Chagigah

THAT YE TOUCH NOT THE TABLE [AND THUS RENDER IT UNCLEAN]’.1 ALL THE VESSELS THAT WERE IN THE TEMPLE HAD SECOND AND THIRD SETS, SO THAT IF THE FIRST WERE RENDERED UNCLEAN, THEY MIGHT BRING A SECOND SET IN ITS PLACE. ALL THE VESSELS THAT WERE IN THE TEMPLE REQUIRED IMMERSION,2 EXCEPT THE ALTAR OF GOLD3 AND THE ALTAR OF BRONZE,4 FOR THEY WERE ACCOUNTED AS THE GROUND:5 THIS IS THE VIEW OF R. ELIEZER. BUT THE SAGES SAY: BECAUSE THEY WERE OVERLAID [WITH METAL].6 GEMARA. A Tanna taught: ‘Take heed lest ye touch the Table or the Candlestick’. — Why does not our Tanna mention the Candlestick? — In connection with the Table, there is written [the word] ‘Tamid’ [perpetual];7 in connection with the Candlestick, there is not written [the word] ‘Tamid’.8 And the other [Tanna]?9 — Since it is written: And the Candlestick over against the Table,10 it is as though [the word] ‘Tamid’ were written in connection there-with.11 And the other [Tanna]?12 -That [verse] comes merely to fix its place. But I can, [on the contrary,] deduce it13 from the fact that [the Table] is a wooden utensil made for resting [things on it],14 and any wooden utensil made for resting [things on it] is not subject to uncleanness! — What is the reason? — We require it to be like a sack:15 Just as a sack is movable both fun and empty, so everything that is movable both full and empty [is susceptible to uncleanness].16 This, too, is movable both fun and empty. As Resh Lakish [said]: for Resh Lakish said: What is the meaning of the verse, Upon the clean, table?17 , The inference is that it is susceptible to uncleanness. But why? It is a wooden utensil made for resting [things on it], and cannot, therefore, contract unclean ness! It teaches, therefore, that they used to lift it and show thereon to the Festival pilgrims the showbread, and to say to them: Behold the love in which you are held by the Omnipresent; it is taken away as [fresh as] it is set down. For R. Joshua b. Levi said: A great miracle was Performed in regard to the showbread: As [fresh as] It was when set down, so was it taken away. For it is said: To put hot bread it the day when it was taken away.18 But I can deduce this19 from the fact that it is overlaid!20 For behold we have learnt: If a table or a side-table21 was damaged,22 or was overlaid with marble,23 but room was left24 for setting cups thereon,it remains susceptible to uncleanness.25 R. Judah said: There must be room [also] for Setting Portions [of food thereon].26 And should you say, Acacia wood27 is valuable and is not nullified [by the plating], this would be quite right according to Resh Lakish, who said: They taught this28 only of utensils of common wood,29 which come from overseas, but utensils of polished wood30 are not nullified But what can one say according to R. Johanan, who said: Even vessels of polished wood become nullified [by the plating]? And should you say: The one [Mishnah] refers to a fixed31 covering, the other to a covering that is not fixed,32 behold Resh Lakish asked R. Johanan: [Does it33 apply only] to a fixed covering, or [also] to a covering that is not fixed? [Only] to overlaid rims, or [also] if the rims are not overlaid? And he answered him: It makes no difference whether the covering is fixed or the covering is not fixed; whether the rims are overlaid or the rims are not overlaid! Rather, [must you say], the Table is different continually, v. Gemara. Some texts add: ‘And the Candlestick’; but v. p. 168. but, as Rashi points out, it has not the same meaning when applied to the Candlestick as when applied to the Table. In the case of the latter, ‘perpetual’ means ‘day and night’, for the showbread remained on the Table from Sabbath to Sabbath. In the case of the former, it merely means ‘every night’, as the expression from evening unto morning’ (ibid. XXVII, 21) indicates (v. Men. 89a); thus, the Candle-stick could be removed during the day. For a similar use of the word ‘Tamid’ cf. Ex. XXIX, 38 and Lev. VI, 13. For the difficulty raised by the statement in Tam. 30b that the western lamp of the Candlestick burned an day, v. Tosaf. a.I. (s.v. vrubn ). ‘Ein ruhendes Holzger_t’. together in one verse (Lev. XI, 32) in respect of defilement. of their liability to break i.e., a vessel containing forty se'ahs of liquid or two kors of dry goods. place). intended to be moved. table); (last.). fuller explanation of the principles involved, v. ktrah ,rtp, to the Mishnah, Kel. XXII, 1. According to either view, however, it is evident that an object's insusceptibility to uncleanness is dependent on the covering: if the marble can render a table unsusceptible to defilement, then a fortiori, the gold plating renders the Sanctuary Table susceptible to defilement. eingewirkte Kleidungst_cke. depends on the covering.