1) THE “AMOS” OF THE “MIKDASH” (cont.)

(a) Answer #3: Rather, “V’Chek ha’Amah” is the height of the base, “v’Amah Rochav” is the width of the base (each of these is five Tefachim), “u’Gevulah El Sefasah Soviv” is the height of the corners, it does not matter if this is five or six Tefachim (because the Sovev was six Tefachim wide, in any case the Ma’arachah was less than 25 Amos, it is not difficult if the Navi calls it 24.)
(b) Question: How tall is the Mizbe’ach?
(c) Answer: It is 58 Tefachim (the base and corners are five-Tefachim Amos, the others are six), half the height is 29; six Tefachim above this is the Sovev, for it is 23 Tefachim below the top.
1. (Beraisa): If he squeezed out the blood even an Amah below his legs, it is Kosher.
(d) Support: Presumably, this is right – “V’Chek ha’Amah v’Amah Rochav”, the verse changes form ‘Chek’ to ‘Rochav’ to teach that they are different (one refers to height, the other to width.)
(e) Question: What is a medium Amah?
(f) Answer (R. Yochanan): It is six Tefachim.
(g) Support (R. Yosi bar Avin – Mishnah – R. Meir): The Shulchan was 12 Tefachim long and six Tefachim wide. (Above (97A), R. Meir said that all Amos of the Mikdash (except for the Mizbe’ach) are medium.)
(h) Question: If it is called a medium Amah, this implies that there is a bigger Amah!
(i) Answer: Yes!
(j) (Mishnah): There were two rods for measuring an Amah in Shushan ha’Birah (a place in the Mikdash, see below), one was half an Etzba (finger) bigger than the (six Tefachim) Amah of Moshe, the other was one Etzba bigger.
(k) Question: Why were there different Midos?
(l) Answer: Workers (who contracted to build for Hekdesh) would be hired (to build) according to the Amah of Moshe, what they made was measured by a larger Midah, so they would not be overpaid and transgress Me’ilah. (Tosfos – they did not want to be overpaid, but in any case they would not transgress Me’ilah.)
(m) (Mishnah): There was a picture of Shushan ha’Birah on top of the eastern gate. (This Mishnah discusses gates of Har ha’Bayis. The Rashash questions those who say it was the eastern gate of the Azarah (Rashi here) or of the Ezras Nashim (R. Shimshon).)
(n) Question: What is the reason?
(o) Answer #1 (Rav Chisda or R. Yitzchak bar Avodimi): It was to remind Yisrael from where they came (to make them grateful to Hash-m for redeeming them);
(p) Answer #2 (The other of Rav Chisda and R. Yitzchak bar Avodimi): It was to put the fear of the Persian kingdom upon them (so they would not rebel.)
(q) (R. Yanai): A person should have the fear of the kingdom – Moshe told Paro “V’Yordu Chol Avadecha Eleh Elai v’Hishtachavu Li” (Paro himself would come and bow, Moshe euphemistically attributed this to Paro’s servants.)
(r) (R. Yochanan): We can learn from “…Eliyahu vay’Shanes Masnav va’Yaratz Lifnei Ach’av” (for it is not honorable for a king to be unattended.)
2) A CURE FROM THE “MIKDASH”
(a) Question: What does it mean “V’Alehu *li’Srufah*” (regarding the river from the Kodesh ha’Kodoshim)?
(b) Answer #1 (R. Yitzchak bar Avodimi or Rav Chisda): LehaTiR Peh (to open the mouth, i.e. cures muteness (Rashi) or gives appetite to eat (Aruch));
(c) Answer #2 (the other of R. Yitzchak bar Avodimi and Rav Chisda, also Bar Kapara): It opens the lower mouth (womb, i.e. cures barren women).
(d) Answer #3 (Chizkiyah): It cures muteness. (According to Rashi, Chizkiyah agrees with Answer #1.)
