Bezalel, son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, did all that HaShem commanded Moses. With him was Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.
Once again, our parsha deals with the building of the Mishkan, and once again, Bezalel stands at the center of this most holy work. Five parshiyot are consumed with the work of the Mishkan and the central role that it played in the history of Am Yisrael.
Interesting enough is the fact that the main construction engineer for this massive project, Bezalel, was a mere lad at the time -13 years old. One would think that a person with many years of experience would be needed for such a job. Moreover, we find that in the case of the construction of the Menorah Moshe did not even know how it could be made - with all of its flowers, knobs and cups - from one solid piece. How, then, can we explain that Bezalel, with no experience in this field and just turning Bar Mitzvah, would be able to construct something so complex?
The answer lies in the Torah's constant repetition of Bezalel's name, together with his father's and grandfather's names. Usually, when a person is mentioned in the Torah, he is mentioned together with only his father's name, as we find in the case of Bezalel's helper, Oholiab son of Ahisamach. Or in some cases, a name might be mentioned along with his whole lineage. But in our case, we find that Bezalel is always mentioned together with his grandfather, Hur. To find out why Bezalel was chosen as the head engineer for building the Mishkan, we must find out who was his grandfather, Hur.
Hur is mentioned just once in the Torah, as one of the two people who helped Moshe in the battle against Amalek. It is important to remember that Amalek came to attack Israel only on account of our lack of faith in HaShem. It was Hur and Aharon HaCohen who, together with Moshe, went up the mountain during the battle with Amalek, and Hur and Aharon held up Moshe's hands. The Talmud teaches us that whenever Moshe's hands were held up, Am Yisrael was winning, and when he put his hands down, Amalek had the upper hand. Not, as the Talmud teaches us, that the hands of Moshe had the power to win a war, but when he held up his hands, the Jewish people looked up to HaShem for help and the tide was turned in our favor.
At the time of the sin of the golden calf, the midrash teaches, it was Hur, the man of faith, who stood in the way of the entire people and would not let them commit the horrendous sin of worshipping the calf. But the people, so intent on sinning, stoned Hur and killed him. The text tells us that Aharon HaCohen "saw". What did he see? He saw that the people killed Hur, and he became frightened and thought that they would be willing to kill him, too. So, he built an altar for them, trying to delay the idol worship until Moshe would return.
This, then, is the tragic story of Hur, the son of Calev and Miriam. Hur performed tremendous self-sacrifice on behalf of HaShem and was willing to give up his life in order to save the Jewish people from sinning. But could such a heroic deed on behalf of Hur not be rewarded? Of course not! For G-d's ways are good, and if Hur were no longer in this world to receive his just reward for his self-sacrifice, then HaShem would give the reward to Hur's descendents. Bezalel, his grandchild, even though he was only 13 at the time, would now be chosen to construct the Mishkan. Hur, who was the ultimate man of faith, would now have a grandchild who would build the Mishkan and bring faith back to the Jewish people by having HaShem dwell among us.
Today, too, what the Jewish people need is the great self-sacrifice taught to us by Hur. We, too, must be willing to stand up to the crowd, look them in the eye and tell them that this Land that HaShem has given us is very, very good, and that we will not retreat from it and cause a terrible Chilul HaShem. It will only be through this great self-sacrifice on our part that the Land will be saved, the Third Temple will be built and the complete Redemption will come.
Once again, our parsha deals with the building of the Mishkan, and once again, Bezalel stands at the center of this most holy work. Five parshiyot are consumed with the work of the Mishkan and the central role that it played in the history of Am Yisrael.
Interesting enough is the fact that the main construction engineer for this massive project, Bezalel, was a mere lad at the time -13 years old. One would think that a person with many years of experience would be needed for such a job. Moreover, we find that in the case of the construction of the Menorah Moshe did not even know how it could be made - with all of its flowers, knobs and cups - from one solid piece. How, then, can we explain that Bezalel, with no experience in this field and just turning Bar Mitzvah, would be able to construct something so complex?
The answer lies in the Torah's constant repetition of Bezalel's name, together with his father's and grandfather's names. Usually, when a person is mentioned in the Torah, he is mentioned together with only his father's name, as we find in the case of Bezalel's helper, Oholiab son of Ahisamach. Or in some cases, a name might be mentioned along with his whole lineage. But in our case, we find that Bezalel is always mentioned together with his grandfather, Hur. To find out why Bezalel was chosen as the head engineer for building the Mishkan, we must find out who was his grandfather, Hur.
Hur is mentioned just once in the Torah, as one of the two people who helped Moshe in the battle against Amalek. It is important to remember that Amalek came to attack Israel only on account of our lack of faith in HaShem. It was Hur and Aharon HaCohen who, together with Moshe, went up the mountain during the battle with Amalek, and Hur and Aharon held up Moshe's hands. The Talmud teaches us that whenever Moshe's hands were held up, Am Yisrael was winning, and when he put his hands down, Amalek had the upper hand. Not, as the Talmud teaches us, that the hands of Moshe had the power to win a war, but when he held up his hands, the Jewish people looked up to HaShem for help and the tide was turned in our favor.
At the time of the sin of the golden calf, the midrash teaches, it was Hur, the man of faith, who stood in the way of the entire people and would not let them commit the horrendous sin of worshipping the calf. But the people, so intent on sinning, stoned Hur and killed him. The text tells us that Aharon HaCohen "saw". What did he see? He saw that the people killed Hur, and he became frightened and thought that they would be willing to kill him, too. So, he built an altar for them, trying to delay the idol worship until Moshe would return.
This, then, is the tragic story of Hur, the son of Calev and Miriam. Hur performed tremendous self-sacrifice on behalf of HaShem and was willing to give up his life in order to save the Jewish people from sinning. But could such a heroic deed on behalf of Hur not be rewarded? Of course not! For G-d's ways are good, and if Hur were no longer in this world to receive his just reward for his self-sacrifice, then HaShem would give the reward to Hur's descendents. Bezalel, his grandchild, even though he was only 13 at the time, would now be chosen to construct the Mishkan. Hur, who was the ultimate man of faith, would now have a grandchild who would build the Mishkan and bring faith back to the Jewish people by having HaShem dwell among us.
Today, too, what the Jewish people need is the great self-sacrifice taught to us by Hur. We, too, must be willing to stand up to the crowd, look them in the eye and tell them that this Land that HaShem has given us is very, very good, and that we will not retreat from it and cause a terrible Chilul HaShem. It will only be through this great self-sacrifice on our part that the Land will be saved, the Third Temple will be built and the complete Redemption will come.