difficulties in connection with this
posuk:
1) In the pesukim of parshas Terumah where
Moshe was commanded to make the vessels of the Mishkan
the order concerning putting the eidus into the
Aron is just the opposite. First the Torah writes
(ibid, 25:13-14), "And you shall make poles of
shittim wood and overlay them with gold. And you shall
put the poles into the rings on the sides of the Aron,
that the Aron may be carried therewith." Only
afterwards (v. 16) does the Torah write, "And you shall put
into the Aron the eidus which I shall give
you." First the poles are to be put onto the Aron and
afterwards the eidus must be put into the
Aron.
2) It was not Moshe who put the poles into the Aron's
rings but Betzalel. The Torah tells us, "And Betzalel made
the Aron of shittim wood . . . and he put the poles
into the rings at the sides of the Aron"
(Shemos 37:1,5). [According to the Tosafos
(Yoma 72a) there were two types of poles, one
permanent and one for traveling.]
3) If you wish to reconcile the first difficulty concerning
the correct order (the placing of the poles on the
Aron first or the putting of the Luchos into
the Aron first), and the second difficulty (who put
the poles in the Aron, Moshe or Betzalel), you cannot
try to do so by arguing that Moshe Rabbenu, for some reason,
removed the poles that Betzalel had placed in the Aron
and he later put them into the rings of the Aron
himself, since the posuk says (Shemos
25:15), "The poles shall be in the rings of the Aron,
they shall not be taken from it." There is an issur
lav to remove the poles from their place. They must
remain there forever — see Rashi.
4) What is meant by "And he took" (in 40:21 of parshas
Pekudei)? What did Moshe take? Is it something other than
what he "put"? From where did Moshe take it? Even according
to the Ramban, who explains that Moshe took the Luchos
from the temporary wooden Aron that he already had, it
is still difficult to understand what difference that would
make to us. The main thing is that he put the Luchos
into the permanent Aron.
5) The Torah in parshas Pekudei writes that first
Moshe put the Luchos into the Aron and only
afterwards put it into the Mishkan. But when it came
to the Shulchan first Moshe put it in the
Mishkan and then he set bread on it. With the
Menorah too, only after it was put in Ohel
Mo'ed were the candles kindled. Likewise with the
Mizbeiach, only after bringing it to the
Mishkan was ketores burnt on it. What was it
different with the Aron, that first it was prepared
and only then brought into the Mishkan?
*
It seems that we can resolve the first question (that
apparently according to the posuk in Pekudei
first the Luchos were put in the Aron and later
the poles were put in) by simply saying that "and he set the
poles," written after putting the Luchos in the
Aron, does not mean that Moshe put them into the rings
just then but rather that he adjusted them and arranged them
after they were already inside the rings (as we see in
parshas Terumah) so that the Aron could be
carried into the Mishkan. This is similar to the way
the Ramban explains the posuk (Bamidbar 4:6)
"And they shall put on it the covering of tachash
skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of
techeiles, and shall put in its poles." He explains
that "shall put" means in this case that they fixed the polls
to sit loosely in the rings so that they could be of even
length when the Leviyim carried the Aron yet would
protrude more in the front when resting in the Mishkan
and facing the Poroches.
We likewise find in the gemora (Yoma 72a) that
the poles were movable but would not slip out — See
Rashi (s.v. misparkin) who explains that the poles'
ends were wider than the rest of the poles. These ends were
forced through the rings but afterwards could not slide out
easily. See also the Ha'ameik Dovor (Bamidbar
4:6).
Why did the Torah obligate Moshe to "put in [the
Aron's] poles" even before it was brought into the
Mishkan or carried?
The Brisker Rov, HaRav Yitzchok Zeev Soloveitchik
zt'l, writes in one of his letters (at the end of
Chidushei Maran Riz HaLevi) that the Aron had a
different din than the other keilim. Other
keilim were considered klei Mikdosh that had to
be carried, but this status was in effect when they were
actually being carried when traveling in the desert. Before
the Mishkan was erected, and after the Beis
Hamikdosh was established, these keilim did not
have a din of avodas masso. The Aron was
different. It had a din of avodas masso even
before it became a kli Mikdosh.
