Originally published in 2007. It's very good, so I'm putting it in the front of the line.
Reb Meir Simchah here (Meshech Chochmoh) asks, why does the possuk list Betzalel’s yichus selectively, noting specifically his ancestors Chur and Yehudah.
He answers that one is faced with the possibility of the ultimate sacrifice, of martyrdom, close and meticulous rational analysis is untimely. When Nachshon and Shevet Yehudah were faced with the test of whether they would jump into the Red Sea, and when Chur was faced with a mob of hysterics demanding an Eigel, if Nachshon and Chur had indulged in careful critical analysis and deep consideration of the alternatives and ramifications, they never would have moved: they would have suffered from “the paralysis of analysis.” But they had the deeper wisdom and strength to do what needed to be done without hesitation, and what they did echoes throughout all time. He brings an epigram from the Chosid Yaavetz– "analysis saps the strength of the will." דהחקירה תעכב [ברצון הפנימי] מלמסור נפשו על קדוש השם יתברך
So, middoh k’neged middoh, Hashem filled Betzalel with wisdom. When the time came, and there was a need for careful and prudent wisdom, Hashem granted that as a gift to the descendant of these two people who had shown they knew the limits of chochmoh.
Reb Meir Simcha 35:30
ראו קרא ד' כשם כצלאל כו' כן חור למטה יהודה כו' הענין דמסירת נפש צריך להיות שלא בחקירה והתחכמות יתירה ויהודה מסר עצמו בים במסירת נפש כמו דאיתא בתוספתא דסוטה וכן חור מסר עצמו בעגל דהחקירה תעכב [ברצון פנימי] מלמסור נפשו על קדוש השי"ת כעדות יעב"ץ החסיד לכן אמר שבעבור זה שלא חקרו ולא נתחכמו יותר מדאי לכן וימלא אותו בחכמה ובדעת כו' והבן
The answer is this: Reb Meir Simcha is not saying that there is an alternative to prudent wisdom. He is saying that along with chochmas hatorah, you have to develop another kind of chochmoh, and that is the chochmoh of mussor and hashkofoh. This is what the Torah means by "chochmo, tevuna, voda'as. Only when you combine Chochmas Hatorah with the Binoh of mussor and hashkofo do you come to Da'as, the knowledge of what needs to be done right now. If you only have the wisdom of havonas hatorah, you are lacking a crucial part of what a ben Torah must develop. People talk about ‘the fifth shulchon oruch.’ Everyone has their own opinion of what comprises this part of shulchon oruch, and it is usually cited in support of some unsupportable and foolish opinion that contradicts daas torah. In fact, however, this part of Shulchon Oruch is not an alternative to the first four parts. The fifth shulchon oruch is the mussor and hashkofoh that cannot be written on paper. Only if a person knows and understands kol hatorah kuloh, and he also is a godol in hashkofoh and mussor, only then can he trust that his kol demomoh dakoh comes from an inculcated sense of what the right thing to do is.
My father (Shlitah) Hareini Kapparas Mishkavo, liked to say that if someone would open a store that sold common sense, it would go bankrupt, because everyone thinks he has plenty of common sense. In fact, though, common sense is a rare and precious commodity. The same is true regarding the Tevunoh VoDa'as the Torah mentions here.
In Parshas Titzaveh, 30:7, it says B’heitivo es haneiros yaktirenu. The ketores is brought in middle of the hatovas haneiros. While this is a well known halachah which many of us say before pesukei de'zimra every day, did you ever wonder why this is so? Why must we interrupt the preparation of the menorah in order to burn the ketores? Where do we find a Gzeiras Hakasuv that requires that Oseik Bemitzvah should davka stop in middle to do a different mitzvah? Reb Moshe in the original Dorash Moshe says that a talmid chochom (the menorah) needs to have a sense of smell (the ketores) – to be able to discern that something is wrong even when nothing apparent is evident, to be able to sense when people are using the Torah to trick others into following false philosophies. He brings Sanhedrin 93b about the Melech Hamoshiach who is “morach v’do’in.” He explains that this is not a din of nevu’ah, it is simply a sense that every yorei shomayim develops to some degree.
This is what Reb Meir Simcha is talking about. A talmid chochom that does not develop this extra sense, and who relies on just his wisdom, is incomplete, and he should remember that the ketores is an essential part of the hatovas hamenorah.
Here is what bothers me. Why was this quality necessary, or relevant, to davka Betzalel? Of course you need kavana, and chachma, and daas, to fabricate the keilim and invest them with kedusha. As we have said elsewhere, the degree and quality of kavana is an essential part of the keilim and the begadim, no less than in writing a Sefer Torah. But why this particular techunas hanefesh? There was no mesiras nefesh involved here.
My nephew, Harav Yitzchak Buchalter, suggested the following. We know the story said about the Ramak, who said in a drasha that total bitachon will mean the Ribono shel Olam will take care of you 100%. A simple Jew listened, and sold his horse and wagon, we all know the story. The lesson is that the talmidim of Reb Moshe Cordevero were each and every one a gadol in Chochma and Mussar and Kabbala. But they were not simple Jews, they were great thinkers. As such, they had the problem the Chosid Yaavetz described. When Betzalel made the keilim, he had to have the deep wisdom of the heart, which entails dakusdikkeh kavanos that are entirely outside of a normal person's comprehension. To make the keilim with these kavanos required a faith in siyata dishmaya that the kavanos were exactly as they needed to be, with no sfeikos at all.
A young medical school student I met, Reb Jacobowitz from Baltimore, said the following, and I think it's superb. Chazal tell us again and again that Betzalel and Ahaliav and indeed all the craftsmen were איש אשר נשאו לבו וכל אשר נדבה רוחו אותו, which means they didn't apprentice, they didn't practice, they were inspired with divine wisdom and skill which expressed itself in their sublime work. As the Ramban says in 35:21,
כי לא היה בהם שלמד את המלאכות האלה ממלמד, או מי שאימן בהן ידיו כלל, אבל מצא בטבעו שידע לעשות כן, ויגבה לבו בדרכי ה' (דה''ב יז ו) לבא לפני משה לאמר לו אני אעשה כל אשר אדני דובר
If so, the type of chochma needed here is beyond learned chochma. It is the tevunas haleiv that was exemplified by Nachshon and Chur, a direct connection to kedusha and truth.
