A Matter of Merit
“They Added Four Amos”
(Zevachim 61b)
The Mishna (Middos 1:3) states that the Altar – Mizbe’ach – in the Second Beis HaMikdash exceeded that of the First Beis HaMikdash by four amos in size, both to the south and the west.
The Gemara on our daf offers three different reasons for this expansion, in spite of the fact that there was a smaller population of Jews living in Eretz Yisrael at that later time.
A Divine Fire
R. Yosef offers that the Mizbe’ach in Solomon’s Temple (the First Beis HaMikdash) was possessed of a miraculous Divine fire – eish shel Shamayim – that supernaturally consumed the sacrifices very quickly. In the Second Temple, for lack of special merit, such a miraculous event did not occur. They therefore were forced to enlarge the Mizbe’ach to accommodate all the sacrifices.
She’siya K’achila
R. Shimon b. Pazi in the name of Bar Kapparah explains that in the Solomon’s Temple, the libations – nisachim – that were poured on the Altar would flow down its side into an underground pit located nearby. In the Second Temple, they decided to expand the Altar to overlap the pit. They reasoned that just as the sacrifices must burn on top of the Altar, so too, the libations must be consumed (absorbed) by the Altar and not flow down its side because of the principle of she’siya k’achila (lit. “like its eating is its drinking”).
Since the verse (Exodus 20:21) states, “Make for Me an altar of earth,” in Solomon’s Temple they originally thought that there should be no perforations, as there must be a direct connection to the earth. Hence the need to create a flow down its side to a pit.
A Revelation
R. Yosef (62a) offers yet another reason: that before the Second Temple was built it, was revealed to the Sages of the Great Assembly – Anshei Knesses Ha’gedolah – that the maximum size allowed for the Altar was actually larger than previously thought.
Inconceivable
Sefas Emes (novella ad loc) questions Bar Kapparah’s reason. It seems inconceivable that the Sages in the time of the Second Temple would have unearthed a theretofore unknown halacha – namely, she’siya k’achila (that the libations must be absorbed directly through the Altar). This would assume the unthinkable: that during the entire era of the First Temple, the rite of the libations was incorrectly performed.
Sefas Emes offers the following simple solution. During the First Temple, the Divine fire (mentioned by R. Yosef) not only consumed the sacrifices quickly but also had the supernatural ability to consume the libations (even at a distance from the pit). Therefore, the principle of she’siya k’achila was satisfied. However, in the Second Temple, where they did not merit a Divine fire, they had to enlarge the altar so that it would overlap the pit. Thus, their pouring of the libations thereupon satisfied “she’siya k’achila.”
