Gemara Clarity

Menachos 98b

מנחות צ״ח ע״ב

Menachot 98b

Learn Menachos 98b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Menachos 98b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The ארון's poles and carriers, and how שלמה's ten שולחנות and מנורות were placed in the היכל.

Overview

The ברייתא finishes explaining that the poles of the ארון pressed against the פרוכת and made it bulge, without ever being seen. רבי יהודה proves the poles ran along the ארון's width: four carriers, two on each side, could not walk in only one and a half אמות. A ברייתא then teaches that שלמה made ten שולחנות and ten מנורות, arranged five on each side of משה's original vessel, so all the tables stayed in the north and all the מנורות in the south. Two ברייתות that seem to disagree about how far inside the היכל these vessels stood turn out to mean the same spot, 20 אמות from the entrance. רבי says the tables lay east-west, learning from the מנורה, while רבי אלעזר ברבי שמעון says north-south, learning from the ארון and holding that even the מנורה stood north-south. The גמרא then asks how ten tables could fit across the twenty-אמה width of the היכל. The answer is that the tables stood in two rows, not one.

Opening lines

דּוֹחֲקִין וּבוֹלְטִין בַּפָּרוֹכֶת,

They press and bulge out against the Curtain,

וְדוֹמִין כְּמִין שְׁנֵי דַּדֵּי אִשָּׁה,

and they look like the two breasts of a woman,

שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״צְרוֹר הַמֹּר דּוֹדִי לִי

as it is said: "A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me,

בֵּין שָׁדַי יָלִין״.

he lies between my breasts."

The steps (33)

  1. ResolutionThe poles pushed against the Curtain and made it bulge
  2. ChallengeMaybe the poles ran along the length of the Ark
  3. ResolutionTwo men cannot walk in a cubit and a half
  4. QuestionHow do we know four people carried the Ark
  5. ResponseTwo plural words show four carriers
  6. Statementשלמה המלך made ten tables
  7. ChallengeReading 'right and left' as the sides of the entrance puts שולחנות in the south
  8. Resolutionמשה's table in the middle, with five on each side of it
  9. Statementשלמה also made ten מנורות
  10. ChallengeReading 'right and left' as the sides of the entrance puts מנורות in the north
  11. Resolutionמשה's מנורה in the middle, five on each side
  12. ChallengeTwo teachings disagree on how far in the vessels stood
  13. ResolutionBoth teachings mean the same spot
  14. StatementWhich way did the tables face?
  15. QuestionAsking for רבי's reason
  16. Responseרבי learns from the מנורה
  17. QuestionHow do we know the מנורה stood east-west?
  18. ResponseProof from the western lamp being 'before ה׳'
  19. QuestionWhat is רבי אלעזר ברבי שמעון's reason?
  20. ResponseHe learns the tables from the ארון
  21. ChallengeWhy doesn't רבי learn from the ארון?
  22. ResolutionOutside is learned from outside
  23. ChallengeWhy doesn't רבי אלעזר ברבי שמעון learn from the מנורה?
  24. ResolutionThe מנורה itself stood north-south
  25. ChallengeThe verse says the lamps were arranged before ה׳
  26. ResolutionThe wicks were angled to the side
  27. ProofA ברייתא shows the lamps faced the middle lamp
  28. ChallengeHow could ten tables fit in twenty אמות?
  29. ChallengeHow could the כהנים get through?
  30. ChallengeFive tables would be in the south
  31. ChallengeWhere would משה's table go?
  32. RejectionThe same problem hits the other view too
  33. ResolutionThe tables stood in two rows, not one