[Avodah] questions re Mizbeach Adamah and walls of Mishkan

[Zev Sero]

Arie Folger wrote:
> R'n TK wrote:
>> 1.  How did they fill the Mizbeach , aka the Mizbeach Adamah,  with
>> dirt? This mizbeach was hollow and was filled with dirt AIUI  only
>> when they camped, presumably to make it more solid and stable.
>> But  how did they fill it? Picture a cardboard box, turned upside
>> down, with  its open side lying face down on the ground.
> 
> Who says there was a top to the box? I always understood (ok,
> me'ommedi 'al da'ati) that it only had four sides. However, there is a
> Rashi that implied it had at least a partial top, as Rashi talks about
> how the eternal fire was transported on the covered altar (it was
> covered with a kind of wire mesh to keep the flamable cover away from
> the heat).

I began to write the same answer this morning, until I came across
that Rashi at the end of Bamidbar.  


 
> But I do have another question, which is surely dealt with in the
> gemara, but unfortunately, I must admit my ignorance: taking apart and
> rebuilding the misshkan must have taken a serious amount of time.
> Ditto for filling the mizbeach, especially accoridn  to the views that
> it stood 10 amot tall. While they would arrive at destination, after a
> desert sojourn, how would they bring the required sacrifices when the
> mizbeach wasn't up and running yet?

There were 22K Leviyim.



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