Gemara Clarity

Shabbos 98b

שבת צ״ח ע״ב

Shabbat 98b

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

Open Shabbos 98b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The shape of the קרשים of the משכן (tapered or even, רבי יהודה vs. רבי נחמיה) and how this changes the way the curtains covered the משכן.

Overview

This amud opens with שמואל finishing an earlier question about the wagons of the משכן: what lay under them was the narrow stakes (יתדות). Then a ברייתא brings a מחלוקת about the beams (קרשים). רבי יהודה says they narrowed to a fingerbreadth at the top. רבי נחמיה says they stayed one אמה thick all the way up. Each side explains the other's word in the פסוק (תמים, יחדו), and רבי יהודה answers a challenge from the corner beams by saying the beams were sloped like mountains. A ברייתא adds that the middle bar (בריח התיכון) stood by a miracle. The גמרא then measures the inner curtains and the goat-hair curtains and shows how much of the beams and sockets each view leaves covered or showing. The extra back curtain leads to a question on רבי נחמיה from the word תסרח, which he reads as 'hangs longer than the others.' The amud ends by starting a new ברייתא about grooved beams and hollow sockets, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אָמַר שְׁמוּאֵל: בִּיתֵדוֹת.

Shmuel said: With the stakes.

תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן:

The Sages taught:

קְרָשִׁים מִלְּמַטָּן עוֹבְיָין אַמָּה,

The beams were one cubit thick at the bottom,

וּמִלְּמַעְלָן כָּלִין וְהוֹלְכִין עַד כְּאֶצְבַּע,

and at the top they kept narrowing until they were like a fingerbreadth,

The steps (19)

  1. Resolutionשמואל: The Stakes Were Under the Wagons
  2. Statementרבי יהודה: The Beams Narrowed to a Fingerbreadth at the Top
  3. Statementרבי נחמיה: The Beams Were One Cubit Thick All the Way Up
  4. ChallengeChallenge to רבי נחמיה: What About the Word תמים?
  5. ResolutionAnswer: תמים Means Whole Beams, Not Joined Planks
  6. ChallengeChallenge to רבי יהודה: What About the Word יחדו?
  7. ResolutionAnswer: יחדו Means the Beams Were Lined Up Straight
  8. ChallengeChallenge to רבי יהודה from the Corner Beams
  9. ResolutionAnswer: The Beams Were Shaved into a Slope Like Mountains
  10. StatementThe middle bar stood by a miracle
  11. StatementInner curtains across the width: what was left uncovered on the sides
  12. StatementInner curtains along the length: what hung down the back wall
  13. StatementGoat-hair curtains across the width: covering the sides
  14. ProofA ברייתא backs up the dispute about the extra אמה
  15. StatementMeasuring the goat-hair curtains along the length of the משכן
  16. ChallengeHow does רבי נחמיה explain the word תסרח?
  17. Resolutionתסרח means it hangs longer than the others
  18. StatementThe משכן is like a woman whose skirt trails behind her
  19. StatementA new ברייתא: grooved beams and hollow sockets