A Wonder Worm
‘When The Temple Was Destroyed…’
(Sotah 48a-b)
A mishnah (48a) relates that the shamir vanished when the Temple was destroyed. The Gemara (48b) cites a dispute between R. Yehudah and R. Nechemiah. R. Yehudah maintains that all cutting and hewing of the Temple was done utilizing the shamir. R. Nechemiah disagrees.
A Compromise
The Gemara offers a compromise position: Inside the Temple only the shamir was used, in accordance with the view of R. Yehudah. However, outside the Temple, in the preparatory stages of construction, there was no need for the shamir – in accordance with the view of R. Nechemiah.
The Ephod
The Gemara asks: According to R. Nechemiah, who sees no need for the shamir in the construction of the Temple, what use did it serve? The Gemara answers that the shamir was used for the stones of the ephod (the apron) worn by the High Priest, which could not be cut by any tool, as the Torah states (Exodus 28:11): “like the engraving of a signet ring shall you engrave the two stones” and (28:20): “be’miluotam – in their entirety.”
This is equally valid for the stones of the choshen (the breastplate).
When Did It Vanish?
Tosafos (Gittin 68a, s.v. “ika shamir”) deduces from the Gemara (Kiddushin 31a) that the ephod was also worn by the High Priest during the Second Temple era. Therefore, the shamir must still have existed at that time, and Tosafos concludes that when our mishnah states that the shamir vanished at the destruction of the Temple, it must be referring to the destruction of the Second Temple.
The Ramban (Exodus 25:7) maintains that the requirements of “like the engraving of a signet rung” and “in their entirety” applied only to the stones of choshen. The stones of the apron, however, did not have to be “complete.” Therefore the names of the tribes could be chiseled into the stones without the shamir. To explain the Gemara (Gittin 68a) which indicates that the rules for choshen are the same as those of the ephod, the Ramban notes that the two terms are often interchangeable.
Accordingly, there is no proof that the shamir existed after the destruction of the First Temple. Possibly the choshen no longer existed after that time and only the ephod was worn by the High Priest.
Blank Stones
The Iyun Yaakov (Gittin 68a) adopts the position that the shamir vanished at the time of the destruction of the First Temple and suggests that in the absence of the shamir to properly engrave the ephod stones, the High Priest wore blank stones. He argues that engraving the stones with the names of the tribes is a mitzvah but is not essential for the ephod to be valid.