Printable PDF available here. A prior piece on Parshat Terumah is available here.
Rav Kook (Ein Ayah, Gemara Shabbat 28b)
And this is the offering that you shall take from them: gold, silver, and copper… ram skins dyed red, tachash skins, and acacia wood… (Shemot 25:3-5)
The taḥash that existed in the days of Moses was a unique species… It was fortuitously provided to Moshe to make one of the coverings for the Mishkan, after which this species was concealed and no longer found. (Gemara Shabbat 28b)
In Aramaic, tachash is referred to ‘Sasgona.’ Our Sages explained this as a reference to its multicolored hide – the tachash is “Proud (lit. “sas”) of its many vivid colors (lit “gona”). It seems that the multihued tachash is a metaphor, representing the desire to include as many talents and gifts as possible when building up the Jewish people – even talents that, on their own and without a proper framework of holiness, might have a negative influence.
However, this integration cannot be fully achieved in an imperfect, pre-Messianic world. The tachash could only be used in the desert, where the people lived an otherworldly existence, unconcerned with the temptations and challenges that would confront them once they entered the Land of Israel. The reality of the Torah as revealed to Moses’ generation was not one suited to practice or application; it was rather the very essence of holiness itself. In our current imperfect state of existence, we are neither worthy nor capable of using this overwhelming holy light to guide our ways. This is the deeper meaning of the tachash disappearing after it contributed its hide to the Mishkan.
However, the tachash was merely hidden away (lit. נגנג). A day will come when all of reality will be uplifted and purified, and the multihued splendor of the tachash can reappear. At the end of history, all of humanity’s talents and gifts will contribute to building up the House of G-d. When Divine majesty permeates every corner of existence and the spirit of impurity has been removed from the earth, there will be no nation, no inclination and no character trait that will be turned away, that cannot be harnessed for holy purposes.
We should note the deeper nuance of tachash being concealed, as opposed to destroyed. In other words, the splendor of the tachash that will emerge at the end of history is not something new that G-d will insert into or impose upon reality. It is present now, but concealed because humanity cannot properly integrate and incorporate the tachash’s colors into its imperfect reality. When G-d removes the concealment, we will see what was truly there in potential all along.
In the interim, there are elite spiritual personalities to whom glimpses of those future colors are revealed. “He conceals wisdom for [sharing with] the upright, a shield for those who walk in integrity” (Mishlei 2:7). But for the rest of us, it is sufficient to know that existence is destined for deeper, richer, more G-dly reality, a reality which already exists and is already present even now, like a seed that germinates underground and eventually bursts forth from its slumber beneath the soil. As Isaiah declared (66:22) “For as the new heavens and the new earth that I am making stand before Me (lit. עומדים לפני)” says the Lord, “so shall your seed and your name endure.” It does not say that the new heavens and the new earth “will stand” (lit. יעמדו) before G-d, but that they stand in front of Him, even now.
