Or HaChaim on Exodus 25:39/אור החיים על שמות כ״ה:ל״ט

1 ככר זהב טהור, a talent of pure gold. We have a Baraitha in Menachot 88 which states: The words: "he shall make the Lampstand out of one talent of pure gold," teach that the Lampstand including its lamps are to be made out of the same talent of gold. How did I arrive at the conclusion that the lamps themselves are included in the amount of one talent of gold mentioned? It says in our verse: "all these utensils." This might have led me to believe that the snuffdishes and tongs were also to be made out of the same talent. To prevent me from thinking this, the Torah uses the restrictive clause אותה, "it (alone)."

2Let us take a look at the true meaning of the various exclusions and inclusions in the Torah's text. What is it that we have not yet been told concerning the commandment of the Lampstand so that our verse became necessary at all? Apparently, but for our verse I would not have any idea of the amount of gold needed to carry out G'd's instructions to construct the Lampstand. Ergo, our verse provided this information, i.e. the amount of gold required was one talent of pure gold. Having received this information we became doubtful whether the one talent of gold was enough to include the making of the lamps themselves or not. Such doubt did not include the snuffdishes or tongs, seeing the Torah employed the words "pure gold" when speaking of their construction. Had they been part of the talent of gold mentioned by the Torah, the Torah would not have had to stipulate that they too were to be made of "pure gold," seeing the Lampstand itself was made of pure gold. On the other hand, we cannot argue that the Torah's not mentioning "pure gold" in connection with the lamps proves that they must have been made as part of the talent of gold mentioned. It is entirely possible that seeing that the lamps would be in constant use and the Torah had not mentioned what materials they were to be made of is proof that it did not matter to G'd of what materials the lamps would be made. The Torah had to add the words את כל הכלים "all the utensils," in order that we should know that G'd was very much concerned with what material the lamps were to be made. They were to be part of the talent of gold mentioned earlier. I have no doubt, however, that the snuffdishes and tongs were not part of that talent of gold, otherwise the Torah did not need to stress the words "pure gold" in connection with their construction. Therefore, I am not likely to make a mistake when I read the words "all these utensils."

3After all this, what does remain difficult is the word אותה, "it," which clearly intends to exclude something else. Is this word intended to exclude the snuffdishes and tongs? If so, why was a further word needed to do this? It would appear that a further careful examination of the text reveals that the very fact that the Torah mentions the talent of gold only after having already instructed Moses to construct the knops, cups, and flowers, that they must surely be included in that talent of gold. The Torah therefore had to write the word אותה to exclude said items from that talent of gold.

4There are two reasons why G'd may have decided to write the verse about the snuffdishes, etc. prior to the verse telling us that the Lampstand was to be constructed of one talent of pure gold. 1) The first reason is that the Torah writes in 25,40: "and see that you make them after their pattern which was shown you on the mount." This means that the Torah mentions the overall appearance of the Lampstand immediately after telling us about the amount of pure gold to be used in its constructions plus all its utensils. Had the Torah written verse 39 prior to verse 38, it would have meant that the items mentioned in verse 38 were included in those mentioned in verse 40 about the vision shown Moses on the mount. This would have been misleading, however, as it is entirely possible that G'd had never shown Moses all these snuffdishes, etc. when he had the vision on the mount.

52) Another reason why the Torah chose to write about the snuffdishes in connection with the lamps is to let us know that just as the snuffdishes were constructed separately, so the lamps were also constructed separately, though the gold used for their construction was part of the talent of gold described in verse 39. The fact that these lamps were constructed from the gold of the talent mentioned did not obligate the Torah to mention it with the Lampstand itself, seeing that their construction was not part of the requirement "you shall make them of beaten work," as were the knops, cups, and flowers (verse 31). Although I explained earlier that the fact that the lamps are not mentioned in the same context as the other details of the construction of the Lampstand as being beaten work, and that this fact proved that they were not included in the directives applicable to construction of the Lampstand, the fact that the Torah wrote about the talent of gold where it did indicates that there are some matters in which these items were comparable to the Lampstand itself. Logic would have suggested that the common factor was that the lamps also had to be made of beaten work seeing that we do not find any item which is specifically excluded from that directive. The Torah therefore had to mention the lamps in context with the snuffdishes to ensure we would not misunderstand its intention.

6Seeing it had become necessary for the Torah to write the verse about the talent of gold after the verse dealing with the snuffdishes, etc., for the reasons we have mentioned, the Torah was afraid that intelligent people examining the subject should not misunderstand G'd's intention in the matter. They should not clim that the reason the Torah wrote about the snuffdishes prior to mentioning the talent of gold is that the gold for it was to be part of that talent. They should not think that the Torah forced itself to write the words "pure gold" in order that we should learn something from the extra word "pure," such as that the purity of the gold used for these utensils was essential in order for them to be capable of performing their function. This would be so even if the Lampstand itself did not have to be constructed out of gold. The Torah wisely used the word אותה to indicate that the snuffdishes, etc., were not part of that talent of gold the Torah spoke of as being "the materials of the Lampstand itself together with its knops, etc." The information that the lamps themselves are to be made of the gold which is derived from the words את כל הכלים, "with all the utensils," remains valid. We can now say with certainty that the reason the Torah listed the verse containing the directives about the snuffdishes, tongs, etc., prior to the verse mentioning the talent of gold, is because of the considerations we have already mentioned. This is the reason that the sage of the Mishnah explains the word אותה as excluding the snuffdishes and pans and all the other utensils including the lamps. He even concludes from the expression את כל הכלים that every single one of the lamps must be constructed from the gold of that talent. I have only expanded this thought by not interpreting all this from the absence of the letter ו which we would have expected the Torah to write in front of the words את כל הכלים. [According to the author these words are best translated as "together with all these utensils." Ed.]