Tetzaveh (Part 3) - Exodus 27:20-30:10

The Magical Worm

In verses 28:9-21 we are told in great detail about the special breastplate of the High Priest, and the many gems that were to be set within it.

As to where the Israelites got these gems and all that gold, it is possible that they took them (or "borrowed") when they left Egypt. But one thing that they didn't have with them were engraving tools, 3500 years ago, that could engrave letters on some of the very hard gemstones.

So how did they do it?

There was this magical worm called a shamir, which, although not mentioned in Scripture, had the power to cut stones and carve gems, either with a glance, or from a secretion. It was barely a centimeter long, and was carried in a lead box with wool and barely-corn, the only substances impervious to its abilities (Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 48b).

Because the Torah also forbade the use of iron tools when cutting the stones (during the Bronze Age), legend has it that King Solomon used the shamir to hew the stones for the building of the Temple.

It has been argued if these worms still exist. The Tosafost in Gittin 68a notes that it existed during his time, although later authorities disputed that, saying that they all died out after the destruction of the Second Temple, since its use was no longer required.

So does this mean that there won't be a Third Temple? Believe it or not, there are those who are concerned over this lack of a magical worm.

Now, even though the Rambam and Rashi held that the shamir was a worm, later writers determined that maybe it was a sort of mineral, or maybe a snail, or maybe...

Believers in the shamir who are modernists as well, believe that it used laser beams or sonic waves to cut through stone and gems, rather than secreting a substance that could slice a stone a meter thick within moments. Some suggest that, because it was carried in a lead box, that it was radioactive. This is an example of a legend that has grown and grown about something so tiny that was invented by the writers to explain how primitives in the desert could craft gemstones with names upon them.

It should be noted that when the Sages invented some outlandish scenarios, it is often to address a problem to which they have no answer, and it is worth looking at what they are addressing: how did people 3,500 years ago engrave harden gems with names?

So when you read the details of the breastplate of the High Priest, and it tells you that they engraved the gemstones with certain names upon them, remember...

...the shamir!