Study Chagigah folio 27A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
דרחמנא קרייה ״עץ״, דכתיב: ״המזבח עץ שלש אמות גבוה וארכו שתים אמות ומקצעותיו לו וארכו וקירותיו עץ וידבר אלי זה השלחן אשר לפני ה׳״.
because God called it: “Wood,” as it is written with regard to the table of the showbread: “The altar, 3 cubits high, and its length two cubits, was of wood, and so its corners, its length, and its walls were also of wood, and he said to me: This is the table that is before YHWH” (Ezekiel 41:22). This verse indicates that even though the table was coated, its identity as a wooden vessel was preserved, which means that, like all wooden vessels, it would not be susceptible to impurity were it not for the fact that they took it out to show to the pilgrims.
פתח במזבח וסיים בשלחן! רבי יוחנן וריש לקיש דאמרי תרוייהו: בזמן שבית המקדש קיים — מזבח מכפר על אדם, עכשיו — שלחנו של אדם מכפר עליו.
As the Talmud has cited the above verse, it clarifies a puzzling aspect of it: The verse began with the word “altar” and ended with the word “table,” both words describing the same item. R' Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish both say the following exposition: When the Temple is standing the altar atones for a person; now that the Temple has been destroyed, it is a person’s table that atones for him, for his feeding of needy guests atones for his sins.
כל הכלים שבמקדש יש להם שניים כו׳. מזבח הנחושת, דכתיב: ״מזבח אדמה תעשה לי״. מזבח הזהב, דכתיב: ״המנורה והמזבחות״ — איתקוש מזבחות זה לזה.
§ The Mishnah taught: All the vessels that were in the Temple had second and third substitute vessels, etc. All the vessels that were in the Temple required immersion, apart from the golden altar and the bronze altar, because they are considered like the ground. The Talmud cites the relevant sources: The bronze altar is considered like the ground, as it written concerning this altar: “An altar of earth you should make for Me” (Exodus 20:21). The golden altar is considered like the ground, as it is written: “The candelabrum and the altars” (Numbers 3:31). The plural word “altars” indicates that the two altars of the Temple, the bronze one and the golden one, are compared to each other, teaching that just as the bronze altar is like the ground in that it cannot contract impurity, the same applies to the golden altar.