Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Musar for Pesachim 223:10

ואל תכנס לביתך פתאום כ"ש לבית חבירך ואל תמנע מנעלים מרגליך השכם ואכול בקיץ מפני החמה ובחורף מפני הצינה ועשה שבתך חול ואל תצטרך לבריות והוי משתדל עם אדם שהשעה משחקת לו

He [the latter] said to him, 'Master, teach me Torah.' 'I will not teach you,' he replied.<a rel="footnote" href="#17"><sup>17</sup></a> 'If thou wilt not teach me, ' said he, ' will tell my father Yohai and he will deliver thee to the state.' 'My son,' answered he, 'more than the calf wishes to suck does the cow desire to suckle.' Said he to him, 'Yet who is in danger: surely the calf is in danger!'<a rel="footnote" href="#18"><sup>18</sup></a>

Shenei Luchot HaBerit

We have here an allusion to the fact that the cause is fond of the effect, i.e. the hidden longs for the revealed. Our sages (Pesachim 112a) articulated this thought when they said that more than the calf desires to suckle on the teats of its mother, the cow is anxious to nurse its calf. In פרשת ויקהל 36,1 the Torah writes: אשר נתן ה' חכמה ותבונה בהמה, "whom G–d had given wisdom and insight." Shemot Rabbah 48,3 states that the word beheimah in the above verse is to teach us that it was not only man whom G–d imbued with wisdom but also the animals. Betzalel was the only one who was privy to the wisdom possessed by the animals. Perhaps the Torah wants to hint at the proverb we quoted earlier that the mother cow is more anxious to nurse its calf than the calf is anxious to be nursed. It is all an allusion to the close connection between cause and effect. We are taught a lesson in reciprocal attachment and unity, i.e. that nothing exists outside of G–d Himself, that He is inextricably involved with all that He has created. It is this lesson the Rabbis wanted to teach us when they said that מקדש and משכן can be used interchangeably; the exterior, visible part, is called משכן, whereas the interior, invisible part, is called מקדש. We have a further clear allusion to this relationship between cause and effect, the visible and the invisible, when the Torah describes the way the קרשים, planks of the Tabernacle, were joined together. The Torah (Exodus 26,24) uses the term "תאמם, twins," when describing the manner in which these planks were joined to each other. When ??? they are described as תמים, perfect. We have here a description of the essence of the Tabernacle, i.e. that it was a microcosm.
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