Chelek 29, Tavo 2 - Mrs. Rivky Slonim

Any stone which is damaged to the extent that a nail, which means a fingernail, will become caught in it when passing over it, meaning if you took your hand over the stone and rub, like went like this, your fingernail might get caught by a nick, as is the case regarding a slaughtering knife.

As you know, or maybe you know, a shochet takes his hand across the knife like this to make sure it's actually smooth.

So any stone that has that type of a blemish or nick is disqualified for use in the altar and the ramp.

As it says, you shall build the altar of the Lord with whole stones.

That's the, what the Rambam is saying.

From where would they bring the stones of the altar? From virgin earth.

They would dig until they reached a point which was obviously never used for filling or for building, and they would take the stone from there.

Alternatively, they would take from the Mediterranean Sea and build with them.

Similarly, the stones of the temple and the courtyard were whole.

So the Sicha's not really gonna focus on this, this little section about where they would get the stones, but it's gonna talk about this concept of the, um, blemish and what constitutes a blemish.

And, um, then we're gonna go to the end where it says they, they would build ...

Similarly, the stones of the temple and the courtyard were whole.

So number 15, damaged or split stones from the temple and the courtyard are invalid.

They cannot be redeemed and used for mundane purposes.

Rather they must be entombed.

Every stone which was touched by iron, even though it was not damaged, is disqualified.

Just because I love talking about my kids, and my son, um, helped me prepare, and he told me that iron is used for, um, you know, killing people, for ending life, and the mizbeach is meant to be used for life.

So if it's touched by iron, even if it wasn't damaged, it's also disqualified.

That's not really part of the Sicha.

By lifting your sword against it, you will have profaned it.

Anyone who builds the altar or the ramp with a stone that has been touched by iron violates a negative command and is given lashes.

As it is said, "Do not build them with hewn stone." One who builds with damaged stone violates a positive commandment.

And the last one we're gonna look at, if a stone was damaged or touched by iron, once it has been built into the altar or the ramp, that stone is also invalidated by the others, but the others are still fit for use.

They coated the altar with cement twice a year before Pesach and Sukkot.

When they coated it, they used a cloth rather than an iron lathe, lest it touch a stone and invalidate it.