חגיגה ג׳:ז׳ - ג׳:ח׳

הפותח את חביתו – a Haver/someone punctilious in the observance of laws of Levitical cleanness who opened his jar/cask to sell wine in Jerusalem during the Festival (i.e., the Intermediate Days), and those who service him are ignoramuses.

לא יגמור – [he should not complete it] after the Festival, for even though at the time of the Festival, they were ritually pure, their being in a state of ritual purity is not forever, but at the time of the Festival, everyone is punctilious in the observance of the laws of Levitical cleanness but after the festival, they are retroactively ritually impure, as we state in our Mishnah, that after the Festival, they would immerse the utensils of the Courtyard, for ignoramuses had come in contact with them during the Festival. But Rabbi Yehuda who said that he should finish [to sell what was left over], for he held that if one said that he could not finish, he would not have even begun, and there wouldn’t be food for those who came up on Festival pilgrimage, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

מעבירין על טהרת עזרה – they remove the utensils from their places, to ritually immerse them and to purify the Courtyard from the impurities of the ignoramuses who touched them during the Festival.

מפני כבוד שבת – for the Kohanim/priests had to engage in the needs of [preparation for] the Sabbath – each person and his household.

אף לא ליום ה' – even if the Festival ended on Thursday, they do not ritually immerse them until after the Sabbath, because the Kohanim/priests were not free at the conclusion of the Festival to immerse them, for they were busily engaged in the removing of the ashes that were on the pile (i.e., place on the altar where the ashes were piled up), that gathered there all the days of the Festival, all the ashes of the pile of wood on the altar in the Temple. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

ואומרים להם – to the ignoramuses on the Festival. Be careful not to touch the Table, because they would not be able to immerse it until after the Festival [had concluded]., for it was impossible to remove it from its place, as it is written (Exodus 25:30): “[And on the table] you shall set the bread of display, to be before Me always.”

טעונים טבילה – because of the defilement of the Festival.

חוץ ממזבח הזהב ומזבח הנחשת מפני שהן כקרקע – the copper altar, for the Torah called it the altar of earth (see Exodus 20:21) and the golden altar is written (Numbers 3:31): “[Their duties comprised: the ark, the table,] the lampstand, the altars, [and the sacred utensils that were used with them, and the screen – all the service connected with these],” they juxtaposed the altars (i.e., the copper altar and the golden altar) to each other. But they did not mention the table for they did not touch it.

מפני שהן מצופין – this is how it should be read: And the Sages declared them ritually impure and state that they require ritual immersion even them because they are overlaid [with gold or copper], for if they had been overlaid, it would be necessary to ritually purify them because wooden utensils are made as ornaments. Another explanation: And the Sages state that the reason that they don’t require ritual immersion is because they are overlaid with gold or copper and their overlaying is neutralized concerning them, and they are like wood utensils which do not become ritually defiled, and they don’t dispute Rabbi Eliezer other than on the reason for the matter alone. So also did Maimonides explain in his laws of the uncleanness of couch and seat (Chapter 1, Halakha 11).