Komentarz do Diwrej ha-jamim II 4:28

ten cubits from brim to brim Ten by ten in its center, circular around.

and a line of thirty cubits did encompass it round about Whatever has a circumference of three handbreadths has a diameter of one handbreadth.

and the height thereof was five cubits its depth.

And the likeness of oxen was beneath it And he cast the forms of the likeness of oxen from it to stand upon, and they were fastened to it, as is stated at the end of the verse: “The oxen were cast when it was cast.”

round about, encompassing it; ten cubits encompassing the sea It is not elucidated here what the thing that encompassed them was, but in I Kings (7:24) it is written: “And under the brim were ornamental knobs encompassing it round about, for ten cubits, encompassing the sea round about.” Knobs are like those made for cups, round pomels (apple-shaped) knobs, for the sake of beauty, and beneath its brim and round about, they stood in the three lowest cubits, which were square, and the two round upper ones. And it is impossible to contain [that which Scripture says] (ibid. verse 26): “it contained two thousand bath,” which are the equivalent of one hundred fifty purifying pools, except in this matter, as is delineated in Erubin (13a). And it is impossible to say that the upper ones were square and the lower ones were round, because that which is written: “it was round all about,” refers to its brim, and that which Scripture states about these knobs, “ten cubits” on each side, but where it was round, it is impossible to say, “ten cubits around.”

two rows the knobs were cast when it was cast;

all were cast together, not that he attached the knobs after its casting, with nails or with glue, called soldure in Old French, soldering.

and all their hind parts were inward The hind parts of all these oxen were facing inward (to) their bottom; those in the north their hind parts were facing opposite those in the south, and those in the east opposite those in the west.

And its thickness was a handbreadth [i.e.] its bottom and its walls, but at its mouth it was thin, spread out and flattened.

like the work of the brim of a cup used for drinking, upon which is depicted a lily flower.

it contained three thousand It contained this amount, but in I Kings (7:26) it is written: “It contained two thousand baths.” The heaped measure was a third, for a bath is three seah, as is said: (Ezek. 45:11): “The ephah and the bath shall have one volume.” Thus you have six thousand seah. This equals a hundred and fifty purifying pools for four thousand seah equal a hundred mikvaoth. And we find also for the remaining two thousand seah fifty mikvaoth, and even if you divide the vessel according to the measure that the Rabbis computed, namely a cubit by a cubit by the height of three cubits for a mikvah, you will find the same: for the height of three cubits, which was square, and which was ten by ten from its brim to its brim, are a hundred mikvaoth, and for the height of two cubits, where it was round, ten by ten from its brim to its brim around equal fifty mikvaoth, because a square is a fourth more than a circle.

And he made ten lavers in addition to Moses’.

and he placed five on the right of Moses’ laver.

and five on the left to wash with them This is the sanctification of the hands and feet.

the performance of the burnt offering they would rinse with them With the water of the laver they would rinse the innards of the burnt offering, and only the burnt offering, but not the peace offering, because it was eaten by the owners and throughout the city. The lavers were for sanctification and the sea for immersion.

And he made the ten golden candelabra according to their regulations Why is it stated in connection with the candelabra, “according to their regulations”? Because he informs us why he made ten candelabra, and everything he deduced from the Torah: the flowers, the knobs, the almond-shaped cups enumerated in the chapter were seventy, meaning that for each of the ten candelabra were seven lamps. (This is how my mother’s brother, my uncle, Rabbi Klonimos the son of Rabbi Judah explained it, and it is a midrash), and its seven lamps corresponded to the seven planets: Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars.

and placed them in the Heichal, five from the right of Moses’ candelabrum.

and five from the left but they were all in the south.

from the left of the table in the north.

and he made a hundred golden basins with which to sprinkle the blood on the altar.

And he made the priests’ court This is known as the ְעֶזרַת הַכֹּהֲנִים.

and the large court This is the court of the Israelites.

from the right side eastward, opposite the south He distanced it from the east, from opposite the entrance to the south of the forecourt, because it is neither respectful nor fitting that they should immerse themselves opposite the entrance of the vestibule.

