Shevuot 15a (טו.) — the Talmud in English

And so shall you do".

Therefore, the verse added the words, “And so shall you do,” to teach that the construction

for generations

must be like the construction that was performed in the Tabernacle. For in the days of Moses, they sanctified the Temple courtyard by the authority of Moses, who was a king and a prophet, and his brother was the High Priest, and the Urim and Tummim, and the seventy elders.

Rava raised an objection

to what we learned from “And so shall you do” that it applies for generations, from the following beraita:

All the vessels [

the sacred vessels]

that Moses made

in the Tabernacle,

their anointing

with the anointing oil

sanctifies them,

as it is stated: “And he anointed them and sanctified them.” But

from that point onward [

the vessels made thereafter],

their service

as sacred vessels

inaugurates them

for service; that is, by performing with the vessels a service that requires a sacred vessel, the sacred vessel is sanctified through this service.

And one should raise this difficulty concerning what we derived above from “And so shall you do” for generations:

and why

does their service inaugurate them,

when

surely

we could say:

the verse also states concerning the making of the vessels, “According to all that I show you . . . and the pattern of all its vessels

; and so shall you do,” and we should derive that even

and let us derive that even

for generations

their anointing sanctifies them!?

And we answer:

That case is different

with regard to the vessels, because

the verse says [Numbers 7:1], concerning the erection of the Tabernacle: “And it came to pass on the day that Moses finished erecting the Tabernacle, and he anointed it and sanctified it and all its vessels, and the altar and all its vessels,

and he anointed them and sanctified them.”

and he anointed them and sanctified them.”

And we learn from the wording “them”:

them through anointing, but for generations not through anointing.

say: expound the verse “them” as follows:

And we challenge this:

Say

that the verse “them” should be expounded as follows:

them through anointing,

whereas

for generations, either through anointing or through service,

and not as we have said, that only the service sanctifies them!?

He said—

he answered—

Rav Pappa:

The verse says [Numbers 4:12], concerning the carrying of the Tabernacle and its vessels: “And they shall take all the sacred vessels

with which they serve in the Sanctuary.”

with which they will serve in the Sanctuary.”

The verse made

the sacred vessels

dependent upon service,

to teach that for generations they are sanctified specifically through service and not through anointing. And we challenge this:

Now that the Merciful One has written

“with which they will serve,”

and we have already learned the law of sanctification for generations from this verse, then

“them”

why do I need it!?

And we answer:

Had the Merciful One not written

“them,”

in addition to “with which they will serve in the Sanctuary,”

I would have thought

to expound it as follows:

These [

the vessels that Moses made]

are through anointing, whereas

the vessels

for generations are through anointing and

also

through service, for

on the other hand

it is written

“And so shall you do,”

and in any event we could say that the vessels require anointing even for future generations. Therefore

the Merciful One excluded

“them,”

to teach:

them through anointing, but for generations not through anointing

at all, but only through service, as it is written: “with which they will serve in the Sanctuary.”

We learned in the Mishna: one may not add to the Temple courtyard except

with two thanksgiving offerings:

A tanna

in a beraita taught:

“Two thanksgiving offerings”

that they said

in our Mishna, with which they sanctify the area, means

with their loaves,

that is, with the two loaves of leavened bread brought with the thanksgiving offering, as the Gemara will explain,

not with their flesh,

of the thanksgiving offerings.

And we explain:

From where are these matters

that the sanctification is performed with the leavened loaves of the thanksgiving offering?

He said—

Rav Ḥisda

explained:

Because

the verse says [Nehemiah 12:31], concerning Nehemiah, when the wall of Jerusalem had been rebuilt and he came to sanctify the city:

[

“And I stationed two great thanksgiving offerings” [

beside the wall, on the outside]

“and processions to the right above the wall” [

to encircle the city in processions that proceeded on the right; when facing the interior of the city, they always proceeded toward their right until they had encircled the entire city].

But

what does

“great” mean?

If you say

that these were two thanksgiving offerings

of a truly large species,

that is, an animal species characteristically large, this cannot be said, because:

If so,

let him say, “And I stationed two

bulls.”

large for their species,

Rather, say that “great” means thanksgiving offerings that were

Is there importance before Heaven

large within their species,

that is, the thanksgiving offerings were animals that were among the largest relative to their species. This too cannot be said, for:

Is there significance before Heaven [

can there be significance before Heaven in the fact that an animal is large or small]!?

