חגיגה 27:1 — Soncino English Talmud

for the Divine Law cans it Wood. For it is written: The altar, three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits, was of food, and so the corners; the length thereof and the walls thereof, were also of wood; and he said unto me: ‘This is the table that is before the Lord’. — [The verse] begins with the altar and ends with the table! R. Johanan and Resh Lakish both explain: At the time when the Temple stood, the altar used to make atonement for a person; now a person's table makes atonement for him. ALL THE VESSELS IN THE TEMPLE HAD SECOND SETS ETC. THE ALTAR OF BRONZE’ for it is written: An altar of earth thou shalt make unto Me. ‘THE ALTAR OF GOLD’, for it is written: The candlestick and the altars; thus, the altars are likened one to another. BUT THE SAGES SAY: BECAUSE THEY WERE OVERLAID [WITH METAL]. On the contrary, since they were overlaid, they were susceptible to uncleanness! — Read: ‘But the Sages declared them Unclean because they were overlaid’. Or, alternatively, I can explain: The Rabbis say it to R. Eliezer: What have you in mind? The fact that they were overlaid? But their Plating was quite nullified in regard to them. R. Abbahu said that R. Eleazar said: The fire of Gehinnom has no power over the Scholars. It is an ad majus conclusion [to be drawn] from the salamander. If now [in the case of] the salamander, which is [only] an offspring of fire, he who anoints himself with its blood is not affected by fire, how much more so the Scholars, whose whole body is fire, for it is written: Is not My word like as fire? saith the Lord. Resh Lakish said. The fire of Gehinnom has no power over the transgressors of Israel. It is an ad majus conclusion [to be drawn] from the altar of gold. If the altar of gold, on which there is only a denar thickness of gold, is not affected through so many years by the fire, how much less so the transgressors of Israel, who are full of good deeds as a pomegranate [is of seeds]; for it is written, Thy temples are like a pomegranate split open. Read not ‘thy temples’ [rakkathek] but ‘thy worthless ones’ [rekanim shebak].18^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ

^ᵃnote:Even when overlaid. Hence, it has to be regarded as a wooden utensil made for resting things on it, and, but for the fact that it used to be lifted to exhibit the showbread on it, would not be susceptible to uncleanness.
^ᵇnote:Ezek. XLI, 22.
^ᶜnote:Through the hospitality shown to poor guests. Cf. R. Johanan's statements about ‘a mouthful of food’ at the end of San. 103b (Sonc. ed., p. 705).
^ᵈnote:Sc. is accounted as the ground.
^ᵉnote:Understood here to refer to the altar of bronze; but v. Tosaf s.v. jczn.
^ᶠnote:Ex. XX, 24.
^ᵍnote:Num. III, 31.
^ʰnote:For were they not overlaid with metal, they would belong to the category of wooden utensils made for resting things on them which are insusceptible to uncleanness (v. p. 168).
^ⁱnote:I.e., what is your reason for declaring the altars to be insusceptible to uncleanness solely on the ground that Scripture terms them earth, but not because they are utensils made for resting things on them?
^ʲnote:And are consequently to be regarded as metal vessels, which are susceptible to uncleanness.
^ᵏnote:Because Scripture terms them ‘wood’ (Ezek. XLI, 22; cf. p. 170).
^ˡnote:V. p. 82, n. 1.
^ᵐnote:A fabulous animal generated in fire which, according to the Midrash, must burn incessantly for seven days and nights; but Rashi here postulates seven years, and the Aruch (s.v.) seventy years. For a fun account of the legend, v. J. E. vol. X, pp. 646-7.
^ⁿnote:Jer. XXIII, 29.
^ᵒnote:Denarius, v. Glos. For Moses wonder at the miracle, v. Tosaf. s.v. ihtau .
^ᵖnote:Lit., ‘precepts’.
^ᵠnote:Cant. IV, 3.
^ʳnote:Lit., ‘thy empty ones’. The thought is the reverse of Eccl. VII, 20; there is none in Israel that sinneth, and yet doeth not good, for even the transgressors, devoid of merit as they may seem, still have innumerable good deeds to their credit.