פירוש על מנחות 11:6

מפוצלין – to give the heads of the branches the staves between the cakes of the shewbread heads shaped into forked branches [at the top], that as the number of the staves, so too the number of the forked branches.

Introduction This mishnah continues to deal with the table upon which was placed the showbread.

ארבעה עשר לסדר זה – six loaves that were in the order of the arrangement on the pile of wood on the altar in the Temple. For four of them, each of them had three branches, there were twelve staves, but for the uppermost it only needed two because there is no burden upon it, hence [there are] fourteen. The lowest loaf did not need anything, because it was placed immediately on the golden table (see Tractate Menahot 97a).

There were there four golden props [at the corners of] the table, each split at the top, which supported the cakes, two for the one row and two for the other row. On the table were four props, one at each corner, whose heads were split into two. Each row had two split props to support it on each side.

לא סדור קנים – in a new pile of wood on the altar.

And there were twenty-eight rods, each [shaped] like the half of a hollow reed, fourteen for the one row and fourteen for the other row. The bottom hallah was placed directly on the table. The next four hallot were each placed on three rods and the top hallah was placed on two rods. It needed less support because it was on top.

לא נטילתן – from the old [pile] supersedes the Sabbath.

Neither the placing of the rods nor their removal overrode the Shabbat, but [a priest] used to enter on the day before Shabbat, pull out the rods, and place them parallel with the length of the table. Setting up the rods and removing them from the old bread does not override the Shabbat. Rather, a priest would pull out the old rods on the day before the Shabbat and place them on the table. On Shabbat, when the new loaves were put out, they were placed directly on the table. They were only put onto the rods when Shabbat was over.

נכנס מערב שבת ושומטן – from between each and every loaf, and he places them on the length of the table. And on the next day, he arranges the bread, and on Saturday night (i.e., after the Sabbath), he places the reeds between each bread according to the statute.

Every article that stood in the Temple was placed with its length parallel with the length of the House. Everything in the Temple had its length go from east to west, as was the length of the Temple. This line was brought here in this mishnah to teach that the length of the table was also east-west.

ארכן לארכו של הבית – from east to west they would be placed by their length, except for the Ark whose length is according to the width of the Temple, for the staves/poles that were in the Ark would protrude and press/squeeze the curtain and they are similar a woman’s two breasts, as it states (I Kings 8:8): “The poles projected so that the ends of the poles were visible in the sanctuary in front of the Shrine,” and the poles were placed according to the width of the Ark, for had they been according to the length of the Ark, there would not have been each pole other than the measurement of the width of the Ark which is a one-and-one-half cubits, and two men carry the Ark with two poles, two from one side and two from the other, and they would not be able to enter between each pole, it certainly was placed in their width, and they wee from east to west that they would press the curtain, so it is found that the Ark was according to the width of the Temple.