Rashi on TanakhExodus 27

You shall make the altar, etc. And its height shall be three amohs. The words mean what they say. This is the opinion of Rabbi Yehudah. Rabbi Yosi, however, says: it states here: “[it shall be] square” and it states concerning the inner [altar]: “square.” [This גְּזֵירָה שָׁוָה teaches:] just as in the latter case its height was twice its length, here, too, its height was twice its length. Then, how am I to understand: “and its height shall be three amohs”? [The answer is that the “three amohs are] from the top edge of the soveiv upwards. (See illustration on page 416.)

Its projections shall be one piece with it. They are not to be made separately and then joined with it.

And you shall overlay it with copper. [Copper was used] to atone for insolence [called עֲזוּת מֵצַח]. [Insolence relates to copper:] for it says: “[For I know that you are stubborn], and your forehead is of copper.”

Make its pots. [סִירוֹת are] kinds of pots.

To remove its ashes. To remove its ashes in them. It is as Onkelos translates it: “לְמִסְפֵּי קִטְמֵהּ — “to remove its ashes in them.” For [though לְדַשְּׁנוֹ — “to ash it” would imply the adding of ashes, the opposite is true here] there are words in the Hebrew language where the same word varies in meaning to be used to denote both “construction” and “destruction,” as in: וַתַּשְׁרֵשׁ שָׁרָשֶׁיהָ — “and it took root” [and] אֱוִיל מַשְׁרִישׁ — “the fools take root,” and in its opposite sense: וּבְכָל תְּבוּאָתִי תְּשָׁרֵשׁ — “and you uproot all my grain.” Similar to this: בִּסְעִפֶיהָ פֹּרִיָּה — “in its fruitful branches,” and in its opposite sense: מְסָעֵף פֻּארָה — “chops off its branches.” Similar to this: וְזֶה הָאַחֲרוֹן עִצְּמוֹ — “and this last one (עִצְּמוֹ) has broken his bones.” Similar to this: וַיִסְקְלֻהוּ בָאֲבָנִים — “They stoned him with stones,” and in its opposite sense: סַקְּלוּ מֵאֶבֶן — “remove its stones.” Similarly וַיְעַזְּקֵהוּ — ‘‘He fenced it in,’’ and וַיְסַקְּלֵהוּ he “cleaned out its stones.” Here, too, the word לְדַשְּׁנוֹ means “to remove its ashes.” And in Old French escendrer — “to remove ash.”

Its scoops.A (see illustration 1 on page 146) [וְיָעָיו is] as Onkelos translates it [וּמַגְרוֹפְיָתֵיה] — shovels in which he takes the ashes. They were similar to a thin metal pot-cover, but it also had a handle. And in Old French it is wadil — “shovel.”

Its basins —B in which to receive the blood of the korbonos.

Its flesh-hooks.C These were a kind of bent hooks with which they struck the flesh so that they became imbedded in it and with them he would turn it (the flesh) over the coals of the pyre, so that they would burn more quickly. In Old French they are called crocins (hooks), and in the language of the Sages: צִנּוּרִיּוֹת .

And its fire-pans.D They had a scoop in which to take the coals from the altar, in order to carry them onto the inner altar for the incense. It is on account of their raking (חֲתִיָיתָן) the coals that they were called מַחְתּוֹת, as in: “לַחְתּוֹת fire from the pyre,” which means: drawing away fire from its place. Similarly: “(הֲיַחְתֶּה) can man rake fire into his lap?”

All of its vessels. [לְכָל כֵּלָיו here is] the same as כָּל כֵּלָיו .

A grate. [מִכְבָּר is] from the word כְּבָרָה — “sieve,” called crible [in Old French]. It served as a kind of garment for the altar made with intermittent holes like a netA (see illustration 2 on page 146). This verse has its word transposed and should be interpreted [as if it were written]: “Make for it a copper grate in the form of a net.”