This should be further clarified. The Aron of wood
that Moshe made had in it the broken pieces of the first
Luchos. That Aron was stolen by the Philistines
and was recovered for bnei Yisroel by Dovid. However,
Dovid was punished since he carried it back in a wagon and
not by people carrying it on their shoulders.
Even before the Aron was brought into the
Mishkan and was not yet a kli Mikdosh, carrying
it had a din of nesi'as ha'Aron (carrying the
Aron). The final Aron did not have a lesser
halocho than the Aron of Moshe, since, because
it had in it the Luchos, there was an obligation to
carry it on people's shoulders. The Torah therefore wrote
"And they shall put in its poles," meaning that they arranged
the poles properly so that the Aron would be ready to
be carried on their shoulders because of its special
din of nesi'as ha'Aron.
The phrasing used about the Aron, "and he brought the
Aron into the Mishkan," is unlike what is
written about other keilim, such as, "And he gave,"
concerning the Ohel Mo'ed, or "And he put." This is
because those keilim did not have any din of
bringing them in before being put in the Mishkan.
After they were put in the Mishkan the din of
their being a kli Mikdosh started. This is in contrast
to the Aron which had its status even before it was in
the Mishkan.
If, however, we intend to explain that the posuk
(Shemos 40:20-21), "and they set the poles in the
Aron" refers to preparing the poles and not to
actually putting them inside the rings of the Aron,
the posuk should only have written "and set the poles"
without adding "in the Aron." If the posuk was
simply saying that the poles were being put into the rings it
is fitting to write where they were put. If, however, the
poles were already inside the rings there is no reason to
mention where they were. Compare what we find in parshas
Bamidbar, where the Torah writes several times "and they
set its poles" without writing where.
It seems to me, therefore, that the explanation is as
follows: the Aron was different from the other
keilim in that putting the Luchos inside the
Aron was not like putting the Lechem Haponim on
the Shulchan. The entire essence and importance of the
Aron was that the Luchos Habris were inside it.
It was not defined as being an Aron without the
Luchos. For this reason it is called the Aron
Ha'eidus. It is not because the way of preparing it for
use is to put the Luchos inside it, but because
without the Luchos it is only a box and not an
Aron. [The Brisker Rav has explained similarly. See
also what the Meshech Chochmah writes here.]
Now we understand why Moshe first put the Luchos in
the Aron and only afterwards brought it in to the
Mishkan. Only after it had a din of being an
Aron could it be brought to the Mishkan.
When the Torah writes "And he took" in parshas
Pekudei, this phrase is really referring to the poles and
not to the Luchos. Moshe had removed the poles from
the Aron, placed the Luchos inside it, and
later returned the poles to their place. By doing this he did
not violate the lav of, "The poles shall be in the
rings of the Aron, they shall not be taken from it,"
since the whole issur to remove the poles derives from
the nature of the Aron. Without the Luchos
within it, it was not considered an Aron at all, and
so it was permitted to remove the poles.
In parshas Terumah the order is the opposite: First
the poles were put in the Aron and later the
Luchos were put in the Aron. This is because
the Torah is talking there about how the Aron was
actually made. The Torah in parshas Terumah is only
describing how the Aron was made, and not how it
received the special din of the Aron. (It is
also possible that Betzalel disagreed with Moshe about this
point.)
Moshe did this to show everyone the principle mentioned
above, that as long as there are no Luchos the
Aron is not called an Aron at all. The
practical difference in this distinction appeared during the
Second Beis Hamikdosh, when there were no
Luchos and therefore they did not make any
Aron.
Everyone should remember that the essence of any yeshiva is
the Luchos inside it, the Torah studied inside it and
how it is studied. The maggid shiur strives to present
his shiur with utmost clarity and to make himself
loved by the talmidim.
When choosing a yeshiva, it is not enough to look for an
institution that has a good name. First the institution
should have the sheim of being a yeshiva — it
should be the essence of what a yeshiva needs to be. Not all
places are equal, and every one should seriously contemplate
where he fits in.
HaRav Emanuel Ralbag is a rosh yeshiva of Mesillas HaTorah
in Yerushalayim. This article was written to give guidance to
choosing the proper yeshiva for each student.