And Huram made the pots Copper pots, made to gather the ashes to put them into the pots.

and the two bowls and chapiters atop the pillars for the two pillars.

and the networks were two These are the chains mentioned above (3:16), and the proof that it is so is that neither here nor in Kings does he mention the chains anywhere.

to cover the two bowls of the chapiters to cover the hollow of the chapiters with chains, and those branches were like palm branches, as I explained (ad loc.).

And the four hundred pomegranates Above (ad loc.), he states: “and he made a hundred pomegranates.” How so? We must explain it in this manner: He surely made four hundred pomegranates, as is stated here, and where it is stated [that he made] a hundred, it means a hundred for each row, for there were four rows, as it is stated: “two rows of pomegranates to one network,” and so two rows of pomegranates to the other network, totaling four rows, and the pomegranates were strung within the networks, which were set and inserted to cover the two bowls of the chapiters.

And he made the bases But in I Kings (7:27), it is written: “And he made the ten bases of copper.” The bases are the bases of the laver, and there their work is explained.

And the pots, and the shovels, and the forks Although we already mentioned it above, he repeats it again, to let us know that they were copper, and also to let us know about the forks, which were not mentioned above.

burnished - Heb. מָרוּק, similar to (Jer. 46:4): “polish (מִרְקוּ) the spears,”; (Lev. 6: 21): “it shall be scoured (וּמרַק) and rinsed with water.” In I Kings (7:45), it is written מְמרָט, like (Lev. 13:40): “whose head will become bald (יִמָּרֵט),” and the Targum renders: fine copper.

in the thickness of the ground The Targum renders: clay, ardille in Old French.

between Succoth and Zeredathah In I Kings (7: 46) it says Zarethan. Zeredathah was the place of Jeroboam, (11: 26): “And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow.” Since a corpse conveys ritual contamination in a tent, and a mezora likewise, and so it is with an idol, as we learned at the end of the third chapter of Abodah Zarah (Mishnah 8). “A widow” means that he widowed [isolated] Israel from its God. “From Zeredah” means that he narrowed the Torah and did not broaden it; i.e., מִן הַצְרֵדָתָה, means הֵצַר דַּת אֱלֹהֵינוּ he narrowed the law of our God. My uncle of blessed memory explained it to me in this manner.

And the candelabra and their lamps To remove [the false idea] from the hearts of those who explain that the lamps were made from the body of the candelabrum and attached to it, because it is written: “and the candelabra and their lamps.” Since Scripture mentions the lamps separately and not the remaining work of the candelabrum separately, namely the cups and the flowers, we deduce that the lamps were not attached, and since they were not attached to it, they appeared like a different work, and it was necessary to mention the lamps, but the other works, which were attached to it, he does not mention because they are called by the name of the candelabrum, and [the reason] he made ten candelabra, ten tables, ten lavers, the cherubim, and all that he made is explained in the Baraitha of Rabbi Phinehas the son of Jair (Midrash Tadshe, ch. 2).

And the flower Our Rabbis explained that this corresponds to the flower that Moses added in the section, “Behaalothecha”: (Num. 8:4) “to its rootstock, to its flower, etc.,” which is not mentioned in “Terumah.”

and the tongs were gold with which they would lift up the wick from the lamp containing oil.

it was fine gold Refined and purified gold, fin in Old French, refined, pure, and in Menahoth (29a) it is explained: out of all the gold that Solomon had, out of the abundance of gold that entered the candelabrum to refine it and purify it and to fulfill the commandment of making a candelabrum of pure gold.

And the musical instruments - Heb. וְהַמְזַמְּרוֹת.

and the basins with which to sprinkle the blood on the altar.

and the spoons for th e spoons of frankincense (Lev. 24:7).

and the censers with which to gather up the part of the ashes that is separated [from the rest and cast beside the altar, as in Lev. 6:31, (and the rest of the ashes) to pick up from the altar, (ibid. 16:12): “And he shall take a full censer, etc.”