The rim of the altar. כַּרְכֹּב has the meaning of סוֹבֵב — “that which surrounds.” Anything that surrounds completely is called כַּרְכֹּב, as we learned in Chapter Hakol Shochtin: “The following are unfinished wooden vessels: any [vessel] that will still be smoothed (וּלְכַרְכֵּב) and be rounded off.” This is similar to the practice of making grooves in the planks of the walls of chests and wooden benches. The altar, too, was engraved all around.B Its (the engraving’s) width was one amoh in its (the altar’s) wall for ornamentation. It was at the end of three (other versions: six) amohs of its height [measured from the ground], according to the opinion that its height was twice its length [and that if you ask] how do I explain: “and its height shall be three amohs”? [It means:] from the edge of the soveiv upward. But the soveiv, as a walkway for the kohanim for the copper altar, was only at the topC within its raised projections.D Thus we learn in Maseches Zevachim: What is the כַרְכּוֹב? [The space] between the raised projections which was one amoh wide. Inward [toward the center of the altar] from them (i.e., the קְרָנוֹת and כַּרְכּוֹב) was an amoh which served as a walkway for the kohanim. These two amohs are called כַּרְכֹּב . It is questioned there [in Maseches Zevachim] But it states [here]: “under the כַּרְכּוֹב of the altar downward.” From this we learn that the כַּרְכּוֹב was in its (i.e., the altar’s) wall [and not on top] while the grate ornament was underneath it! Whereupon someone answers: There were two [כַּרְכֹּב] — one for ornamentation [on the side] and one for the kohanim [at the top] so that they should not slip off [the altar]. The one that was on the side was for ornamentation. And underneath it they covered it with the grate, its width reaching halfway down the altar. Consequently the grate was one amoh wide and it served to mark half its (the altar’s) height. This was to delineate between the “upper bloods” and the “lower bloods.” Corresponding to this, they made for the altar of the Eternal House (i.e., the Beis Hamikdosh) a red line at its (the altar’s) midpoint. As for the ramp used to ascend [to the top of the altar,] though it is not specifically mentioned here, we have already inferred it from the parsha [that begins:] מִזְבַּח אֲדָמָה תַּעֲשֶׂה לִי, [where it states:] “Do not ascend by means of steps,” [which means:] Do not make steps for its ramp, but, rather, a smooth ramp. From this we learn that it did have a ramp. The above we learned in the Mechilta. The מִזְבַּח אֲדָמָה — the earthen altar [mentioned above] is the same as “the copper altar” [here], for its hollow was filled with earth wherever they encamped. This ramp was to the south of the altar separated from the altar by a hair’s breadth. Its bottom reached to within an amoh of the curtains of the courtyard on the southern side. [The above is] according to the opinion [that the altar] was ten amohs high. According to the opinion that the words mean what they say: “its height was three amohs” (v. 1), the ramp was only 10 amohs long. This I found in the Beraisa of 49 Midos. The fact that [the ramp] was separated from the altar by a thread was derived in Maseches Zevachim from a derasha from the Torah.

Into the rings. In the four rings made for the grate.

A hollow structure. As Onkelos translates it: חֲלִיל לוּחִין — “hollow” [as a result] of “boards,” boards of acacia wood from every side and the hollow in the middle. It should not be entirely one block of wood, whereby its dimensions would be 5 amohs by 5 amohs like a solid block.

Curtains. They were made like the sails of a ship with intermittent holes, braided and not wovenA (see illustration 1 on page 147). Onkelos’ translation of it as סְרָדִין is the same translation he used for מִכְבָּר, which he translated as סְרָדָא (v. 4). This is because they are [both] made with holes like a sieve.

On one side. The entire side is called פֵּאָה .

It shall have twenty pillars. Five amohs from one pillar to the next.

And they shall have ... sockets. [I.e., the sockets] of the pillars were of copper. The sockets were set on the groundB and the pillars were inserted into them. He made a kind of rod which are called pals in Old French. Their length was 6 tefachim and their width 3 [tefachim], and a copper ring was set into its middle.C The end of the curtain was wrapped around it (the rod) with ropesD opposite each column and then the rod was hung by its ring from the hook that was on the pillar,E [the hook being] made like the letter ו', one end bent upwards and the other end set into the pillar, like those [hooks] made to support doors which are called gons (hinges) in Old French. The width of the curtain hung downward which formed the height of the partition of the enclosure.

וָוֵי הָעֲמֻּדִים . They are the hooks.

Their bands. The pillars were encircled with silver strands all around.F I do not know whether this was for their entire length, or only at their top or only at their middle. But I do know that חִשּׁוּק has the meaning of wrapped around, for we find this regarding the Concubine of Giv’ah: “There were with him a pair of saddled donkeys” and the Targum [of חֲבוּשִׁים] is חֲשׁוּקִים .

