Le amah [cubit] qui a été mentionné est une moyenne Amah , et deux Amah mesures étaient au Shushan Habirah [zone du temple], l' un dans le coin nord -est et un dans le coin sud - est. Celui qui était dans le coin nord-est était plus grand que celui de Moïse d'un demi-doigt. Celui qui était dans le coin sud-ouest était plus grand que lui d'un demi-doigt; par conséquent, il est plus grand que celui de Moïse d'une largeur de doigt. Et pourquoi ont-ils dit [qu'il doit y en avoir] un grand et un petit? Pour que les ouvriers puissent prendre selon les petits et rentrer selon les grands, pour ne pas détourner les biens consacrés.
Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
האמה שאמרו – to the matters of Shabbat and Eruvin and Sukkah and the measurements [of the Temple] and Kilayim/mixed seeds.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
The cubit of which they spoke is one of medium size. The measure of a cubit is a standard measure found in connection to many halakhot, including the issue of carrying on Shabbat (see Shabbat 11:3).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
באמה בינונית – this cubit is six handbreadths long. For there is a cubit that is five [handbreadths] [that is smaller than it]. And there is larger cubit that is six [handbreadths] and a finger in length. But the cubit that is six [handbreadths] is the medium-sized one.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
There were two standard cubits in Shushan Habirah, one in the north-eastern corner and the other in the south-eastern corner. The one in the north-eastern corner exceeded that of Moses by half a fingerbreadth, while the one in the south-eastern corner exceeded the other by half a fingerbreadth, so that the latter exceeded that of Moses by a fingerbreadth. Shushan Habirah is the capital of Persia, as mentioned in Esther. There was a place on the eastern gate of the Temple with a drawing of Shushan Habirah (see Middot 1:3). At this place there were two rods which were used to set the size of the amah, the cubit. The rod in northeastern corner was shorter than the other rod by a fingerbreadth. The cubit that was normative in the days of Moses was right in between the size of these two rods one fingerbreadth larger than the small rod and one fingerbreadth smaller than the large rod.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
שתי אמות – two measurements that with them they measure the cubits, and each one of them is a cubit.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
But why were there a larger and a smaller cubit? Only for this reason: so that craftsmen might take their orders according to the smaller cubit and return their finished work according to the larger cubit, so that they might not be guilty of any possible trespassing of Temple property. The mishnah now asks the logical question why have two different sized cubits? The answer has to do with the artisans who work for the Temple. These craftsmen would take their orders using the smaller cubit, meaning they would receive material from the Temple based on the smaller measure. Then when they made their products for the Temple, they would return them based on the larger measure. This ensured that they did not transgress the prohibition of trespassing, meaning illegal use of Temple property. In this way, the Temple could be sure that the craftsmen would make sure they used every bit of material they received from the Temple.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
בשושן הבירה – one room is built on the eastern gate of the courtyard, and upon it, the capital city of Shushan is painted on it, in order that the fear of the kingdom be upon them.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
על של משה – on the cubit that is six handbreadths long.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
שהאומנין נוטלים בקטנה – that the treasurer/manager would make a condition with the artisans – such-and-such cubits they would make in the building for the keeping of the Temple in repair, from the cubits of Moses, such and such a costs, and they would return to him by a finger (see Tractate Menahot 98a) the measurement of the longer cubit upon it, in order that they would add from their own on their condition, lest they make it less, and it is found that they come to commit a religious sacrilege that they benefited from that which was dedicated to the Temple. And why two? One for silver and gold, that when they make a condition with those who smelt gold and silver to make a tablet of four or five cubits in the cubit of Moses, they restore to the extra measure of it a half-finger, not for the additional measurement upon it of a finger, since the artistry is costly and they don’t cause them to lose so much.
