Sukkah, Daf Heh, Part Two

 

Introduction

In the previous section the Talmud stated that the ark was nine handbreadths high and that the ark covering was one handbreadth high, bringing the total to 10, the minimum height of the sukkah. In today’s section the Talmud tries to show how we know this.

 

בשלמא ארון תשעה – דכתיב +שמות כה+ ועשו ארון עצי שטים אמתים וחצי ארכו ואמה וחצי רחבו ואמה וחצי קומתו.

 

One can understand that the ark was nine [handbreadths high] since it is written, "And they shall make an ark of acacia wood: two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height" (Exodus 25:10).

 

The Torah specifically says that the height of the ark was 1.5 cubits. Since 1 cubit is 6 handbreadths, the ark was 9 handbreadths high.

אלא כפורת טפח מנלן? – דתני רבי חנינא: כל הכלים שעשה משה נתנה בהן תורה מדת ארכן ומדת רחבן ומדת קומתן. כפורת מדת ארכה ומדת רחבה נתנה, מדת קומתה לא נתנה. צא ולמד מפחות שבכלים, שנאמר +שמות כה+ ועשית לו מסגרת טפח סביב, מה להלן טפח – אף כאן טפח.

 

But how do we know that the ark-cover was a handbreadth [high]?

From that which R. Hanina taught: For all the vessels which Moses made, the Torah gave the measurements of their length and breadth and height, [except in the case of] the ark-cover, its length and its breadth are given, but not its height. Go and deduce it from the smallest of the vessels, concerning which it is said, "And you shall make for it a border of a handbreadth around" (Exodus 25:25) Just as there the height was a handbreadth so was it here also a handbreadth.

 

The Torah does not say how high the ark-cover (the kaporet) was. Therefore, the rabbis need to derive it somehow midrashically. The first attempt is to compare it to the smallest of vessels which is the border of the table. Although we might consider this border to be part of the table, the rabbis and maybe the Torah itself seem to consider it to be at least an accessory to a vessel.

 

 

ונילף מכלים גופייהו! תפשת מרובה – לא תפשת, תפשת מועט – תפשת.

 

But why should our deduction not be made from the vessels themselves? If you seized a large amount, you have not seized anything; but if you seized the lesser amount you have seized.

 

The Talmud now asks why we shouldn’t derive the height of the ark-cover from a real vessel and not just the border, which is really just an accessory to a vessel. This would mean that the ark-cover would have to be at least the height of one of the real vessels.

The answer is a principle somewhat similar to "don’t bite off more than you can chew" in English. When one derives something from elsewhere the derivation should be minimalistic. So if the smallest possible measure is one handbreadth because there is an accessory to a vessel that is this height, then that should be the determined height of the ark-cover. By the way, this idiom is still used in modern Hebrew.

 

ונילף מציץ, דתניא: ציץ דומה כמין טס של זהב, ורחב שתי אצבעות, ומוקף מאזן לאזן, וכתוב עליו שתי שיטין: יו"ד ה"א מלמעלה, וקדש למ"ד מלמטה, ואמר רבי אליעזר ברבי יוסי: אני ראיתיו ברומי, וכתוב עליו קדש לה’ בשיטה אחת.

 

But why should we not derive it from the golden headplate (ציץ), as it was taught: The tzitz was in the shape of a plate of gold two finger-breadths broad and stretching from ear to ear, and upon it were engraved two lines, Yod and Heh above, and Kodesh [followed by a] Lamed below, and R. Eliezer son of R. Yose said, I saw it in Rome and it had Kodesh Ladonai on one line.

 

The Talmud now asks why we can’t derive the height of the ark-cover from the height of the "tzitz," the golden headplate that the high priest wore on his forehead.

There is a debate exactly what was written on the tzitz. Interestingly, according to this story, R. Eliezer b. R. Yose saw the tzitz in Rome. Assumedly it got there when it was carried off by the Romans when they destroyed the Temple in 70 C.E.

 

דנין כלי מכלי, ואין דנין כלי מתכשיט.

 

We deduce [the measurements of a] vessel from another vessel, but we do not deduce [the measurements of a] vessel from an ornament.

 

Deriving the height of the ark-cover from the tzitz is not possible because the tzitz is not a vessel, as is the ark-cover. It is an ornament, otherwise translatable as a piece of jewelry.