מסכת כלים פרק יז משנה ח | |
כזית שאמרו |
The size of an olive referred to (with respect to many measures), |
לא גדול ולא קטן |
is neither large nor small, |
אלא בינוני |
but rather medium, |
זה אגורי |
which is an aguri (a particular type of olive). |
כשעורה שאמרו |
The size of a barley referred to (such as by the minimum amount of a cadaver's bone needed to impart tumah by contact), |
לא גדולה ולא קטנה |
is neither large nor small, |
אלא בינונית |
but rather medium, |
זו מדברית |
this is of the desert (a particular type of barley). |
כעדשה שאמרו |
The lentil referred to (with respect to the minimum amount of the flesh or blood of a sheretz necessary to impart tumah), |
לא גדולה ולא קטנה |
is neither large nor small, |
אלא בינונית |
but rather medium, |
זו מצרית |
this is the Egyptian. |
כל המטלטלין |
All moveable objects |
מביאין את הטמאה |
convey tumah [rabbinically, as a canopy, or ohel] |
בעבי המרדע |
when the thickness as an ox-goad |
לא גדול ולא קטן |
neither large nor small, |
אלא בינוני |
but rather medium; |
איזה הוא בינוני |
what is a medium ox-goad? |
כל שהיקפו טפח |
Any with a circumference of a handbreadth. |
פרק יז משנה ט |
|
האמה שאמרו |
The cubit referred to |
באמה הבינונית |
is the medium cubit (which was a length of six handbreadths). |
ושתי אמות היו |
And there were two [model] cubits |
בשושן הבירה |
in the [chamber of the Second Temple decorated with an engraving of] Shushan the capital city, |
אחת על קרן מזרחית צפונית |
one on the northeastern corner |
ואחת על קרן מזרחית דרומית |
and one on the southeastern corner; |
שעל קרן מזרחית צפונית |
the one on the northeastern corner |
היתה יתרה על של משה |
was longer than [the cubit established] by Moshe |
חצי אצבע |
a half finger-breadth, |
שעל קרן מזרחית דרומית |
and the one on the southeastern corner |
היתה יתרה עליה |
was longer that it |
חצי אצבע |
by half a fingerbreadth, |
נמצאת |
it is therefore found |
יתרה על של משה אצבע |
it [the southeastern one] was longer than that of Moses by a fingerbreadth. |
ולמה אמרו |
And why did they say, |
אחת גדולה ואחת קטנה |
one large one and one small one (i.e. why were these two models kept, both longer than the standard of Moshe, though one longer than the other)? |
אלא שהאמנין נוטלין |
Only so that the craftsman would take |
בקטנה |
with the small one |
ומחזירין בגדולה |
and return with the large one |
כדי שלא יבואו לידי מעילה |
so that they would not come to me'ilah. (These overly long measures were used for craftsman doing work for the Temple, so that if if the craftsman agreed to create something measured in cubits, the actual measure used would ensure that they would exceed that amount, thus avoiding overcharging or underperforming. The shorter of the two longer measures was used when the craftsman was using exceptionally valuable material such as gold or silver, to avoid the cost for the craftsman from becoming overly excessive.) |
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