And it was taught in a beraita: It is stated concerning the burnt offering of an animal,

“a fire-offering, a pleasing fragrance,”

and also

concerning the burnt offering of a bird,

which is a smaller offering than an animal offering, the very same expression is stated:

“a fire-offering, a pleasing fragrance.”

And also

concerning a meal-offering,

which is a smaller offering than both of them, this expression is stated:

“a fire-offering, a pleasing fragrance”;

the verse teaches

that

whether one offers much or whether one offers little, provided that he directs his heart to his Father

in Heaven.

Since the size of the animals has no significance in this regard, Nehemiah would not have mentioned the greatness of the animals.

Rather, certainly “great” means

the loaves of

the greater part of the thanksgiving offering.

That is, the part of the thanksgiving offering that is greater than the other part.

And what is it?—

the

leavened

loaves of the thanksgiving offering. For each loaf was larger than the matza loaves that he brought with the thanksgiving offering—

As we learned:

The thanksgiving offering was brought from five Jerusalem se’a, which are six

se’a

in the wilderness, which are two eifa, and the eifa

that is, since the eifa is

three se’a,

six se’a in the wilderness are equivalent to two eifa—

And these two eifa are

twenty isaron—

And these twenty isaron were divided equally:

ten

isaron

for

ten leavened loaves,

and ten

isaron

for

all the

matza loaves, of three types

of ten each:

loaves, wafers, and scalded loaves;

thus, each leavened loaf was made from one isaron and was equal to three matza loaves. Therefore, the greater loaves of the thanksgiving offering were the leavened loaves, from which they took two loaves for the sanctification.

Rami bar Ḥama said:

It is Jerusalem that is sanctified with two thanksgiving offerings, as was the case in the time of Nehemiah and Ezra,

but the courtyard

when it is enlarged

is not sanctified

with two thanksgiving offerings,

but with the remainder of a meal-offering —

Jerusalem: Just as Jerusalem: something eaten in it — namely, the thanksgiving loaves, which are eaten throughout the city like offerings of lesser sanctity — sanctifies it,

What is the reason?—

Because the sanctification of the courtyard is

like

the sanctification of

Jerusalem:

Just as Jerusalem is sanctified by something eaten in it,

namely, the loaves of the thanksgiving offering, which are eaten throughout the city like shelamim—

it sanctifies it,

so too, the courtyard is sanctified by something eaten in it.

And the remainder of a meal-offering is eaten in the courtyard, since it is kodshei kodashim.

And we challenge this:

Do the loaves of the thanksgiving offering not happen to be eaten in the courtyard [

can it be that the loaves of the thanksgiving offering are eaten only in Jerusalem and not in the courtyard], so that you say that it is impossible to sanctify the courtyard with two thanksgiving offerings because its sanctification is performed with something eaten in it!?

Rather, say this: The sanctification of the courtyard is

that is, the loaves of the thanksgiving offering, which become disqualified when they leave Jerusalem, like all offerings of lesser sanctity—

like

the sanctification of

Jerusalem:

Just as Jerusalem

is sanctified by

something eaten in it, and

if it

leaves it, it

Just as there, in the sanctification of Jerusalem, it is sanctified with

becomes disqualified,

namely, the loaves of the thanksgiving offering, which become disqualified when they leave Jerusalem, like other kodashim kalim—

so too

the

courtyard

is sanctified by

something eaten in it, and

if it

leaves it, it becomes disqualified. This refers to the remainder of meal-offerings, which becomes disqualified through yotzei when it leaves the courtyard, like all kodshei kodashim.

it is sanctified!?

And we challenge this:

If

we compare the sanctification of the courtyard to the sanctification of Jerusalem, then we should also compare them with regard to leaven, and say:

Just as there,

in the sanctification of Jerusalem,

with leaven

it is sanctified,

so too here,

in the sanctification of the courtyard,

with leaven

it is sanctified!?

And we answer:

Can you really say that?

Can you think that they should be compared in this regard?

Is there a leavened meal-offering?

The Torah says: “No meal-offering that you bring to the Lord shall be prepared leavened”!