3) THE SIZE OF THE PILES
(a) (Beraisa): Had it said ‘V’Lakachta Soles v’Afisa Osam Shteim Esreh Chalos v’Samta Osam Shtayim Ma’arachos’, without saying ‘six’, we would have taught that the piles need not be even, e.g. one could be four and the other eight – therefore, it says ‘Shesh”;
1. Had it said ‘Shtayim Ma’arachos Shesh ha’Ma’areches’, without saying ’12’, we would have thought that there are three piles of six – therefore, it says “Shteim Esreh”; 2. Had it said ‘Shteim Esreh Chalos’ and ‘Ma’arachos’, without saying ‘two’ and ‘six’, we would have thought that there may be three piles of four – therefore, it says “Shtayim” and “Shesh”;
(b) Summation: All of these are needed to teach that there are two piles of six.
(c) If one pile has four and the other eight, the Mitzvah was not fulfilled;
(d) Question: If each pile has seven, was the Mitzvah fulfilled?
(e) Answer (Rebbi): We ignore the top Chalah in each pile (it is as if each has six, the Mitzvah was fulfilled.)
(f) Question: But we must fulfill “V’Nasata Al” (the Bazichei Levonah must be on top of the Lechem ha’Panim – the extra Chalah in each piles is a Chatzizah!)
(g) Answer (Rav Chisda or Rav Hamnuna): We know that Rebbi holds that “Al” can mean ‘near’ (the Bazichim are placed in between the Ma’arachos):
1. (Beraisa – Rebbi): “V’Nasata *Al* ha’Ma’areches Levonah Zakah” – “Al” means nearby;
2. Suggestion: Perhaps it literally means ‘on’!
3. Rejection: “V’Sakosa *Al* ha’Aron Es ha’Paroches” (we know that the Paroches was not over the Aron, surely) this means ‘near’.
4) THE PLACEMENT OF THE “KELIM”
(a) (Mishnah): All Kelim in the Mikdash…
(b) (Beraisa): All Kelim in the Mikdash are placed lengthwise towards the length of the Mikdash (east-west), except for the Aron, its length is towards the width of the Mikdash – so it was placed, and so were its staves.
(c) Question: What does this mean?
(d) Answer: We know that the Aron was placed this way (north-south) on account of its staves (which were east-west).
(e) Question: How do we know that the staves must be east-west?
1. Answer (Beraisa) Suggestion: “Va’Ya’arichu ha’Badim” – perhaps the staves did not touch the Paroches!
2. Rejection: “Va’Yira’u” (they were seen.)
3. Question: This suggests that they stuck out of a hole in the Paroches!
4. Rejection: “V’Lo Yera’u ha’Chutzah”.
98b—————————————98b

5. Resolution: They press against the Paroches and cause humps to stick out – “Dodi Li Bein Shadai Yalin”. (The Paroches is east-west.)
(f) Question: How do we know that the staves go along the width of the Aron (i.e. the length of the Aron is between the staves) – perhaps they go along its length!
(g) Answer (Rav Yehudah): (The Aron is carried by two men in front standing side by side between the staves, and by two similarly positioned in back.) Two men cannot fit in one and a half Amos (the Aron’s width – rather, its length (two and a half Amos) is between the staves!)
1. (Regarding the size of a Mikvah, we say that an average person is one Amah wide – this is like one opinion in Sukah (7B). Burial caves were made an Amah wide (this includes the thickness of the coffin), suggesting that people are less than an Amah; the other opinion in Sukah (8A) says that people are two thirds of an Amah wide. Perhaps it is not *proper* for two people to walk side by side in one and a half Amos, even though it is possible.)
(h) Question: What is the source that four men carry the Aron?
(i) Answer: “V’Nos’u ha’Kehasim” – this teaches about two; “Nos’ei ha’Mikdash” teaches another two.
5) ADDITIONAL “SHULCHANOS” AND “MENOROS”
(a) (Beraisa): Shlomo made 10 Shulchanos – “Va’Ya’as Shulchanos Asarah va’Yanach ba’Heichal Chamishah mi’Yamin va’Chamishah mi’Smol”.
