Chagigah 27a (כז.) — the Talmud in English

I am different, as is a table

for the Merciful One called it “wood,”

to teach you: the coating is subordinate to the table [Rashi below].

As it is written: “the altar [the table standing opposite the altar, Rashi, Ezekiel]

As it is written: “the altar [the table standing opposite the altar, Rashi on Ezekiel]

was three cubits high, and its length was two cubits, and its corners were its own, and its length

and its walls were wood; and he said to me: This is the table that is before the Lord.”

Tosafot wrote in Menahot 97a: This measurement does not apply either to the altar or to the table. Perhaps this was the height of the supporting projections. See what Tosafot wrote here at the end of the discussion beginning “I distinguish.”

Thus the verse called the table “wood.”

And since the Gemara brought this verse, the Gemara explains it:

It began with the altar [the altar was three cubits of wood]

It begins with the altar [“the altar of wood, three cubits”]

and concluded with the table [“This is the table”]?

and ends with the table [“This is the table”]?

Rabbi Yohanan and Resh Lakish both say: When the Temple is standing,

the

altar atones for a person; now, a person’s table

on which he hosts guests

atones for him.

We learned in the Mishna:

All the vessels that were in the Temple had duplicates

and triplicates, etc. “All the vessels that were in the Temple required immersion, except for the golden altar [made of wood and overlaid with gold for the incense] and the copper altar [made of wood and overlaid with copper for the offerings], because they are like the ground”:

And we explain:

The copper altar

is like the ground because

it is written: “An earthen altar you shall make for Me,”

and you shall slaughter your burnt offerings and your peace offerings upon it. The verse called it “earth” to teach you that the altar upon which burnt offerings and peace offerings are slaughtered has the status of the ground.

And the

golden altar

is like the ground because

it is written: “the menorah and the altars”

[the copper and the gold]. Thus,

the altars were juxtaposed to one another,

and just as the copper altar is considered like the ground, so too the golden altar.

We learned in the Mishna: “All the vessels that were in the Temple required immersion, except for the golden altar and the copper altar, because they are like the ground,” the words of Rabbi Eliezer.

And the Sages say: Because they are overlaid:

It might have entered our minds that the Sages agree with Rabbi Eliezer that the altars do not contract impurity; they merely disagree that the reason is because they are like the ground, saying instead that the reason is because they are overlaid:

And we raise an objection:

On the contrary, since they are overlaid, they should contract impurity,

meaning: In principle, we should not have rendered them impure, since they are wooden vessels made to remain in one place. Rather, it is because of their overlay that we should render them impure. How, then, can you say that the overlay causes them not to contract impurity?

And we answer:

Say instead: And the Sages render them impure—

unlike Rabbi Eliezer, who declares them pure—because the altars are not like the ground. And should you say: In any event, they are wooden vessels made to remain in one place and therefore do not contract impurity, this too is not so:

because they are overlaid

and are metal vessels.

Alternatively,

the Sages may indeed agree with Rabbi Eliezer that the altars do not contract impurity, and their reason is not that they are like the ground, but that they are wooden vessels made to remain in one place. And although they are overlaid, the verse revealed that it called them all “wood,” so that the overlay is subordinate to them.

And when the Sages said, “Because they are overlaid”:

The Sages said this to Rabbi Eliezer: What is your view

[what is your reasoning?] You say that the altars do not contract impurity because they are like the ground. It appears from your words that without this reason they would contract impurity, even though they are wooden vessels made to remain in one place. Therefore, surely your reason is

because they are overlaid,

and they do not have the status of wooden vessels; nevertheless, they do not contract impurity because they are like the ground.

But this is not so, for

their overlays are entirely nullified with regard to them

[the overlay is nullified with regard to it], and they do not contract impurity because they are wooden vessels made to remain in one place. Thus, there is no need for your statement that they do not contract impurity because they are like the ground.

Rabbi Abbahu said in the name of Rabbi Eliezer: The fire of Gehinnom has no power over Torah scholars.

And you can learn this by means of a

kal va-chomer from the salamander

[an animal created from fire when a fire is burned in one place continuously for seven years without interruption, Rashi].

And if a salamander, whose nature is fire

[it is created from fire]—

one who smears its blood

on his body is benefited by the blood, so that

fire has no power over him

[such is the nature of the salamander’s blood]—

Torah scholars, whose entire bodies are fire, as it is written: “Is not My word like fire, says the Lord,” all the more so

that fire has no power over them.

Resh Lakish said: The fire of Gehinnom has no power over the sinners of Israel.

And you can learn this by means of a

kal va-chomer from the golden altar: If the golden altar, which has nothing upon it except the thickness of a gold dinar,

experienced a miracle, so that even after

many years fire has no power over it

in the gold, and it does not become diminished [Rashi].

The sinners of Israel, who are full of mitzvot like a pomegranate, as it is written: “Your cheek [rakkat] is like a split pomegranate”; do not read “your cheek [rakkat]” but rather “the empty ones [reikanin] among you,”

to teach you that they are full of mitzvot like a pomegranate—

all the more so

that fire has no power over them.

We have returned to you, chapter “The Stringency of Sacred Things,” and the tractate of Hagigah is concluded.