Since the previous page mentioned Festivals, the Talmud continues with the details. When the Jews would come to the Temple on pilgrimage, they were crowded together so that each person stood straight as a beam, and at times his feet were occasionally lilted off the ground. However, when they had to prostrate themselves and confess their mistakes, miraculously, the space between them increased. There were four steps between each other – and this was one of the ten miracles that regularly occurred in the Temple.
The Talmud discusses the other miracles with their particulars, excluding some and adding others to the list. For example, the Bread of Vision remained piping hot after it was left on the Temple table for a week: since the verse literally said, “to put bread, warm, on the day, it (the old one) is taken off,” we move the comma and understand that it was “warm on the day it was taken off.”
Another miracle was that king Solomon planted all types of fine fruit trees made of gold, and they produced fruit at the right times. This is mentioned in the phrase “May its fruit rustle like that of Lebanon,” and “Lebanon” always means the Temple. When the wind blew on them, the fruit would fall off, the priests gathered them and made their living from the profits. When the soldiers entered to destroy the Temple, the trees withered, but in the future, God will restore them since it says, “It will blossom abundantly... the glory of Lebanon will be given to it.”
Art: Fruit Tree in Blossom By Carl Fredrik Hill
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