(1) אלה תולדות יעקב, Those who love the mind should ponder upon our Sages' teaching that in spite of all different methods of exegesis of the text of the written Torah, no scripture loses its contextual meaning (peshuto). This is so even though the Torah comes to teach us, by means of allusions, the Haggadot (Aggadot or Midrashim), the Halakhot, and the Laws on the basis of extraneous expressions and the 32 principles of Rabbi Yosi the Galilean and the 13 principles of Rabbi Ishmael. Exegetes of former times, thanks to their piety, inclined after the derashot (rabbinic derivations), which are the main thing, and therefore did not habitually investigate the deep contextual meaning of scripture. ... Rabbi Shlomoh, my mother’s father of blessed memory (Rashi) the brilliant exegete, who wrote commentaries on the entire Bible, was careful not to ignore the plain meaning of the text. I, Shmuel, son of Rabbi Meir, Rashi’s son-in-law, have argued with him, and he admitted to me that if he had the opportunity, he would need to compose additional comments in which he would concentrate on the contextual understandings that are renewed every day.

(5) God called the light Day—and called the darkness Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day.

(3) ויהי ערב ויהי בקר. "And there was evening and there was morning." It is noteworthy that the Torah here did not write ויהי לילה, ויהי יום, (and there was night and there was day) but it wrote ערב (evening). This is the period when God made the light of the first day fade. The subsequent expression ויהי בקר (and there was morning) refers to the morning after the night when dawn rose. At this point the first of the 6 days of God’s creative activity of which He spoke in the Ten Commandments had come to an end. After that the second day began and is introduced with the words "And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters." The purpose of our verse here was not to tell us that that evening and morning were part of the same day. The verse was needed only to tell us how the 6 days are accounted for, i.e. that the day dawned and the night was concluded, which was the end of that day and the beginning of the second day.

...Anyone who pays careful attention to the words of our Creator will not depart from the notes of my grandfather, our Rabbi Shlomoh (Rashi). Most of the Halakhot and Derashot in them are close to the contextual meaning of the scriptures. ... It would be well if you held on to what I have explicated and loosed not your hand from that (Rashi's commentary). [the author paraphrases Kohelet 7,18. Ed]

(1) Moses then convoked the whole Israelite community and said to them:
These are the things that GOD has commanded you to do: (2) On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a sabbath of complete rest, holy to GOD; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. (3) You shall kindle no fire throughout your settlements on the sabbath day.

(3) You shall kindle no fire throughout your settlements on the sabbath day.

(1) לא תבערו אש YE SHALL NOT KINDLE A FIRE [THROUGHOUT YOUR HABITATIONS ON THEE SABBATH DAY] — There are some of our Rabbis who say that the law about kindling fire is singled out... in order to constitute it a mere negative command.

Others, however, say that it was singled out in order to separate the various kinds of work comprised in the term כל מלאכה (thus indicating that each transgression of the Sabbath law is to be atoned for separately if several of them have been committed at the same time and under the same circumstances).

(1) לא תבערו אש, seeing that in connection with the festivals it is written "only what every person is to eat, that alone may be prepared for you" (Exodus 12:16), meaning that kindling fire for baking and cooking is permitted (on festivals) ... In view of this the Torah considered it necessary to state the prohibition of handling fire on the Sabbath, which is a labor connected to "every person's eating." Hence, other types of labor which are forbidden even on festivals are certainly forbidden (on the Sabbath).

(8) He made the laver of copper and its stand of copper, from the mirrors of the women who performed tasks [צובאות / tzov'ot] at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

(1) במראת הצבאת OF THE MIRRORS OF THE WOMEN CROWDING — The Israelitish women possessed mirrors of copper into which they used to look when they adorned themselves. Even these did they not hesitate to bring as a contribution towards the Tabernacle. Now Moses was about to reject them since they were made to pander to their vanity, but the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “Accept them; these are dearer to Me than all the other contributions, because through them the women reared those huge hosts in Egypt!” For when their husbands were tired through the crushing labour they used to bring them food and drink and induced them to eat. Then they would take the mirrors, and each gazed at herself in her mirror together with her husband, saying endearingly to him, “See, I am handsomer than you!” Thus they awakened their husbands’ affection and subsequently became the mothers of many children, at it is said, (Song 8:5) “I awakened thy love under the apple-tree”, (referring to the fields where the men worked). This is what it refers to when it states, מראות הצבאת “the mirrors of the women who reared the hosts (צבאות)” (Midrash Tanchuma, Pekudei 9).

...

(32) Thus was completed all the work of the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting. The Israelites did so; just as GOD had commanded Moses, so they did.

(43) And when Moses saw that they had performed all the tasks—as GOD had commanded, so they had done—Moses blessed them.

(2)On the first day of the first month you shall set up the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting. (This instruction is carried out in 40:17ff.)

(33) And he set up the enclosure around the Tabernacle and the altar, and put up the screen for the gate of the enclosure.
When Moses had finished the work, (34) the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Presence of GOD filled the Tabernacle. (35) Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud had settled upon it and the Presence of GOD filled the Tabernacle. (36) When the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle, the Israelites would set out, on their various journeys; (37) but if the cloud did not lift, they would not set out until such time as it did lift. (38) For over the Tabernacle a cloud of GOD rested by day, while fire would appear in that cloud by night—in the view of all the house of Israel throughout their journeys.

(31) And God saw all that had been made, and found it very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (1) The heaven and the earth were finished, and all their array. (2) On the seventh day God finished the work that had been undertaken, ceasing on the seventh day from doing any of the work. (3) And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy—having ceased on it from all the work of creation that God had done.

(1) GOD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: (2) This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.

(1) החדש הזה "This New Moon"— He showed him the moon in the first stage of its renewal, and He said to him, “The time when the moon renews itself thus, shall be unto you the beginning of the month”. (The translation therefore is: “This stage of renewal (חדש) shall be the moment of beginning the months”; cf. Mekhilta). But no Scriptural verse can lose its contextual meaning, and He really spoke this in reference to the month Nisan: this month shall be the beginning in the order of counting the months, so that Iyar shall be called the second, Sivan the third.

(2) הזה THIS [STAGE OF RENEWAL] — Moses was in perplexity regarding the Molad of (the exact moment when begins) the new moon — how much of it must be visible before it is proper to consecrate it as new moon: He therefore pointed it out to him in the sky with the finger and said to him, “Behold it like this, and consecrate it” (i. e., when you see the moon in a stage of renewal similar to this which you now behold you may proclaim that a new month has begun). ...

(1) 'בארץ מצרים לאמר החדש הזה וגו, according to the view of Rabbi Yehoshua in Talmud Rosh Hashanah folio 11 who holds that the earth was created in the month of Nissan, (2) לחדשי השנה, “whenever I will say to you that some festival is to occur in the ‘eight’s or ninth month,’ the number refers to Nissan being the ‘first’ month relative to this.” According to Rabbi Eliezer, who holds that the earth was created in Tishri, we would have to understand the plain meaning of the text as follows: (3) החודש הזה לכם, even though other nations do not consider Nisan to be the first month, it will be first for you to calculate the sixth, seventh,... months... This is the month from which you will begin dating important events in your history/calendar, for this is the month in which you attained your freedom as a people.