And as for the overhanging part that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth over shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. And the cubit on the one side, and the cubit on the other side, of that which remaineth over in the length of the curtains of the tent, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it. (Exodus 26:12–13)
וְסֶרַח הָעֹדֵף בִּירִיעֹת הָאֹהֶל: חֲצִי הַיְרִיעָה הָעֹדֶפֶת תִּסְרַח עַל אֲחֹרֵי הַמִּשְׁכָּן. וְהָאַמָּה מִזֶּה וְהָאַמָּה מִזֶּה בָּעֹדֵף בְּאֹרֶךְ יְרִיעֹת הָאֹהֶל, יִהְיֶה סָרוּחַ עַל צִדֵּי הַמִּשְׁכָּן מִזֶּה וּמִזֶּה לְכַסֹּתוֹ. (שמות כ"ו, יב-יג)
The verse describes the tent curtains hanging beyond the Tabernacle’s inner curtains. Examining their dimensions and the Tabernacle’s structure, however, reveals a difficulty.
The inner covering consisted of ten separate curtains (Exodus 26:1), joined in two sets – “couplings” in the text – of five curtains each (verse 3). Each curtain was four cubits wide and twenty-eight long (verse 2). Joining the two sets with gold clasps produced a single large curtain forty cubits long and twenty-eight wide. It was laid over the roof and hung down over the surrounding boards.
Above this lay another layer, the tent curtains of goats’ hair. There were eleven (verse 7), each four cubits wide and thirty long (verse 8). These too were divided into two sets, but asymmetrically: five curtains in one and six in the other (verse 9). Bronze clasps joined them into a large curtain forty-four cubits long and thirty wide.
The division into five on one side and six on the other is exceptional in the Tabernacle’s description. Precise symmetry prevails throughout, but here it is broken. Indeed, the Torah specifies a special role for the sixth curtain:
and shalt double over the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tent. (Exodus 26:9)
וְכָפַלְתָּ אֶת הַיְרִיעָה הַשִּׁשִּׁית אֶל מוּל פְּנֵי הָאֹהֶל. (שמות כ"ו, ט)
On the usual interpretation, the sixth curtain was placed on the roof at the entrance and folded in half. Since each curtain was four cubits wide, folding it left only two cubits visible. This shortened the whole tent covering from forty-four cubits to forty-two. The Torah describes what was done with the excess:
And as for the overhanging part that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth over shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. (Exodus 26:12)
וְסֶרַח הָעֹדֵף בִּירִיעֹת הָאֹהֶל: חֲצִי הַיְרִיעָה הָעֹדֶפֶת תִּסְרַח עַל אֲחֹרֵי הַמִּשְׁכָּן. (שמות כ"ו, י"ב)
In other words, half a curtain, two cubits wide, hung beyond the inner curtains at the rear.
This interpretation raises two difficulties:
The first is asymmetry. At the sides, the tent covering is thirty cubits wide, whereas the inner covering is twenty-eight: an extra cubit on either side. At the rear, however, there are two extra cubits. The Tabernacle’s consistently precise and symmetrical structure suddenly acquires an unbalanced covering.
The second concerns the covering’s arrangement along the Tabernacle’s length. The verses indicate a length of thirty cubits: twenty boards, each a cubit and a half wide (Exodus 26:16–18). Adding the ten-cubit drop down the rear boards gives a total of forty cubits. But after folding the sixth curtain, the tent covering is forty-two cubits long. Two cubits therefore cover no part of the structure, trailing on the ground behind it.
The Sages indeed noticed this:
The school of Rabbi Ishmael taught: What does the Tabernacle resemble? A woman walking in the marketplace, with her skirts trailing behind her. (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 98b)
תני דבי ר׳ ישמעאל: למה משכן דומה? לאשה שמהלכת בשוק ושפוליה מהלכין אחריה. (תלמוד בבלי, שבת צח ע"ב)
Yet it is difficult to suppose that a structure as carefully planned as the Tabernacle was designed with curtains trailing on the ground.
The difficulty arises from assuming that the tent covering, like the inner covering, began at the roof’s edge by the entrance. This assumption is not necessary.
After folding the sixth curtain, the tent covering measured forty-two by thirty cubits, while the inner covering measured forty by twenty-eight. Notice that, if the inner covering is centered within the tent covering, the latter extends one extra cubit in every direction.
We can then understand “and shalt double over the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tent” differently. The sixth curtain was folded at the entrance, rather than on the roof, precisely as “in the forefront of the tent” says. Its doubled part hung down as a sort of lintel two cubits high at the entrance. Likewise, the inner curtains hung one cubit down over the entrance.
Symmetry is thus preserved: the tent covering extended one cubit beyond the inner covering on every side – along the sides, at the rear, and at the entrance’s curtain lintel. It covered the Tabernacle uniformly and symmetrically, without an unusual excess at the rear.
Furthermore, on this arrangement the inner curtains covered nine cubits of the boards on all three sides. Their twenty-eight-cubit width comprised ten across the roof and nine down either side. Similarly, their forty-cubit length comprised one hanging over the entrance, thirty across the roof, and nine down the rear boards. The tent covering, an extra cubit in every direction, covered the last cubit left exposed by the inner curtains, completely covering the boards.
The wording “the half curtain that remaineth over” still requires explanation. If the excess is only one cubit, why does the text say “half a curtain,” two cubits wide?
Perhaps “half” here means a portion rather than exactly half a whole curtain. Unless referring to a unit of measurement such as half a cubit, biblical language need not be mathematically precise. Part of Manasseh is called “the half-tribe of Manasseh,” although this need not be an equal division, as Ibn Ezra explains in his long commentary (Exodus 26:12).
On this understanding, “the half curtain that remaineth over” describes the one-cubit excess hanging beyond the inner curtains at the rear as well.
The result is a more precise, symmetrical arrangement of the tent curtains, consonant with the order and balance characterizing the entire Tabernacle.
