Menachot 94b (צד:) — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Hanina said: Like a box open at the top

from above; that is, the bread was made of a bottom and two walls opposite one another. The bottom of the bread lay with its length spanning the entire width of the Table, and the walls of the bread rose at the edges 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 [

a ship that dances and sails swiftly across the water]; that is, the bread had no bottom at all, but stood on the Table only on a fingerbreadth of thickness, while its walls sloped upward.

a.

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

this explains how the bowls were placed [it is understandable that the bowls of frankincense were placed] inside the upper bread, on its edges, as it is written: “And you shall place pure frankincense on the arrangement”.

inside the upper loaf, on its edges, as the verse states: “And you shall place pure frankincense on each row.”

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

how could the bowls stand inside bread that had no edges

? And we answer:

a place

was made in the thickness of the wall of the loaf,

for them [making it for them];

there he would place the bowl.

The bread was placed on the Table, and above it were three reeds on which the bread above them rested, since if one placed bread directly on bread, it would become moldy; and so too with each loaf, until the fifth, which had only two reeds above it. The total number of reeds for each arrangement was fourteen, as explained in the Mishna below, 96a, and in the Gemara there, 97a.

b.

Granted, according to the one who says: like an open box, this explains how the reeds were placed

along the length of the bread and across the width of the Table, on the edges of the walls of each loaf.

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

how could one place three reeds on the walls of the bread, when it had room for only one reed to rest

? And we answer:

an overhang

was made for them,

that is, dough was attached and the ends of the loaves were widened, until that place became broad enough to hold three reeds.

On both sides of the Table, at the sides of each arrangement, whose length extended across the entire width of the Table, there were snifin, supports: two posts on each side of the width of the Table, by which they supported the bread, as explained in the Mishna below, 96a.

c.

Granted, according to the one who says: like an open box, this explains why the supports supported the bread

[the supports supported the bread], since the bread was placed with its length across the entire width of the Table, and on both sides its walls rose in a straight line. It follows that the walls of the bread rose alongside the supports, 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 could the supports support the bread!?

And we answer:

he made them rounded, circular

for the supports.

And there are two questions concerning Rabbi Ḥanina:

a.

Granted, according to the one who says: like a dancing ship, this explains why supports are required

because bread that has no edges cannot rest on the Table without being supported by the supports on either side.

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

And we answer:

because of the weight of the bread it would break,

since the bread was heavy and there was concern that it would break; that is, since one loaf of bread was placed on top of another, it weighed down on it, and there was concern that it would break.

b.

Granted, according to the one who says: like a dancing ship, the supports were placed on the Table.

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

[where did he place them]—

Would it enter your mind that he placed them

on the ground

[on the ground]

!?

And we answer:

Yes,

that is indeed the case, as

Rabbi Abba bar Memel said:

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

on

the Table.

According to the one who says: like an open box, the supports were placed

on

the ground.

The Gemara asks:

According to whom,

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

does that which Rabbi Yehuda said apply:

The bread

was

what held up the supports

on which it rested,

and the supports

were

what held up the bread?

And the Gemara explains:

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

because according to the one who says “like an open box,” the supports stood on the ground at the sides of the bread, and the bread did not hold them up.