Êxodo 25:10 Referências do Talmudee: Jerusalem Talmud Sukkah, Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim, Jerusalem Talmud Sotah & Sukkah

⁴⁴This paragraph is from Šabbat Chapter 1, Notes 118 ff. While here the problem is that a roof less than 10 hand-breadths from the ground does not have the status of a cover, for the rules of the Sabbath public domain reaches only from the ground to a height of 10 hand-breadths, while private domain extends to an indefinite height. The parallel discussion in the Babli is Sukkah5a. Since the entire discussion is Amoraic, one must conclude that for earlier times the limitation of the public domain to 10 hand-breadths from the ground and the minimal height required for a sukkah was tradition not subject to verification from biblical sources. From where that higher than ten [hand-breadths] is a different domain? Rebbi Abbahu in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: There I shall make My Appearance to you, and I shall speak to you from above the cover⁴⁵Ex. 25:6.. And it is written, you have seen that from Heaven I spoke to you⁴⁶Ex. 20:22.. Since speech mentioned there is from another domain, also speech mentioned here is from another domain. But is the Ark not nine hand-breadths⁴⁷1.5 cubits (Ex. 25:10).? In the House of Rebbi Yannai they said, the cover was one hand-breadth⁴⁸In the Babli 5b, this is questioned but in the end accepted. The biblical data do not fit the assertion. The cover was square of surface area 3.75(cubit)² (Ex. 25:17). The hand-breadth and the cubit are not well defined.. If we take a small hand-breadth of 8.5 cm, cubit 51 cm, then a cover 2 cubits long, 1.5 cubits wide, and one hand-breadth height would have a volume of 108(hand-breadths)³ = 66 (dm)³. Since the cover was of pure gold, of specific weight about 19, the total weight would have been 1260 kg. But the total weight of gold contributed for the Tabernacle (Ex. 38:24) was 29.25 talents or, on a basis of 12.5 g for the sheqel, about 1097 kg, not to speak of the fact that a weight of 1.26 tons would have crushed the wooden ark. All these data were well within the knowledge of antiquity. One has to conclude that they imagined the cover to be hollow.. Rebbi Ze`ira asked, from where that the cover was one hand-breadth? Rebbi Ḥananiah bar Samuel stated, for all the vessels in the Sanctuary the Torah gave the measure of length and width, and gave the measure of its height. Except for the cover where the Torah gave the measure of length and width, but did not give the measure of its height. Therefore we shall learn it from the smallest vessel in the Sanctuary, you shall make for it a frame of one hand-breadth all around⁴⁹This cryptic statement is explained in the Babli (in the name of Rav Aḥa bar Jacob’s teacher Rav Huna) as referring to Lev. 16:2 where Aaron is warned not to appear before the face of the cover except on the day of Atonement. This implies that the cover was not simply a sheet lying over the Ark but had a face, a vertical dimension which is not negligible.. Since there it was one hand-breadth, so also here one hand-breadth. But maybe it refers only to: make a golden wreath as its frame all around⁵⁰It is impossible to say that in general a new domain starts at 10 hand-breadths since it is commonly accepted that a private domain remains private to an indeterminate height. The Ark was standing in the private domain of the Sanctuary; a reference to it seems to be irrelevant.? Since there it is a minimal size, so here also a minimal size. What about it? Rav Aḥa bar Jacob said, face. There is no face less than a hand-breadth⁵¹In the desert, the Ark was travelling in front of the people (Num. 10:33) while the Sanctuary was carried in the middle (v. 17). At the resting place, the Ark automatically assumed a West-East direction so that the Sanctuary could be placed around it and the tribes camped correctly in the four directions of the compass (Num.2). The Ark had functions outside the Sanctuary; the reference is legitimate..

Rebbi Joḥanan said, the Ark was made with a cubit of six hand-breadths. Who stated “a cubit of six hand-breadths“? This is Rebbi Meןr’s. [As we have stated³³Mishnah Kelim17:10.: “Rebbi Meןr says, all cubits were of buildings; Rebbi Jehudah says, the cubit of buildings six, of vessels five.”] According to Rebbi Meןr who says that the Ark was made with a cubit of six hand-breadths, the length of the Ark was fifteen cubits, as it is written³⁴Ex. 25:10.: Its length two cubits and a half. Each cubit was six and half a cubit three. Four tablets were in it, two whole ones and two broken ones, as it is written³⁵Deut. 10:2.: Which you broke and put into the Ark. Each of the tablets was six hand-breadths in length and three in width. Put the widths of the tablets in the length of the Ark, there were three hand-breadths left. Apply them to the cylinder³⁶The Torah scroll.. [On each side half a hand-breadth to have a handle, and two hand-breadths as place to put there the Torah scroll.]³⁷Corrector’s addition from B, to be deleted. The width of the Ark was nine hand-breadths, as it is written: A cubit and half a cubit. A cubit six and half a cubit three. Four tablets were in it, two whole ones and two broken ones. Each of the tablets was six hand-breadths in length and three in width. Put the lengths of the tablets in the length of the Ark, there were three hand-breadths left. On each side half a hand-breadth to have a handle, and two hand-breadths as a place to put there the Torah scroll.

Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, the Ark was made using a cubit of five hand-breadths. Who stated “a cubit of five hand-breadths”? This is Rebbi Jehudah. As we have stated there³³Mishnah Kelim17:10.: “Rebbi Jehudah says, the builders’ cubit was of six hand-breadths, but that of vessels five hand-breadths.” And the Ark is a vessel. According to Rebbi Jehudah who says that the Ark was made with a cubit of five hand-breadths, the length of the Ark was twelve and one half cubits, as it is written³⁴Ex. 25:10.: Its length two cubits and a half. Each cubit was five and half a cubit two and one half. Four tablets were in it, two whole ones and two broken ones, as it is written³⁵Deut. 10:2.: Which you broke and put into the Ark. Each of the tablets was six hand-breadths in length and three in width. Put the width of the tablets in the length of the Ark, there remains there half a handbreadth. One finger’s thickness for the wall on either side. The width of the Ark was seven and a half hand-breadths, as it is written, Its width a cubit and half a cubit. A cubit five and half a cubit two and a half. Four tablets were in it, two whole ones and two broken ones, as it is written³⁵Deut. 10:2.: Which you broke and put into the Ark.. Each of the tablets was six hand-breadths in length and three in width. Put the lengths of the tablets in the width of the Ark, there was one and a half hand-breadths left. ³⁹This sentence is not a continuation of the preceding text but the conclusion of an additional argument about the width of the Ark, reproduced in B and Soṭah. One finger’s thickness for the wall on either side and on each side half a hand-breadth to have a handle.