Is there any relation between the spirit which Bezaleel was born with and the spirit G-d gave him in Exodus (Shemot) 31:3?
Can a man have more than one spirit? Is the spirit the one who provides the skills?
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1 Answer
This second spirit was a separate spirit that G-d endowed Bezalel with in order to go about constructing the Mishkan (the Tabernacle).
The spirit that every human is born with is what makes up that person's soul. In fact according to Kabbalah a person's soul is divided into five levels of which each one represents a higher part. (Refer to the Zohar 2:185b) The Ruach is the second level.
However, in the case of Bezalel, he was about to embark on a tremendous undertaking, the building of the Mishkan which would effectively serves as G-d's 'house'. In fact the Gemara in Sanhedrin 69b tells us that he was only thirteen at the time! As such, G-d provided him with the Divine spirit of חׇכְמָ֛ה, תְבוּנָ֥ה וּבְדַ֖עַת - 'wisdom, understanding and knowledge' so that he was more readily able to perform this mission.
The Malbim writes:
ואמלא אותו רוח אלהים, רוח נבואה ורוח הקודש, כמו שת"א ואשלמית עמיה רוח נבואה מן קדם ה', כי לבנין המשכן מלבד שהיה צריך לדעת כל מיני המלאכות היה צריך לכוין את הסוד הנסתר והצפון בבנין הזה, שהוא השגת כלל העולמות וקשורם עם רוח אלהים חיים המחיה אותם ושוכן בם, וע"ז הלביש אותו רוח אלהים בחכמה ובתבונה ובדעת שהם שלש מדרגות העליונות שבהם נברא העולם כמ"ש (משלו ג) ה' בחכמה יסד ארץ וכו' ואמר (שם כד) בחכמה יבנה בית וכו' וכמ"ש בפירוש משלי ענינים אלו בארך, וזה לענין שישיג את המשכן הגדול וכל צפונותיו, ובכל מלאכה הוא מלאכת האומנות שיעשה המשכן בפועל:
I filled him with a Divine spirit - a spirit of prophecy and ruach hakodesh (literally holy spirit), like the Torah says 'That I (lit.) completed him with a spirit of prophecy from before Hashem', because the building of the Tabernacle, besides having to know all kinds of crafts had to direct the hidden secrets and the concealed in this building, which is the comprehension of all the worlds and is connected with the spirit of the living G-d who brings them to life them and dwells in them, and therefore the Spirit of God clothed him in wisdom and understanding and in the knowledge that they are the three highest steps in which the world was created. Like we say in Proverbs 3:19 - "Hashem founded the earth by wisdom", and it writes there (Proverbs 24:3) - "A house is built by wisdom", and like all that which is written expressly in Proverbs about these matters at length, and this is for the purpose of comprehending the great Tabernacle and all its hidden concepts, and like with all work, it was a work of craftsmanship to make the Tabernacle in action.