Shekalim 16b: Talmud study for Daf Yomi

Rebbi Joḥanan said, the Ark was made with a cubit of six hand-breadths. Who stated “a cubit of six hand-breadths“? This is Rebbi Meןr’s. [As we have stated17:10.: “Rebbi Meןr says, all cubits were of buildings; Rebbi Jehudah says, the cubit of buildings six, of vessels five.”] According to Rebbi Meןr who says that the Ark was made with a cubit of six hand-breadths, the length of the Ark was fifteen cubits, as it is written 25:10.: Its length two cubits and a half. Each cubit was six and half a cubit three. Four tablets were in it, two whole ones and two broken ones, as it is written. 10:2.: Which you broke and put into the Ark. Each of the tablets was six hand-breadths in length and three in width. Put the widths of the tablets in the length of the Ark, there were three hand-breadths left. Apply them to the cylinder. [On each side half a hand-breadth to have a handle, and two hand-breadths as place to put there the Torah scroll.] The width of the Ark was nine hand-breadths, as it is written: A cubit and half a cubit. A cubit six and half a cubit three. Four tablets were in it, two whole ones and two broken ones. Each of the tablets was six hand-breadths in length and three in width. Put the lengths of the tablets in the length of the Ark, there were three hand-breadths left. On each side half a hand-breadth to have a handle, and two hand-breadths as a place to put there the Torah scroll.

Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, the Ark was made using a cubit of five hand-breadths. Who stated “a cubit of five hand-breadths”? This is Rebbi Jehudah. As we have stated there17:10.: “Rebbi Jehudah says, the builders’ cubit was of six hand-breadths, but that of vessels five hand-breadths.” And the Ark is a vessel. According to Rebbi Jehudah who says that the Ark was made with a cubit of five hand-breadths, the length of the Ark was twelve and one half cubits, as it is written 25:10.: Its length two cubits and a half. Each cubit was five and half a cubit two and one half. Four tablets were in it, two whole ones and two broken ones, as it is written. 10:2.: Which you broke and put into the Ark. Each of the tablets was six hand-breadths in length and three in width. Put the width of the tablets in the length of the Ark, there remains there half a handbreadth. One finger’s thickness for the wall on either side. The width of the Ark was seven and a half hand-breadths, as it is written, Its width a cubit and half a cubit. A cubit five and half a cubit two and a half. Four tablets were in it, two whole ones and two broken ones, as it is written. 10:2.: Which you broke and put into the Ark.. Each of the tablets was six hand-breadths in length and three in width. Put the lengths of the tablets in the width of the Ark, there was one and a half hand-breadths left. . One finger’s thickness for the wall on either side and on each side half a hand-breadth to have a handle.

How did Beṣalel make the Ark? Rebbi Ḥanina said, he made three boxes, two of gold and one of wood. He put (the one of wood inside one of gold and) one of gold inside the one of wood, [and the one of wood inside the other one of gold] and covered it, as is written25:11. As usual, the proof is by the part of the verse not quoted: You shall cover it, with pure gold inside and out you shall cover it, implying separate covers.: You shall cover it with pure gold inside and out. Why does the verse say, you shall cover it? To include the upper rim. Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, he made one box and gilded it, as is written: You shall cover it with pure gold inside and out. Why does the verse say, you shall cover it? Rebbi Phineas said, also between the planks.

How were the tablets written? Rebbi Ḥanania ben Gamliel says, five on one tablet each. But the rabbis say, ten on each tablet, as it is written. 4:13.: He informed you of His covenant which He had commanded you to do, the ten words, ten on each tablet. Rebbi Simeon ben Yoḥai said, twenty on each tablet, as it is written: He informed you of His covenant which He had commanded you to do, the ten words, twenty on each tablet. Rebbi Simai says, forty on each tablet, as it is written, on each side they were written 32:15., a square. Ḥananiah, the son of Rebbi Joshua’s brother, says: Between every two commandments, the details and the letters [of the Torah] were written. Filled with tarsis. 5:14. His hands are golden cylinders, inlaid with tarsis, the cylinders being Torah scrolls (Cant. rabba5:12). The Palestinian Targum to Ex. 28:20, 39:13 translates taršiš by כְּרוֹם יַמָּא רַבָּא ”the color of the Great Sea.“ One may assume that the scribe of the Yerushalmi did not understand the Greek χρω̅μα “color” and shortened it to .כְּ. The Targum to Cant. translates taršiš by the Syriac/Pahlevi word פֵּירוֹזַג (Farsi פירוזה) “turquoise”. The sentence is missing in the Genizah text and in B., like the Great Sea. When Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish had occasion to discuss this verse, he said, Ḥananiah, the son of Rebbi Joshua’s brother, did teach us correctly. Just as in the sea there are small waves between a large wave and the next, so between any two commandments there are the details and the letters of the Torah.

Rebbi Tanḥuma said, I asked before Rebbi Phineas: It is acceptable following Rebbi Jehudah, it is not acceptable following Rebbi Meןr. What is the reason of Rebbi Jehudah? To take this Torah scroll and put it next to the side of the Ark of the Eternal’s covenant. 31:26., etc In the opinion of Rebbi Jehudah, who said, where the Torah scroll was put? They made for it a kind of case outside and the Torah scroll was put into it. What is the reason of Rebbi Meןr? You should put the cover on top of the Ark 25:21.. In the opinion of Rebbi Meןr who says that there is no earlier and later in the Torah, in the Ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give to you 25:16., and after that, you should put the cover on top of the Ark. Rebbi Phineas in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: The Torah which the Holy One, Praise to Him, gave to Moses, was white fire engraved in black fire. It was fire mixed with fire; hewn from fire, given from fire: That is what is written33:2.: From His right hand, the fiery law to them.

MISHNAH: Where were these prostrations? Four in the North, four in the South, three in the East, and two in the West, corresponding to the thirteen gates.
The Southern gates close to the West: the Upper Gate, the Fuel Gate, the Firstborns’ Gate, the Water gate. And why was it called Water Gate? For there they bring in the phial of water for the water libation on Tabernacles. Rebbi Eliezer ben Jacob said, the water will drizzle in the future from under the threshold. 47:1–5.
Opposite them in the North, close to the West, the Jechoniah and Chronicles, Koniahu in Jeremiah, Jechoniah in Esther. gate, the Sacrifice gate, the Women’s gate, the Song’s gate. And why was it called the Jechoniah gate? For through it Jechoniah left in his deportation35b.. In the East the Nikanor gate3:8, Notes 317 ff., which had two small entrances, one to the right and one to the left. And two in the West which had no names.