Trumah 5782 "Застолье"

(23) You shall make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high. (24) Overlay it with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it. (25) Make a rim of a hand’s breadth around it, and make a gold molding for its rim round about. (26) Make four gold rings for it, and attach the rings to the four corners at its four legs. (27) The rings shall be next to the rim, as holders for poles to carry the table. (28) Make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold; by these the table shall be carried. (29) Make its bowls, ladles, jars and jugs with which to offer libations; make them of pure gold. (30) And on the table you shall set the bread of display, to be before Me always.

(5) You shall take choice flour and bake of it twelve loaves, two-tenths of a measure for each loaf. (6) Place them on the pure table before the LORD in two rows, six to a row. (7) With each row you shall place pure frankincense, which is to be a token offering for the bread, as an offering by fire to the LORD. (8) He shall arrange them before the LORD regularly every sabbath day—it is a commitment for all time on the part of the Israelites. (9) They shall belong to Aaron and his sons, who shall eat them in the sacred precinct; for they are his as most holy things from the LORD’s offerings by fire, a due for all time.

§ It was stated: How is the shewbread prepared, i.e., in what shape? Rabbi Ḥanina says: It was rectangular, with a wide base and two parallel walls with an open space between them, like a box that is open on two sides. Rabbi Yoḥanan says that the shewbread was like a rocking boat, i.e., a triangular-shaped boat with a narrow base from which two walls rise at angles. Since the boat does not have a wide base it rocks from side to side.

And a blessing was sent upon the offering of the omer; and to the offering of the two loaves from the new wheat, which was sacrificed on Shavuot; and to the shewbread, which was placed on the table in the Temple. And due to that blessing, each priest that received an olive-bulk of them, there were those who ate it and were satisfied, and there were those who ate only a part of it and left over the rest because they were already satisfied from such a small amount.

MISHNA: Apropos the mention in the mishna of people who took action in the Temple and were mentioned favorably, the mishna lists those who took action in the Temple and were mentioned unfavorably. The craftsmen of the House of Garmu did not want to teach the secret of the preparation of the shewbread and sought to keep the secret within their family.

GEMARA: The Sages taught in a baraita: The craftsmen of the House of Garmu were expert in the preparation of the shewbread, and they did not want to teach others the secret of its production. The Sages dismissed them and sent for and brought craftsmen from Alexandria in Egypt, a large city with many experts. And those craftsmen knew how to bake like the members of the House of Garmu did, but they did not know how to remove the bread from the oven like they did. The shewbread was baked in a complex shape, and it was difficult to place it in the oven and remove it without breaking it. The difference was that these Alexandrians light the fire outside the oven and bake it outside the oven; and these members of the House of Garmu light the fire inside the oven and bake it inside. In the case of these Alexandrians, their bread becomes moldy over the course of the week, and in the case of these members of the House of Garmu, their bread does not become moldy. When the Sages heard of the matter that the bread of the imported craftsmen was of lower quality than before, they said: Whatever the Holy One, Blessed be He, created, He created in His honor, as it is stated: “Everyone who is called by My name, I have created for My glory” (Isaiah 43:7). In deference to God, the Sages should diminish their honor for the greater glory of God and let the House of Garmu return to their original station. The Sages sent for them to reassume their previous position, and they did not come. They doubled their wages and they came. Each day until then they would take wages of twelve maneh, and today they take wages of twenty-four maneh. Rabbi Yehuda says: Each day they took twenty-four maneh, and today they take forty-eight. The Sages said to them: What did you see that led you not to teach others this craft? They said: The members of our father’s house knew that this house, the Temple, is destined to be destroyed, and they were concerned lest an unworthy man learn our skill of baking and go and engage in idol worship with that skill. Therefore, they attempted to prevent this skill from spreading beyond their family. The Gemara comments: And for this matter they are mentioned favorably: Never was refined bread of fine flour found in the hands of their descendants, so that people would not say that they are sustained from that technique of preparing the shewbread. They ate only bread made of coarse flour mixed with bran, to fulfill that which is stated: “And you shall be clear before the Lord and before Israel” (Numbers 32:22). Not only must one’s behavior be beyond reproach, he should also make certain to be beyond suspicion.

A CROWN OF GOLD ROUND ABOUT. “This is a symbol of the crown of royalty, for the table represents wealth and prominence, just as the Rabbis say ‘the royal table.’” This is Rashi’s language. And this explanation is indeed the truth, for in this lies the secret of the table [in the Tabernacle]. For since the time that the world came into existence, G-d’s blessing did not create something from nothing; instead, the world follows its natural course, for it is written, and G-d saw every thing that He had made, and behold, it was very good. But when the root of the matter already exists, the blessing descends upon it and increases it, just as Elisha said, tell me; what hast thou in the house? and then the blessing came upon the pot of oil that she already had, and she filled all the vessels from it. And in the case of Elijah it is said, The jar of meal was not spent, neither did the cruse of oil fail. And so also was the case with the showbread on the table; upon it rested the blessing, and from it came abundance to all Israel. That is why the Rabbis have said: “Every priest who received even only as much as the size of a bean [of the showbread] ate it and was satisfied.”

because the Merciful One called it: “Wood,” as it is written with regard to the table of the shewbread: “The altar, three 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 the Lord” (Ezekiel 41:22). This verse indicates that even though the table was coated, its identity as a wooden vessel was preserved, which means that, like all wooden vessels, it would not be susceptible to impurity were it not for the fact that they took it out to show to the pilgrims. As the Gemara 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. Rabbi Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish both say the following exposition: When the Temple is standing the altar atones for a person; now that the Temple has been destroyed, it is a person’s table that atones for him, for his feeding of needy guests atones for his sins.