Midrash sobre Êxodo 24:6

Another interpretation of NAVEL. As in the case of the navel, all the time that the infant is located in its mother's abdomen, the navel < coming > from it is a life<line>; so Israel draws its life from the Sanhedrin. Therefore, there is a resemblance between the Sanhedrin and a navel. What is the meaning of ROUND BOWL (literally: BOWL OF ROUNDNESS [sahar])? A patera²The Latin word denotes a merchant’s dish in which the various coins were arranged. used in business.³Gk.: pragmateia. {The ROUNDNESS (sahar) is like the merchant (soher).} Whatever is needed comes out of it (i.e., round bowl). Now this expression (ROUND BOWL, i.e., aggan ha-sahar) can only be a word for patera, as stated (in Exod. 24:6): AND MOSES TOOK HALF THE BLOOD AND PUT IT IN BOWLS (agganot). Another interpretation (of Cant. 7:3 [2]): YOUR NAVEL IS A ROUND BOWL. Abbin bar Bar Hisda said: What is the meaning of ROUND BOWL (aggan ha-sahar)?⁴Cant. R. 7:3:1. It is like the half moon, since they call the moon roundness (sihra in Aramaic).⁵The Aramaic word actually means “moonlight.” <Ergo:> ROUND BOWL, <i.e. the moon>.⁶Aggan ha-sahar actually denotes a full moon, but once the concept of the moon is introduced, it is easy to visualize the moon in any phase. Our masters have said (in Sanh 4:3): THE SANHEDRIN WAS <ARRANGED> LIKE HALF OF A ROUND THRESHING FLOOR. (Cant. 7:3 [2], cont.:) LET NOT MIXED WINE BE LACKING, since there is never less than one-third of them. In the case of mixed wine, whoever mixes it properly mixes a third of a cup of wine with two parts water. So the Sanhedrin would sit from the <time of > the morning sacrifice until the sacrifice at twilight, so that none of them was free for <heeding nature's> necessities. Then what did they do when one of them wanted to leave? He would count. If there were twenty-three, he would leave; but if not, he would not leave. Thus it is written (in Cant. 7:3 [2]): LET NOT MIXED WINE BE LACKING; and there was never less than one third of them. Ergo (in Cant. 7:3 [2]): LET NOT MIXED WINE BE LACKING.

5) (Vayikra 4:5): "And the anointed Cohein shall take (from the blood of the bullock"): "taking" is written here and elsewhere (Shemoth 24:6: "And Moses took half of the blood and put it into basins.") Just as the "taking" there refers to (receiving the blood) in a vessel, here, too, (the "taking" is) in a vessel.

7) R. Yishmael b. R. Yochanan b. Beroka says (Shemoth 24:6): "And Moses took half of the blood and he placed it in basins": From here we learn that the burnt-offering of Sinai required a vessel.