The Gemara here discusses giants among the Tana'im. The Maharal (Chidushei Agadah and Be'er ha'Golah) notes that the dimensions used by the Gemara here, as well as those used by the Agadah that attributes to Moshe Rabeinu a ten-Amah height (Berachos 54b), connote spiritual, and not physical, dimensions.
How did the Maharal understand the Gemara in Shabbos 92a, which derives Halachos for carrying in Reshus ha'Rabim on Shabbos from the fact that Moshe - and the other Leviyim - were ten Amos tall?
(I saw your Insights to the Daf in which you noted that this may not be the conclusion of the Gemara. Nevertheless, the logic was certainly proposed at one point in the Shakla v'Tarya.)
Thank you,
N. Slifkin
I presented the question to Hagaon Rav Moshe Shapiro, shlita. His response was as follows (in my own words, of course):
We must understand that when the Pasuk uses a particular physical measurement, it intends for us to understand that quantity as though it were literal regarding Halachic derivations. Even if Moshe's "height" was actually spiritual, when it comes to explaining the meaning of verses (in order to derive a Halachic ruling), we must read them as though Moshe was physically ten Amos tall.
Best wishes,
Mordecai Kornfeld