<b>And this is the offering which ye shall take of them: gold, silver, and brass; and blue and purple and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair; and rams’ skins dyed red, etc. (Exod. 25:3).</b> The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: Actually You do not bring your own possessions, but the spoils I gave you at the Red Sea, as it is said: <i>The wings of the dove are covered with silver</i> (Ps. 68:14). <i>And blue and purple and scarlet</i> (Exod. 26:8).<sup class="footnote-marker">7</sup><i class="footnote">To be used for the curtain before the ark.</i> Blue, for they were dipped into the blood, to symbolize the blood that the patriarchs had already prepared (i.e., the blood of circumcision). It was called scarlet (<i>tola’at)</i>, because it is said: <i>Fear not, thou worm (tola’at)</i><sup class="footnote-marker">8</sup><i class="footnote">A reference to Jacob’s sworn enemy Esau. <i>Tola’ath</i> means both worm and scarlet dyed yarn.</i> <i>Jacob</i> (Isa. 41:14). The rams’ skins are mentioned to because of the merit of Jacob, as it is said: <i>And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands</i> (Gen. 27:16). The Holy One, blessed be He, declared: The heavens and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain Me, yet I caused My Shekhinah to dwell within the skins of the kids of the goats.
Another explanation of <i>blue, and purple … and rams’ skins … oil for the light</i>, etc. R. Judah the son of R. Simon stated: Do not imagine that you are repaying Me. The thirteen things you have set aside for Me are the thirteen things I did in your behalf in Egypt: <i>I clothed thee also with richly woven work, and shod thee with sealskin, and I wound fine linen about thy head, and covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a ring upon thy nose, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head</i> (Ezek. 16:10–12). <i>My bread also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil and honey, wherewith I fed thee</i> (ibid., v. 19).
Thus the thirteen things you have set aside for Me I will consider to be repayment to Me, as David said: <i>I will sing unto the Lord, because He hath repaid me</i> (Ps. 13:6). However, in the world-to-come, I will reward you for the thirteen things you have set aside for Me. <i>And the Lord will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory shall be a canopy. And there shall be a pavilion for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain</i> (Isa. 4:5–6). Though you have (merely) paid Me back, yet I agree that you have dealt bountifully with Me, as it is written after that: <i>Let me sing of my well-beloved</i> (ibid. 5:1). Hence, <i>I will sing unto the Lord, because He hath dealt bountifully with me</i> (Ps. 13:6).