Study Chagigah folio 27A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
because God called it: “Wood,” as it is written with regard to the table of the shewbread: “The altar, 3 cubits high, and its length two cubits, was of wood, and so its corners, its length, and its walls were also of wood, and he said to me: This is the table that is before YHWH” (Ezekiel 41:22). Th
As the Talmud has cited the above verse, it clarifies a puzzling aspect of it: The verse began with the word “altar” and ended with the word “table,” both words describing the same item. R' Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish both say the following exposition: When the Temple is standing the altar atones for
§ The Mishnah taught: All the vessels that were in the Temple had second and third substitute vessels, etc. All the vessels that were in the Temple required immersion, apart from the golden altar and the bronze altar, because they are considered like the ground. The Talmud cites the relevant sources
§ According to the Mishnah, R' Eliezer maintains that the altars are pure because they are like the ground, and the Rabbis say: It is because they are coated. The Mishnah seems to be saying that the Rabbis are offering a different reason for the altars not being susceptible to impurity, namely, th
And if you wish, say that our text of the Mishnah is correct, and we should understand that the Rabbis were saying their statement in response to R' Eliezer: What is your reasoning for stating that the altars are not susceptible to impurity because they are like the ground? Why didn’t you say simply