Menachot 94b — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Hanina said: Like a box open

at the top; that is: the bread was made of a bottom and two walls opposite one another, and the bottom of the bread was placed with its length across the entire width of the Table, while the walls of the bread rose at the ends of the Table on both sides of the Table’s width, one on this side and one on that side.

Rabbi Yohanan said: Like a dancing ship

[dancing and sailing swiftly upon the water]; that is: the bread had no bottom at all, and it stood on the Table with only the thickness of a finger, while its walls sloped upward.

a.

Granted, according to the one who says: like an open box,

this is understandable, that the frankincense bowls were resting

[it is understandable that the frankincense bowls were resting] inside the upper bread, on its edges, as the verse says: “And you shall place pure frankincense upon each arrangement.”

But according to the one who says: like a dancing ship, how were the frankincense bowls resting,

how could the bowls stand inside the bread, which has no edges!?

And we answer:

a place

in the thickness of the wall of the loaf

he made for them

[he made it for them]; there he placed the bowl.

The bread was placed upon the table, and above it three reeds, in order to seat the bread that was upon it upon them, for if he placed bread upon bread, they would become moldy; and so too upon each bread until the fifth, upon which there were only two reeds. The total number of reeds was fourteen for each arrangement, as explained in the Mishna below, 96a, and elucidated in the Gemara there, 97a.

b.

Granted, according to the one who says: like an open box, this is understandable, that the reeds were resting

along the length of the bread and across the width of the table—upon the edges of the walls of each and every bread.

But according to the one who says: like a dancing ship, how were the reeds resting,

how could he seat three reeds upon the walls of the bread, when it has room only for the resting of one reed!?

And we answer:

an overhang

he made for them,

that is, he attached dough and broadened the ends of the bread until that place became wide enough to receive three reeds.

On the two sides of the table, at the sides of each arrangement whose length was set across the entire width of the table, there were “branches”; these were two posts on each side of the width of the table, with which they supported them, as explained in the Mishna below, 96a.

c.

Granted, according to the one who says: like an open box, this is understandable, that the branches supported the bread

[the branches supported the bread], for the bread was placed with its length across the entire width of the table, and on its two sides the walls rose in a straight line. It follows that the walls of the bread rose alongside the branches, which supported the walls of the bread so that they would not break and fall to the sides of the table, on either side.

But according to the one who says: like a dancing ship, how did the branches support the bread!?

And we answer:

he made them circular,

for the branches.

And two questions to Rabbi Hanina:

a.

Granted, according to the one who says: like a dancing ship, this is understandable, that we require branches,

because bread that has no edges cannot sit upon the table without the branches supporting it, one on this side and one on that side.

But according to the one who says: like an open box, why do I need branches!?

And we answer:

because of the weight of the bread, it will break,

since the bread is heavy, there is concern that it will break; that is, since one bread was upon the other, it weighed upon it, and there was concern that it would break.

b.

Granted, according to the one who says: like a dancing ship, the branches were placed upon the table.

But according to the one who says: like an open box, where did he place the branches

[where did he place them]—

And would it enter your mind that on

the ground

[upon the ground]

he placed them!?

And we answer:

Yes,

indeed this is so, and as

Rabbi Abba bar Memel said:

According to the words of the one who says: like a dancing ship, the branches were upon the table

they were

placed.

According to the words of the one who says: like an open box, the branches were upon the ground

they were

placed.

The Gemara asks:

According to whom,

according to which of the two amoraim who disagreed concerning the shape of the bread

does this statement of Rabbi Judah proceed:

The bread

was

holding up the branches

upon which it was placed,

and the branches

were

holding up the bread?

And the Gemara explains:

According to the one who says: like a dancing ship,

for according to the one who holds: like an open box, the branches stood upon the ground at the sides of the bread, and the bread did not hold them up.