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Week 30 - Sunday- 18 June 2000

YOMA: CHAPTER 3 : MISHNA 3

One may not enter the Azarah (Temple Inner Court) for Service, even if clean, until he has immersed himself. The High Priest immersed himself five times and sanctified himself ten times on that day, and each time in the Temple by the Bet Haparvah chamber, save only this one.

Kehati

One may not enter the Azarah (Temple Inner Court) – the Israelites' Courtyard (Bartenura; Tosefot Yom Tov), for Service – and also if he enters not for Service (Jer. Talmud commentators), even if he was completely clean, until he has immersed himself – the Gemara derives this by means of a kal ve-homer (a minori ad majus conclusion) from the law of the High Priest on Yom Kippur: "If the person (High Priest) who changes from holy to holy (from the gold to the white garments, and from the white to the gold garments) and from a place the violation of which is liable to the karet penalty to a place of the same status (from the Heikhal to the Holy of Holies, and from the Holy of Holies to the Heikhal – both being holy places, entering into which in an unclean state is punishable by karet), requires immersion ("even though he had already undergone an important immersion in a holy place, and even though he is the High Priest, who is extremely holy, and even though the entire service of the day has been imposed upon him, and he is extremely scrupulous and careful because of this, and because the atonement of the day is great, he nevertheless requires immersion" – Tosafot), how much more is immersion necessary for a person who changes from non-holy to holy and from a place not subject to any karet sanction to a place whose violation is punishable by karet?" (Yoma 30a). According to another opinion in the Gemara, this is an "extraordinary immersion" imposed only in order to stimulate him to recollect any old uncleanness that might by upon him and about which he had forgotten. On remembering such uncleanness this immersion will purge him of it (Rambam rules accordingly: Hil. Avodat Yom ha-Kippurim 2:3).

The High Priest immersed himself five times and sanctified himself ten times on that day – for the High Priest changed his clothes five times during the Yom Kippur service; each change of clothes required immersion, and also required him to sanctify his hands and feet twice, the first time in honor of the garments that he was about to doff, and once for the garments he was about to don. A baraita in the Gemara states (following the opinion of Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi): Whence do we learn about the five immersions and ten sanctifications of the High Priest on that day? For it is written, "He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girdled with the linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired; they are the holy garments; and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and put them on" (Lev. 16:4) – we learn from this that every change from one task to another (see below) requires immersion; the phrase "they are the holy garments" establishes an analogy equating all the garments (since these words are redundant, they are interpreted to imply that immersion is required not due to the first donning of the garments, but rather by the fact that "they are holy garments," and therefore immersion is required each time they are changed).

The following are the five tasks for which the High Priest changes his garments: (1) the morning tamid, which he performs in the gold garments (the eight garments that the High Priest also wears the other days of the year [see below in this chapter]); (2) the (special) service of the (Yom Kippur) day, i.e., all the confessions, the casting of lots of the two goats, the sprinkling of the blood inside the Sanctuary, the burning of the incense in the Holy of Holies, etc.), performed in the white garments (as specified in the above-mentioned verse, these garments were to be worn during the Service of Yom Kippur); (3) the offering of his ram and the ram of the people, in the gold garments; (4) the pan and the fire-pan (the removal of the pan the fire-pan from the Holy of Holies), in the white garments; (5) the afternoon tamid, performed in gold garments. And whence do we learn that each immersion requires two sanctifications (of the hands, and feet, one for removing the garments, and one for donning them)? From the text, "and he shall put off...and he shall bathe his flesh, and he shall bathe his flesh...and he shall put on" ("and he shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place... And he shall bathe his flesh in water...and put on his vestments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering" – if this does not refer to immersion, which has already been learned from "they are the holy garments," then it refers to the sanctification of the hands and feet; Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi learns that "And he shall bathe his flesh" refers to both the preceding and the succeeding passage, as follows: "and he shall put off the linen garments... And he shall bathe...; "and he shall bathe...and put on his other vestments" (as if "and he shall bathe" had been written twice), and he requires sanctification because of taking off, and again because of putting on. The Torah uses terms of immersion ("And he shall bathe his flesh in water in a holy place") when referring to sanctification, in order to equate immersion with sanctification, and to teach that just as sanctification must be "in a holy place, so, too, immersion must be in a holy place (Yoma 32a-b); hence, the mishnah teaches further:

And each time – every immersion that the High Priest undergoes because of the changes of garments must be in the Temple – in a holy place – in the mikveh in the Temple Courtyard, by the Bet Haparvah chamber – there was a chamber by this name, on the roof of which was the mikveh in which the High Priest immersed himself, save only this one – the first immersion, which every person who entered the Temple Courtyard to perform a service was required to undergo, as taught in the first section of the mishnah, which was in a non-holy place, i.e., in the mikveh on the Water Gate which was next to his chamber (a baraita quoted in Yoma 31b).

