In the description of the menorah in Sh'mot 25:31, there is a requirement that the menorah be hammered ("The menorah shall be made of hammered work;") and Rashi explains that it is to be hammered out of a single ingot, "it must not be made in sections, [which can be removed]. Its branches and its lamps should not be made individually and then attached, as is the custom of the smiths [through a process] called solderez [in French], soldering, but it [the menorah] must come [be constructed] entirely from one piece [of gold]-beaten with a hammer and cut with a tool, and the branches separated on both sides".
This is an arduous and difficult process. A simpler process might be the construction of a mold, with the molten gold poured into it to make, out of a single pouring, the entire of the menorah, fully formed. Would this satisfy the requirements of the pasuk?
Initially, my concern was that there might be no hammering involved and that the pasuk was precise in its demand, but then I read that according to Rashi, "Since Moses found difficulty with it [i.e., figuring out how to form the menorah], the Holy One, blessed is He, said to him, “Cast the talent [equivalent to sixty-four pounds of gold] into the fire, and it will be made by itself.” " Apparently, the actual menorah which was used in the mishkan was not hammered. So would one made in the future have to be hammered if it could be poured instead?
