ונתת על הרשת. פי' לשאת אותו. והקשה הרב ר' יחיאל ז"ל מהא דאמרינן במסכת שבת המוציא משוי למעלה מעשרה טפחים חייב שכן משא בני קהת שהיו נושאין המזבח והיה כולו למעלה מעשרה טפחים ומייתי התם ראיה הכי דגמירי דכל מידי דמידלי במוטות תילתא מלעיל ותרי תילתי מלתחת וגבהן של לויים עשר אמות עם הראש וא"כ לכל הפחות מן הכתף ולמטה היו תשע אמות וגבה המזבח היה תשע אמות בלא הקרנות וכי הוי תרי תלתי מלתחת דהיינו שש אמות אכתי איכא משם עד הארץ שלש אמות דהוי י"ח טפחים אלמא הוי נישא כלו למעלה מעשרה טפחים והשתא קשה היכי מצי מייתי ממזבח דהוי תרי תלתי מלתחת והכתי' והיתה הרשת עד חצי המזבח ועשית על הרשת ארבע טבעות נחושת שבהן היה נישא מכלל דלא הוי המזבח מלתחת כי אם חציו. וי"ל דהגמרא מייתי ראיה דגמירי דלא הוי אלא תילתא מלעיל וכ"ש זה שהיה חציו מלעיל ומיהו בלא האי גמירי היה יכול להוכיח דהמוציא משוי למעלה מעשרה חייב מדכתיב ועשית על הרשת וגו' אי נמי שהיה אפשר לומר שהטבעות היו רחבין הרבה עד שלא נשאר למעלה השליש ועל זה הביא הא גמירי וכו': ועשית על הרשת, “you will construct on that network, etc.;” these rings were meant to enable the Levites to insert the staves into by which the altar would be transported, carried by the Levites. Rabbi Yechiel, pointing to a statement in the Talmud, tractate Shabbat, folio 92, raised the problem that according to the Talmud, anyone carrying a load at a level of higher than ten handbreadths (on the Sabbath) should be guilty of having committed a violation seeing that the sons of Kehat who carried the Holy Ark on their shoulders, certainly carried it more than ten handbreadths above ground level. The Talmud there proves that the rings through which the staves for carrying the Tabernacle’s furnishings were carried were attached at two thirds of the height of the respective holy vessel. The height of the Levites supposedly was eighteen handbreadths including their respective heads. It follows that anything they carried on their shoulders was already much higher than that. [Rabbi Yechiel did not refer to the Levites being guilty of carrying something in the desert, seeing that the Israelites, of course, did not travel in the desert on the Sabbath. What he questioned was that the public domain is never considered as being more than ten handbreadths above ground level, so that anyone carrying a load on the Sabbath at a level higher than ten handbreadths cannot be culpable for violating the Sabbath. Seeing that the Levites carried loads at a higher level than that, and the desert where the Israelites were was certainly considered a public domain, how could our sages have restricted the concept of “public domain” to as little as ten handbreadths above ground level. Ed.] In light of all the above, how could the Talmud have derived the limitation of the height of the concept “public domain” by using the altar as its example? The Levites’ shoulders were fifteen handbreadths high, and the part of the altar that stuck out beyond their heads was way beyond ten handbreadths above ground. We would have to say that the Talmud’s statement is to be taken as proof that the rings fastened to the network were at a level lower than two thirds of the altar and that only the upper third was above the rings, or at least no more than half its height. If so, the rule that the public domain does not extend beyond a height of then handbreadths can be used for the Sabbath, the level of the network of the altar serving as proof.