Shabbat 99a — the Talmud in English

The five curtains of the Tabernacle were joined to one another with a needle, and this was one joining; and likewise, the other five curtains were joined to one another with a needle, and this was a second joining. And concerning the curtains of goats’ hair, there was one joining of five curtains, and one of six curtains. And the manner of joining the joinings to one another is explained in the verse: “And you shall make loops of sky-blue wool on the edge of the one curtain at the end of the joining; and so shall you make on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second joining. The loops shall correspond to one another. And you shall make fifty gold clasps, and join the curtains to one another with the clasps [which grasped the loop, and the loop opposite it], and the Tabernacle shall be one.”

And the clasps appeared

when they were placed

in the loops, like stars in the firmament

, because the clasps were of copper and they glittered like stars, and the loops were made of sky-blue wool, whose color resembled the firmament.

The Sages taught: The lower curtains

which were placed directly upon the Tabernacle, were

of sky-blue wool

[wool dyed with the blood of a chilazon, and its color was green],

and of purple

[wool dyed with a type of dye whose name was purple],

and of crimson wool and fine linen

, and these four types were together in each and every thread.

And

if the

upper

[those curtains which lay upon the lower curtains] were

of goats’ work

[made from goats’ hair].

And greater wisdom was stated concerning the upper ones than what was stated concerning the lower ones.

For in the case of the lower ones,

which were made of sky-blue wool, purple, crimson wool, and fine linen,

it is written: “And every woman whose heart moved her in wisdom spun with her hands.

And they brought [their contributions for the work of the Tabernacle] the spun sky-blue wool, the purple, the crimson wool, and the fine linen.”

But concerning the upper ones,

which were made of goats’ work,

it is written

in that same matter of the contribution to the Tabernacle:

“And all the women whose hearts moved them in wisdom spun the goats’ hair.”

And the expression “whose hearts moved them in wisdom” indicates that they possessed greater wisdom.

And it was taught in the name of Rabbi Nechemya,

what was the extra wisdom required for spinning the curtains of goats’ hair:

They spun while the goats were washed

themselves

and spun from the goats

themselves, for they performed all these actions upon the backs of goats, since this is the meaning of the expression “they spun the goats’ hair.”

We learned in the Mishna:

Two balconies,

the one who extends an object is liable:

Rav said in the name of Rabbi Chiyya: Carts,

with which the sons of Merari carried the boards of the Tabernacle, and they proceeded as two carts in front and two carts behind,

beneath them

of the carts,

and between them

between the wheel of this cart and the wheel of the cart which traveled alongside it,

and their sides

[that is: the walls of the cart, their wheels, and the space between the walls and the wheels]

are a public domain

.

Between

one wheel

of one cart

and

the

wheel

of the second cart

which traveled alongside it, there was

the measure of the length of a cart; and how much is the length of a cart?

Five cubits.

And we challenge this:

Why do I need

the length of the cart to be five cubits!? If he arranged the boards upon it in such a manner that their width lay on the cart, you cannot place there more than three boards, each one a cubit and a half wide. And even if he arranged them so that the thickness of the boards, which was one cubit, lay on the cart, you cannot place there more than four boards, for the rings of the bars were set in the width of the boards and they separated one board from another. It follows that, either way,

four and a half

cubits

is sufficient

[four and a half cubits are enough] as the width of three boards, or as the thickness of four boards, which is four cubits; and in the remaining half-cubit there is certainly room for the bars that separated them!?

And we answer: He left space between one board and another,

so that the boards would not be pressed together

[it is impossible to press the boards together, constrict them, and seat five boards in five cubits]. That is, the length of the cart was sufficient so that, if he wished to lay the boards on their width, the boards would not be attached to one another; and for that space between the boards the cart had an excess of half a cubit.

Rava said: The sides of a cart

[its walls on its two sides, and its wheels on its two sides together with the space between the walls and the wheels] contain

the measure of the width

of the hollow of the

cart.

And how much is the width

of the hollow of the

cart?

Two and a half cubits.

It follows that there was one and a quarter cubits for each side of the cart.

And we challenge this:

Why do I need

two and a half cubits for the width of the hollow of the cart!? If you say that it was so that, if he wished to place a board along the length of the cart, he could insert it into it, if so,

one and a half cubits is sufficient

[one and a half cubits are enough]. And although, with a width of one and a half cubits, he could not press a board whose width was one and a half cubits into it, nevertheless, when he wished to insert a board lengthwise, he would lay it on its edge, which was only one cubit.

And we answer:

So that the boards would not sway

[so that the boards would not be dangling and inclined this way and that]. That is, since the length of the boards was ten cubits, it was impossible to lay their length on a cart whose width was less than two and a half cubits, for otherwise the boards would not have balance, and they would tend to fall while the cart was moving.

And we challenge this:

But, we hold that every public domain

is

sixteen cubits wide—

we derive it from the Tabernacle,

that is, and this we indeed learn from the carts of the Tabernacle, and behold,

the Tabernacle was fifteen

[the public domain of the Tabernacle was fifteen cubits], for each cart with its sides was five cubits, and between one cart and the cart alongside it there was another five cubits, making only fifteen cubits!? And we answer:

There was an extra cubit

[there was an additional cubit],

where there stood

who was standing there

a Levite, who, when the boards slipped, would grasp them. That is, at times one of the boards would fall, and the Levite would arrange it while standing in that extra cubit.

That is, sometimes one of the boards fell, and the Levite would set it right while standing in that additional cubit.

Mishna:

The embankment of a pit,

that is, a pit surrounded by its embankment [the earth removed from the pit],

and

likewise

a rock,

which are ten high and four wide,

that is, if the partitions of a pit were ten handbreadths high and the pit was four by four handbreadths wide within it; and likewise a rock that was ten handbreadths high and four by four handbreadths wide at its top:

One who takes from them

and places in the public domain surrounding them,

and one who places

[or one who places] from the public domain

upon them

that is, upon the top of the rock or into the depth of the pit, behold, he is

liable,

for they are a private domain. But if it was

less than this,

in height or in width, behold, he is

exempt,

for there is a private domain only when it is ten handbreadths high, or when the place has partitions ten handbreadths high, or when it is ten handbreadths deep, provided that it is four handbreadths by four handbreadths wide.

Gemara:

And we challenge this: Regarding what we learned, “the embankment of a pit,” it is necessarily not referring to saying that if the embankment of a pit was ten high and four wide, it is a private domain, for that is the law of a rock, which the Mishna already taught. Necessarily, the intention of the Mishna is to teach that the depth of a pit is a private domain [as was explained in the Mishna]. If so,

why do I need it to teach, “the embankment of the pit and the rock”,

why mention here the embankment of the pit?

Let it teach

[let the Mishna teach]:

“the pit and the rock”!?

And we answer:

It supports

our Mishna

in favor of Rabbi Yochanan!

For Rabbi Yochanan said: A pit and its embankment combine to make ten.

That is, even if the depth of a pit below the public domain is not ten handbreadths, but it is only five handbreadths deep, and the embankment surrounding the pit is five handbreadths high, these combine to make a height of ten handbreadths. And our Mishna, too, comes to teach that the pit, within it, is a private domain, even though its depth is not ten handbreadths except in combination with the embankment of the pit surrounding it.

It was also taught so [

and so we likewise learned in a beraita in accordance with the words of Rabbi Yohanan]:

A pit in the public domain, ten deep and four wide

four handbreadths by four handbreadths,

one may not draw

water

from it on Shabbat,

for it follows that he transfers the water from the private domain to the public domain surrounding the pit.