On the east side. פְּנֵי הַמִּזְרָח is called קֶדֶם meaning the face — (or the front), whereas אָחוֹר refers to the back. It is for this reason that east is called קֶדֶם which is “the front” whereas the west is called “the back” just as you say: “the back sea,” which Onkelos translates: “the western sea.”

Fifty amohs. Those fifty amohs were not completely closed off by the curtains because that is where the entrance was. But, rather, there were 15 amohs of curtains on one side (“shoulder”) of the entranceway and the same was true for the other side.A (See illustration 2 on page 147.) There thus remained the width of the open entranceway in between [the two 15-amoh curtains], a [gap of] 20 amohs.B This is what is referred to in the statement: “The entrance of the courtyard shall have a screen of 20 amohs [width]” — a curtain as a screen opposite the entrance, being a length of 20 amohs, corresponding to the width of the entrance.C

They shall have three pillars. 5 amohs from one pillar to the next. Between the southernmost pillar, which stood at the southeastern corner, to the pillar, which was one of the three on the eastern side, there were five amohs,D and from that one to the next one, five amohs,E and from the second to the third, five amohs.F And the same was true for the other side. An additional four pillars for the screen,G give you a total of ten pillars on the eastern side, corresponding to the ten on the western side.H

All the pillars around the enclosure, etc. Because explicit mention of hooks, bands, and copper sockets was made only in regard to the north and south, but regarding the east and the west no mention of hooks, bands, and copper sockets is made. Therefore [the Torah] now comes and teaches it here.

The length of the enclosure. The north and the south running from east to west were 100 amohs long.

The width shall be fifty by fifty. The courtyard on the eastern side [of the mishkon] was a square of 50 by 50 amohs.I For the mishkon was 30 amohs long and 10 amohs wide. Its eastern entrance was placed at the edge of the outer 50 amohs of the length of the courtyard.J Consequently it was entirely in the inner 50 while its length ended at the end of another 30. Consequently there was a space of 20 amohs behind it, between the curtains on the west and the drapes behind the mishkon.K The width of the mishkon was 10 amohs in the middle of the width of the courtyard. Consequently there were 20 amohs of space to the north and to the south from the curtains of the courtyard to the drapes of the mishkon.L The same was true on the western side,M and 50 amohs by 50 amohs for the courtyard in front of it.

The height was five amohs. [I.e.], the height of the partitions which was the width of the curtains.

And their sockets shall be of copper. This intends to include the sockets of the screen, so that you should not say that copper sockets were only said in regard to the pillars of the curtains, while the sockets of the screen were made of some other material. This, it seems to me, is the reason it is again repeated.

All the vessels of the mishkon — which were needed for setting it up and for taking it down, e.g., hammers for driving stakes and posts.

Stakes. A sort of copper nail made for the drapes of the tent and for the curtains of the courtyard which were tied to [these stakes] with ropes wound all the way around their (i.e., the curtains’) bottom edges so that the wind should not lift them. I do not know whether they were put in the ground or whether they were only tied and hung, and their heaviness weighted down the lower edges of the drapes so that they did not move around in the wind. I would, however, suggest that their name (i.e., יְתֵדוֹת indicates that they were put in the ground, and for this reason they are called יְתֵדוֹת . And the following verse supports my view: “A tent that shall not be taken down, whose pegs (יְתֵדוֹתָיו) will never be pulled up.”

Clear — without sediment, as we have learned in Tractate Menachos: “He lets it (i.e., the olive) ripen on top of the olive tree, etc.”

Crushed. He would crush the olives in a mortar and not grind them in a mill so that it would not contain sediment. After extracting the first droplet he would put them into a mill and grind them. This second oil is unfit for the menorah but may be used for menachos (meal-offerings) for it states: כָּתִית לַמָּאוֹר — “crushed for lighting,” but it need not be crushed for menachos.

To keep the lamp burning constantly. He must kindle it until the flame ascends on its own.

Constantly. Each and every night may be referred to as תָּמִיד as you would say “עוֹלַת תָּמִיד — the constant korbon olah” though it is done only from day to day. Similarly, regarding the “flat-pan mincha,” it also states תָּמִיד yet half was done in the morning and half in the evening. But the תָּמִיד that is said of the show-bread was from Shabbos to Shabbos [without interruption].

From evening to morning. [This means:] put into it the amount necessary for it to burn from evening to morning. The Sages estimated [that this amounted to] half a log for the long nights of Teives. The same [amount would be used] every night and if [oil] is left over, it does not matter.