Comentários de Citação sobre Levítico 6:6

ומדליקו מעל מזבח העולה – for they would not kindle the western lamp/candle/light ever other than from the fire of the altar of the burnt offering, as it is written (Leviticus 6:6): “A perpetual fire shall be kept burning on the altar [not to go out],” and it is written (Leviticus 24:2): “for kindling lamps regularly”, above the outer altar it was kindled.

ואש המזבח תוקד בו, “and the fire of the altar should be kept burning on it.” According to Nachmanides the Torah here issues a command that the fire on the altar be kept going all night long, seeing that it commands that a great deal of firewood be put on the pile by day so that there is no danger that all of this wood will be consumed by the fire during the daylight hours. As to the words ואש תמיד המזבח לא תכבה, “that the fire on the altar not go out,” (6,5 and 6,6) this means that it must be kept going on a year round basis, and it is the task of the priests to see to it that it is kept going. The Torah simply repeats, in order to underline what it had said in verse 5 ובער עליה הכהן עצים בבוקר בבוקר, “the priest shall kindle it every morning,” this is a reminder to see to it that enough firewood is always on hand on the large מערכת, woodpile, to ensure that the fire on the altar never goes out completely. Our sages derive from the impersonal styling of this command, i.e. the Torah warns of what should not happen, not only instructing the priest what to do, that if any person would extinguish a single coal of that fire it would be considered a violation of a negative commandment. [a Midrash even makes a calculation that this fire, started in the second year of the Israelites in the desert was kept going without interruption for 116 years. Ed.] The whole reason why there was a secondary smaller woodpile on the altar was to act as insurance in the event that due to some negligence by some priest, the primary woodpile had been allowed to become extinguished. The sages derive the negative commandment here from the words [not really needed. Ed] והאש על המזבח “and the fire on the altar.” Although they say that this results in the penalty of lashes when committed deliberately, I do not believe that there are separate lashes on account of each coal that was allowed to go out or was extinguished deliberately.

AND THE FIRE OF THE ALTAR SHALL BE BLAZING IN IT. Scripture is stating that it should burn on the altar during the whole night, it being a positive commandment that the priests should put on at daytime a lot of wood in order that it should not be burnt up completely and the fire [should not] become extinguished from it [during the night]. In my opinion, that which He said, Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually; it shall not go out,²⁰Further, Verse 6. Ramban thus explains the impersonal language [“shall be kept burning”] as a command addressed to the priests. is a commandment directed to the priests to keep fire burning continually upon the altar, just as He said, and the priest shall kindle wood upon it,²¹Ibid., 5. commanding them that they should be careful about this — to set fire in order and put enough wood on it to keep the fire burning continually, all day and all night. He gave an additional caution by means of a negative commandment, [it shall not go out],²⁰Further, Verse 6. Ramban thus explains the impersonal language [“shall be kept burning”] as a command addressed to the priests. meaning that it should never be allowed to become extinguished. Thus if the priests were careless and the fire became extinguished they would transgress this negative commandment.²²See further, Note 25 where Ramban differs with Rashi in interpreting the expression ‘lo thichbeh’ (it shall not go out) which appears both in Verse 5 and Verse 6. Consequently Ramban writes here “in my opinion,” alluding to the fact that this is not in consonance with Rashi’s interpretation. It is for this reason that our Rabbis have said²³Yoma 22 b. that [in addition to the large wood-stack burning on the altar] there was a second wood-stack solely for the purpose of keeping up the fire. And that which Scripture states, And the fire upon the altar shall be blazing in it; it shall not go out,²¹Ibid., 5. is a redundant verse, and is therefore interpreted by our Rabbis²⁴Torath Kohanim, Tzav 2:7. as having reference to all people, teaching that whoever extinguishes the fire, transgresses a negative commandment. Even if he extinguishes only one of the live coals of the wood-stack, he is liable to whipping, whether he put it out on top of the altar, or whether he extinguished it below [on the pavement of the Court] after he had taken it down. It appears to me that he violates only one negative commandment.²⁵Ramban’s intent is to allude to Rashi who wrote [in Verse 6]: “One who extinguishes the fire on the altar transgresses two negative commandments” [i.e., ‘lo thichbeh’ (it shall not go out) mentioned in Verse 5 and again in Verse 6]. According to Ramban, however, as explained above, the second lo thichbeh is a special prohibition to the priests who look after the altar not to be careless in permitting the fire to be extinguished. Hence there is only one verse [5] referring to any person who extinguishes the fire on the altar. Hence Ramban’s expression, “It appears to me that he violates only one negative commandment.”

והאש על המזבח תוקד בו AND THE FIRE ON THE ALTAR SHALL BE BLAZING IN IT — Scripture uses here (in this section) many expressions from the root יקד “to ignite”: (Leviticus 6:2) “on the fire-place (מוקדה); (Leviticus 6:2) “and the fire upon the altar shall be blazing (תוקד) on it”; (Leviticus 6:5) “and the fire upon the altar shall be blazing (תוקד) on it”; (Leviticus 6:6) “a continual fire shall be blazing (תוקד) upon the altar” — all these passages have been expounded in Treatise Yoma 45b where our Rabbis state their different opinions as to the number of מערכות (wood-piles — fire-places) that were there (on the altar).