Or HaChaim on Exodus 26:15/אור החיים על שמות כ״ו:ט״ו

1 ועשית את הקרשים למשכן. "You shall construct the boards for the Tabernacle." The word למשכן indicates that only the coverings qualified for the term "Tabernacle," not the boards supporting the tent.

2עצי שטים עומדים, "of acacia wood, standing up." Our sages in Yuma 72 say that they were standing up the way they grew. Apparently they derived this from the fact that the Torah did not write the word עומדים prior to the words "acacia wood" but afterwards. Alternatively, the word עומדים, "standing up" could have been written after the word למשכן. Had the Torah written the word in that order I would have considered it as part of the directive, i.e. that these boards were not to be used lying down. As it is, the word only describes the condition of the boards, i.e. that they were in the same position as when they still grew in the earth.

3The moral-ethical significance of the word קרשים becomes evident if one transposes two letters of the word so that it reads קשרים, "forming connections." By means of these boards the celestial forces and the terrestrial forces were to unite. The need for them to be ten cubits high alludes to the number ten which is essential whenever matters of sanctity are at issue.

4When the Torah requires that the width of these boards be one and a half cubits, this is an allusion to the way we celebrate the redemption from Egypt by eating both a whole מצה and a half מצה; the former symbolises freedom, the latter slavery. This is the mystical dimension of the letter ה and the letter ד. Passover reminds us of both our status as slaves and our new-found status as free men.

5The total number of boards, i.e. 48, alludes to the mystical dimension of Isaiah 54,12: ושמתי כדכד שמשותיך, "I will make your "windows" [inlets for spiritual input from the celestial spheres, Ed.] of rubies." The word כדכד=48.

6The mystical meaning of the sockets, i.e. אדנים, is self-explanatory by the fact that their very name alludes to G'd the Master. Perhaps we can best phrase this as "when The Master (G'd) is your foundation (read socket), then the Tabernacle has a chance to fulfil its purpose." The reason that these sockets number 100 is that the square root of 100 is ten, and we have already mentioned that the number 10 appears whenever spiritual values are involved. The number 100 is also the tenth in a graduated levels of "steps" in Kabbalistic literature.