For the source text click/tap here: Menachot 28
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As we learned on yesterday’s daf the Gemara has shifted its focus from meal offerings to mitzvot whose different parts are all essential for performing the mitzva. The Mishna on today’s daf discusses several such commandments, including the four tzitzit on a garment, the four Torah portions in tefillin and the seven branches of the menora – the candelabrum – in the Temple.
Regarding the menora, the Mishna mentions two separate parts – both the seven branches and the seven lamps. The branches refer to the six arms that branch out from the center branch of the menora, three on each side (see Sefer Shemot 25:32); the lamps are the bowls at the top of each one of the branches that hold the oil and the wicks.
We explore the rabbinic interpretation of the verses dealing with its construction and how far they departed in their speculation and how this extended into the rishonim.