Zevachim 122

ולאחר שיפרקו הלוים את המשכן

and after the Levites dismantled the Tabernacle.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' 'Before the Levites set up the Tabernacle' cannot be understood literally, but means whilst the Tabernacle was standing, this phrase merely being used in contrast to the second half. Thus the two places are: (i) within the normal precincts of the Tabernacle (within the 'hangings' - v. p. 266, n. 6) whilst it stood; and (ii) likewise within the normal precincts, but after the Tabernacle had been dismantled. The altar, however, was still standing.');">¹</span> You might argue that [in the latter case the flesh] became unfit through having gone out [of bounds].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e. when the Tabernacle is dismantled, and the hangings are no longer there, the flesh should be regarded as having gone out of bounds, and so disqualified.');">²</span> Therefore he informs us [otherwise].

מהו דתימא איפסיל להו ביוצא קא משמע לן

Yet say that that is indeed so? - Scripture saith, Then the tent of meeting shall set forward:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. II, 17.');">³</span> even when it has set forward<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Hence dismantled.');">⁴</span> it is 'the te of meeting.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' It still retains its sanctity, in the sense that the flesh is not regarded as having gone out of bounds.');">⁵</span>

ואימא הכי נמי אמר קרא (במדבר ב, יז) ונסע אהל מועד אף על פי שנסע אהל מועד הוא

R'Hisda<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Emended text (Sh. M) . Cur. edd. Huna.');">⁶</span> said in Rab's name: The altar at Shiloh was of stones. For it was taught.

אמר רב הונא אמר רב מזבח של שילה של אבנים היה דתניא ר"א בן יעקב אומר מה תלמוד לומר (שמות כ, כא) אבנים (דברים כז, ב) אבנים (דברים כז, ב) אבנים שלש פעמים אחד של שילה ואחד של נוב וגבעון ובית עולמים

R'Eleazar B'Jacob said Why is 'stones' stated three times?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ex. XX, 22: And if thou make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; Deut XXVII, 5-6: And there shalt thou build . . an altar of stones . . Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of unhewn stones.');">⁷</span> One refers to that of Shiloh, another to that of Nob and Gibeon, and the third to that of the Eternal House.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Temple at Jerusalem.');">⁸</span> R'Aha B'Ammi raised an objection: The fire which descended from heaven in the days of Moses<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Lev. IX, 24.');">⁹</span>

מתיב רב אחא בר אמי אש שירדה מן השמים בימי משה לא נסתלקה מעל מזבח הנחושת אלא בימי שלמה ואש שירדה בימי שלמה לא נסתלקה עד שבא מנשה וסילקה ואם איתא מעיקרא הוא דאיסתלק ליה

did not depart from the brazen altar until the days of Solomon.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Rashi: A pot was placed over it when they travelled, and the fire remained in its place. When Solomon built the Temple, this fire left the brazen altar and moved to the stone altar in the Temple.');">¹⁰</span> And the fire which descended in the days of Solomon<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This same fire.');">¹¹</span> did not depart until Manasseh came and removed it.

הוא דאמר כרבי נתן דתניא רבי נתן אומר מזבח של שילה של נחושת היה חלול ומלא אבנים

Now if this is correct,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That the altar at Shiloh was of stone.');">¹²</span> it should have departed earlier?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As soon as the stone altar was built at Shiloh, the fire should have departed from Moses' brazen altar.');">¹³</span> - He [R'Hisda in Rab's name] made his statement in accordance with R'Nathan.

ר"נ בר יצחק אמר מאי לא נסתלקה לא נסתלקה לבטלה מאי היא רבנן אמרי שביבא הוה משדרא רב פפא אמר אושפיזא הוה נקט וזימנין הכא וזימנין הכא

For it was taught, R'Nathan said: The altar at Shiloh was of brass; it was hollow, and filled with stones.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The answer is not clear. Presumably it means that it was Moses' brazen altar except that the hollow was filled with stones instead of earth.');">¹⁴</span> R'Nahman B'Isaac said: What does 'it did not depart' mean? It did not depart [disappear] into nothingness.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'in vain,' 'for no purpose.' Until Solomon built the Temple the fire did not completely depart from Moses' altar which was still in existence, for though it did move to the altar at Shiloh, some of it nevertheless remained on that of Moses.');">¹⁵</span>

תנן התם וכשעלו בני הגולה הוסיפו עליו ד' אמות מן הדרום וד' אמות מן המערב כמין גמא מאי טעמא אמר רב יוסף משום דלא ספק

How was it? - The Rabbis said: It sent forth sparks.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' When the fat, etc., was burnt on the stone altar, sparks and flames shot out from the heavenly fire on the brazen altar, which was there too, on to the stone altar.');">¹⁶</span> R'Papa said: It took up its abode now here, now there. We learnt elsewhere: And when the Children of the Exile went up [to Eretz Israel],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., when the Jews returned from Babylon.');">¹⁷</span>

אמר ליה אביי השתא מקדש ראשון דכתיב ביה (מלכים א ד, כ) יהודה וישראל רבים כחול אשר על (שפת) הים ספק מקדש שני דכתיב ביה (עזרא ב, סד) כל הקהל כאחד ארבע רבוא לא ספק א"ל התם אש של שמים מסייעתן הכא אין אש של שמים מסייעתן

they added thereto<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To the altar.');">¹⁸</span> four cubits on the south and four cubits on the west, like a [Greek] gamma.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The altar in the first Temple was twenty-eight cubits square overall, whilst that of the second Temple was thirty-two cubits. The addition would thus be a strip four cubits broad in triangular shape, like a Greek gamma thus:');">¹⁹</span> What is the reason? - Said R'Joseph: Because it [the first] was not sufficient.

כי אתא רבין אמר ר"ש בן פזי משום בר קפרא שיתין הוסיפו מעיקרא סבור מזבח אדמה שהוא אטום באדמה

Said Abaye to him: If it was sufficient for the first Temple, when it is written, Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea [shore] in multitude;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I Kings IV, 20. The bracketed word 'shore', not in the M.T., is found in some old Hebrew MSS.');">²⁰</span> would it be insufficient for the second Temple. whereof it is written, The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand [etc.]?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ezra II, 64.');">²¹</span>

ולבסוף סבור שתיה כאכילה ומאי מזבח אדמה שהוא מחובר באדמה שלא יבננו לא ע"ג כיפים

- There [in the first Temple] the heavenly fire assisted them;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To burn the sacrifices quickly.');">²²</span> here [in the second Temple] it did not assist them. When Rabin came [from Palestine], he said in the name of R'Simeon B'Pazzi: They added the pits [to its structure].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In Solomon's Temple there was a pit near the south-west of the altar, into which the altar libations were directly poured. But in the second Temple the altar was extended on the south and the west, so that the place of the pit was incorporated in it, and over against this extension on top of the altar they made holes for the libations to flow' into the pit below.');">²³</span> At first they had thought that an 'altar of earth' meant that it was to be closed in with earth.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Not hollow or perforated in any way.');">²⁴</span> But subsequently they held that drinking must be like eating.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As 'eating' (the consumption of the flesh) was on top of the altar itself, so must 'drinking' (the libations) be on top of the altar itself.');">²⁵</span> and what does 'an altar of earth' mean? that it should be attached to the earth, not built on rocks