Êxodo 25:17 Referências do Talmudee: Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim, Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat, Jerusalem Talmud Sotah & Berakhot

Rebbi Jehudah bar Pazi in the name of Rebbi: May one read this and not be ashamed³⁰In B: afraid. In the biblical narrative, all good actions are ascribed to individuals, the bad to the entire people.? In a good sense, every one of goodwill³¹Ex. 35:5.; in a bad sense, all the people took off the gold rings in their ears³²Ex. 32:3.. In a good sense, Moses led the people out³³Ex. 19:1.; in a bad sense, all of you ganged up against me³⁴Deut. 1:22.. In a good sense, then Moses and the Children of Israel sang³⁵Ex. 15:1.; in a bad sense, the entire congregation started wailing³⁶Num. 14:1.. Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said, indeed they got up early to destroy³⁷Zeph. 3:7.. Any destructive action they made early in the morning. Rebbi Abba bar Aḥa said, one cannot understand the character of this people; they are asked for the {golden} calf and are giving, for the Sanctuary and are giving. Rebbi Yose ben Ḥanina stated this baraita:³⁸To answer R. Ḥiyya bar Abba’s question. You shall make a cover of pure gold³⁹Ex. 25:17., may the gold of the cover come and atone for the gold of the calf.

¹¹⁸A copy of this paragraph, closer to the original, is in Sukkah 1:1 (ס) 51d l. 56. The parallel discussion in the Babli is Sukkah 5a. 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 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 cover (which is on the Ark of the Covenant)from between the two Cherubim¹¹⁹Ex. 25:6. The words in parentheses are not in the verse and not in ס; they are added to indicate that the argument is about the Ark.. And it is written, you have seen that from Heaven I spoke to you¹²⁰Ex. 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-breadths¹²¹1.5 cubits (Ex. 25:10).? In the House of Rebbi Yannai they said, the cover was one hand-breadth¹²²In the Babli, Sukkah 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 9 cm, cubit 54 cm, then a cover of one hand-breadth height would have a volume of 98.415 (dm)³. Since the cover was of pure gold, of specific weight about 19, the total weight would have been 1870 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 almost 1.9 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 Zeˋira 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 around¹²²In the Babli, Sukkah 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 9 cm, cubit 54 cm, then a cover of one hand-breadth height would have a volume of 98.415 (dm)³. Since the cover was of pure gold, of specific weight about 19, the total weight would have been 1870 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 almost 1.9 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.. Since there it was one hand-breadth, so also here one hand-breadth. But maybe it is only make a golden wreath as its frame all around¹²²In the Babli, Sukkah 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 9 cm, cubit 54 cm, then a cover of one hand-breadth height would have a volume of 98.415 (dm)³. Since the cover was of pure gold, of specific weight about 19, the total weight would have been 1870 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 almost 1.9 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.? 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-breadth¹²³This 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..

How did Beṣalel make the Ark? Rebbi Ḥanina said¹¹²In the Babli, Yoma 72b, this is the opinion of Rav Jehudah, contemporary of R. Ḥanina. The other opinion is not mentioned there., he made three boxes, two of gold and one of wood. He put one of gold inside the one of wood, and the one of wood inside the other one of gold. That is what is written¹¹³Ex. 25:11: “You shall cover it with pure gold, inside and out you shall cover it”.: “You shall cover it inside and out with pure gold inside and out.” Why does the verse say, “you shall cover it”? To include the upper rim¹¹⁴Which was covered by the gold cover separate from the Ark (Ex. 25:17–21.). Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, he made one box and gilded it. That is what is written: “You shall cover it inside and out with pure gold inside and out.” Why does the verse say, “you shall cover it”? Rebbi Phineas said, also between the planks.