Menachot 96a (צו.) — the Talmud in English

It is dangerous—he said this about himself—that he was seized by bulmos [a sickness that causes starvation], and they feed him until his eyes become illuminated, even on Yom Kippur.

he said this about himself: he was seized by bulmos [an illness that makes one ravenous], and they feed him until his eyes become illuminated, even on Yom Kippur.

And

if

Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Shimon

who disagreed concerning whether the oven consecrates

the Gemara says that they disagree,

one learned this way from his teacher, and the other learned that way from his teacher.

This is also precise

that Rabbi Shimon did not learn his view from the verse,

as he teaches

in our Mishna:

“Rabbi Shimon says: One should always be accustomed to say: The two loaves and the shewbread are fit in the Azara and fit in Beit Paga”,

and the expression “one should always be accustomed to say” indicates that he said this on the basis of the Gemara.

And we conclude: Indeed,

learn from it

that they disagree on the basis of what they learned from their teachers.

a. It is written [Leviticus 6:13]: “This is the offering of Aaron and his sons, which they shall offer to the Lord on the day that he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a meal-offering perpetually, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening. On a griddle with oil it shall be made, scalded and brought; you shall present it as a meal-offering of pieces, offering a pleasing fragrance to the Lord. The priest who succeeds him from among his sons shall make it; it is an eternal statute for the Lord; it shall be entirely burned.” These are the baked offerings of the High Priest, which the High Priest brings every day.

b. We learned in the Mishna above, at the beginning of the chapter “Two Measures”: “What purpose did the half-ephah measure serve? With it he measured the baked offerings of the High Priest, half in the morning and half between the evenings.”

Mishna:

The baked offerings of the High Priest:

Their kneading, shaping, and baking are performed inside,

because the half-ephah measure—with which he measured the baked offerings of the High Priest—was anointed and consecrated; and if he made them outside, they would become disqualified as a result of being taken outside.

And they override

the kneading, shaping, and baking

Shabbat,

for if he performed them on the eve of Shabbat, they would become disqualified through remaining overnight, and it would emerge that these are labors that cannot be performed on the eve of Shabbat. But

their grinding and sifting,

the wheat for the baked offering of the High Priest, since he can perform them before Shabbat,

does not override Shabbat,

because

Rabbi Akiva stated a principle:

Any labor that can be performed on the eve of Shabbat does not override Shabbat, while one that cannot be

performed on the eve of Shabbat—

even though it is an accessory to a mitzva—

does override Shabbat.

And likewise,

all meal-offerings involve an act with a vessel inside,

that is, their shaping, kneading, and baking are performed in a sacred vessel inside,

and they do not involve an act with a vessel outside.

The two

loaves:

Their length was seven handbreadths, their width four handbreadths, and their horns—

the dough that was attached to each corner in the form of horns—

were four fingerbreadths long,

and these measurements are a halakha given to Moses at Sinai.

The shewbread:

Its length was ten handbreadths, its width five handbreadths, and its horns seven fingerbreadths.

Rabbi Yehuda says:

Here is a mnemonic

so that you will not err

and exchange the measurements of the two loaves and the shewbread:

The two loaves:

7.

4.

4.

[seven, four, four].

The shewbread:

10.

5.

7.

[ten, five, seven].

Ben Zoma says

[he provides support]:

It is written: “And

you shall place upon the table shewbread before Me always,”

and we learn from the expression

“shewbread”:

a.

That it should have faces,

namely, the walls of the bread, as will be explained later in the Mishna.

b.

And that it should have

“corners”

[angles], which are the horns as explained.

a. The length and width of the table are stated explicitly in the Torah [Exodus 25:23]: “You shall make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and one and a half cubits high. You shall make a rim of a handbreadth around it, and make a gold molding around its rim.”

b. Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda disagreed in tractate Kelim 17:10, and it is cited below, page 97a:

According to Rabbi Meir: All cubits—both those of construction and those of the vessels that were in the Tabernacle—were intermediate cubits; that is, a cubit of six handbreadths.

According to Rabbi Yehuda: A construction cubit was six handbreadths, while a vessel cubit was five handbreadths; and they also disagree concerning this in our Mishna.

The table was ten

handbreadths long [two cubits, using a cubit of five handbreadths]

and five

handbreadths wide [one cubit, using a cubit of five handbreadths], whereas

the shewbread—

as explained—

was ten

handbreadths long

and five

handbreadths wide—

Thus,

its length

the length of the bread—which was ten handbreadths—

was placed opposite the width of the table,

which was five handbreadths, leaving five handbreadths of the bread’s length:

He folded two and a half handbreadths here,

from this end of the table two and a half handbreadths rose upright,

and two and a half handbreadths

rose upright

here,

from the other end of the table.