(b) Question: If this means that five were to the right *of the opening* (of the Heichal) and five to its left, the latter were in the south half of the Heichal – but it says, “Veha’Shulchan Titen Al Tzela Tzafon”!
(c) Answer: It means, five were to the right of Moshe’s Shulchan and five to its left.
(d) (Beraisa): Shlomo made 10 Menoros – “Va’Ya’as Es Menoros ha’Zahav Eser k’Mishpatam va’Yiten ba’Heichal Chamesh mi’Yamin va’Chamesh mi’Smol”.
(e) Question: If five were to the right of the opening and five to its left, the former were in the north – but it says, “V’Es ha’Menorah Nochach ha’Shulchan”! (f) Answer: It means, five were to the right of Moshe’s Menorah and five to its left.
(g) (Beraisa #1): The Shulchanos were in the inner half (of the Heichal).
(h) (Beraisa #2): They were (all at least) a third of the way in.
(i) Resolution: (The length of the Heichal (east-west) spans 40 Amos of (plain) Kodesh, and 20 Amos of Kodesh ha’Kodoshim. Both Beraisos agree that the Shulchanos began 20 Amos into the Kodesh:)
1. Beraisa #1 teaches that they were in the inner half of the Kodesh, Beraisa #2 teaches that they were a third of the way into the (entire) Heichal.
6) WHICH WAY THE TABLES FACED
(a) (Beraisa – Rebbi): The Shulchanos were aligned east-west;
(b) R. Elazar b’Rebbi Shimon says, they were north-south.
(c) Rebbi learns from the Menorah – just like it was east-west, also the Shulchanos;
(d) Question: What is the source for the Menorah?
(e) Answer: Regarding the Ner Ma’aravi (the westernmost lamp (Tosfos – of the two easternmost lamps)) it says “Ya’aroch *Oso*…Lifnei Hash-m”, i.e. it is more Lifnei Hash-m (i.e. close to the Kodesh ha’Kodoshim in the west) than the others;
1. If the Menorah was north-south, none of them is more west than the others!
(f) R. Elazar learns from the Aron – just like it was north-south, also the Shulchanos.
(g) Question: Why doesn’t Rebbi learn from the Aron?
(h) Answer: (He says that) we learn (Kelim of the) Kodesh from Kodesh, not from the Kodesh ha’Kodoshim.
(i) Question: Why doesn’t R. Elazar learn from the Menorah?
(j) Answer: (He says that) the Menorah itself was north-south.
(k) Question: But it says “Ya’aroch *Oso*…(Lifnei Hash-m)”!
(l) Answer: They would tilt the (wick of the) central lamp to the west:
1. (Beraisa): “El Mul Penei ha’Menorah Ya’iru Shiv’as ha’Neros” – this teaches that the six lamps of the branches are tilted towards the middle lamp.
2. R. Noson says, this teaches that the middle is most praiseworthy (Rashi – when three people read from the Torah, the second should read the most verses; Tosfos – when three walk together, the greatest of them should be in the middle.)
(m) (Each Shulchan was like Moshe’s, i.e. two Amos long and one Amah wide.) According to Rebbi, the Shulchanos were east-west, we understand how they fit in the Kodesh (the total length is 20 Amos, the Kodesh is 40 Amos long);
(n) Questions: According to R. Elazar, who says that they were north-south:
1. Question #1: One cannot squeeze them into the 20 Amos width of the Kodesh without any space in between!
2. Question #2: If so, they filled the entire width of the Kodesh, Kohanim could not pass through (to enter the Kodesh ha’Kodoshim on Yom Kipur, or for Avodas Lechem ha’Panim (the new bread is placed on the Shulchan at the same time that the old Lechem is removed from the other side of the Shulchan)!)
3. Question #3: Five of the Shulchanos are in the south!
4. Question #4: There was no room for Moshe’s Shulchan!
5. Counter-question: Also according to Rebbi, there was no room for Moshe’s Shulchan (we learned that all the Shulchanos were in the inner half of the Kodesh!)