Commento su Esodo 25:38

ומלקחיה — These were tongs made for taking the wicks out from the oil, to put them in position and to draw them into the mouths. Because people took things with them they were called מלקחים, (from לקח, “to take”). The word צבתהא by which Onkelos renders it is the same as the more familiar term צבת, “a pair of tongs”; tenailles in old French

ומלקחיה, ומחתותיה זהב טהור; both its tongs and its snuffdishes to be of pure gold. The Torah had to mention the words "pure gold" here as everybody agrees that these utensils were not cast from the previously mentioned talent of gold.

ומלקחיה, the tongs needed to handle the wicks in order to insert them in the lamps.

ומחתותיה, “and its pans.” Rashi explains that these “pans,” were meant to accommodate the wicks after they had burnt out. Other commentators claim that these “pans” were small receptacles in which the oil for each of the lamps was placed. This seems unlikely, as it would pose the question what does the word נרותיה in verse 37 mean?

V. 38. Die Zangen und Pfannen waren zum täglichen Dienste des Leuchters, der Säuberung und Herrichtung des Öls und der Dochte (הטבה) notwendig.

ומחתתיה AND ITS SNUFF-DISHES — These were like small bowls into which the High Priest raked the ashes every morning when he cleansed out the lamps from the ashes of the wicks that had burned all night and had become extinguished. The word מחתה is fougère (feuchière) in old French, as in, (Isaiah 30:14) “to rake (לחתות) fire from the hearth.”

ומחתותיה, the ash-pans in which the leftover, possibly still glowing, remnants of the wicks and any unburned oil would be removed when cleaning out the lamps each morning.