YOMA: CHAPTER 3 : MISHNA 4

They spread a linen sheet between him and the people. He undressed, went down, and immersed himself, came up and dried himself. They brought him the gold vestments, and he put them on and he sanctified his hands and his feet. They brought him the daily tamid offering. He cut it, and another finished the slaughtering on his behalf [al yado]; he received the blood and sprinkled it. He entered to burn the morning incense, and to trim the lamps, and to offer the head and the limbs and the havitin and the wine.

Kehati

They spread a linen sheet – costly and fine material, between him – the High Priest, who went up on top of the Water Gate to undergo his first immersion (see the end of the preceding mishnah), and the people – for reasons of modesty (Hameiri) The Gemara explains that they spread a linen sheet to remind the High priest that he would perform the day's service clothed in the white garments, made of linen. This reminder was necessary since he was accustomed to perform the service always clothed in the gold garments, i.e., the eight garments, four of which contained gold – see below). He – the High Priest, undressed – doffing his non-holy garments, went down, and immersed himself – this was the first immersion of the day, came up – from the mikveh, and dried himself – wiped his body with the sheet (see the conclusion to this mishnah, below).

They brought him the gold vestments – in which he performed the service throughout the whole year. These garments were the tunic (ketonet), breeches (mikhnesayim), the mitre (mitznefet), the girdle (avnet), the robe (me'il), the breastplate (hoshen), the efod, and a plate (tzitz) (see Ex. 28:4, 36, 42). Four of them contained gold: the hoshen, the efod, the me'il (which had gold bells on its hem), and the tzitz (made entirely of gold),

And he put them on and he sanctified his hands and his feet – because he was putting on the gold vestments (see the preceding mishnah). But he did not sanctify his hands and feet for taking off his non-holy garments. Hence, the Gemara asks: in that case there were only nine sanctifications, and it was taught in the preceding mishnah that there were ten sanctifications? The Gemara answers that at the conclusion of all the Service, when he took off his holy vestments and put on his non-holy garments, he would sanctify his hands and his feet, because of taking off of the holy vestments, thus totalling ten sanctifications (Yoma 32a). After he put on the gold garments, they brought him the – lamb for the morning – daily tamid offering. He cut it – i.e., slaughtered, the mishnah uses the term "cut" (keratzo), to teach that his act of "slaughtering" consisted only of cutting most of the windpipe and the gullet, because he had to hasten to gather the blood, for all the Service of Yom Kippur was valid only if performed by the High Priest, and another priest finished the slaughtering – of the lamb, on his behalf – according to another interpretation, al yado means behind and close to him (Rashi; Bartenura); he received the blood and he sprinkled it – on the Altar.

He entered to burn the morning incense – that was burned every morning on the golden altar (Ex. 30:7), and to trim the lamps – of the golden menorah (see 1:2, above); according to Rambam: "the kindling of the lights is the "trimming" (hatava) and he dressed the lamps which were alight" (Hil. Temidin u-Musafin 3:12) The Gemara states that every day of the year, the daily trimming of the lamps was not done all at once; rather the priest first trimmed five lamps and stopped (and another task was performed Rambam), and afterwards trimmed the other two lamps; the "trimming of the lamps" mentioned in the mishnah refers, according to one interpretation, to the five lamps which were, however, trimmed prior to the burning of the incense, but the mishnah does not list the tasks in their proper order (Yoma 15a; Hameiri); according to another interpretation, the trimming of the first five lamps was performed by another priest, prior to the burning of the incense, and the High Priest trimmed the remaining two lamps after the burning of the incense (see Tosefot Yom Tov on 1:2; Tiferet Yisrael);

And to offer the head and the limbs – of the tamid burnt offering, and the havitin – the meal-offering of the High Priest, which he offered every day, the tenth part of an efah of fine flour, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening (Lev. 6:13-14), and to pour the wine – and to offer the meal-offering of the tamid; some commentators explain that this was not explicitly mentioned in the mishnah because it is included in the term "havitin" (Tosafot Yeshanim; Melekhet Shelomo; see Hidushei Harashah).

Regarding "went down, and immersed himself, came up and dried himself," taught in the mishnah, Mishneh Lemelekh writes (on Rambam, Hil. Avodat Yom HaKippurim 2:2): "this drying is mentioned in many places in the Gemara, and wherever the immersion of the High Priest is mentioned, it is taught, 'he came up and dried himself.' I did not see in the commentaries whether this drying is obligatory, or merely mentioned, for it is usual to dry oneself after the immersion. Our master's (Rambam) text implies that it is obligatory. This obligation may derive from the rule that even one thread or dust constitutes a hatzitzah (separation) between his flesh and the vestment, and his service is invalid (see Rambam, Hil. Kelei HaMikdash 10:6). Therefore we fear that a thread or a particle from the grit in the water will adhere to his flesh, and he is obligated to dry himself after the immersion. And even if we do not have to suspect this, there is our master's ruling (ibid, parag. 7) that care must be taken that wind should not enter during the service between his flesh and his vestment, removing it from his flesh; and obviously this applies to water no less than to wind, and this being so, he must dry himself, lest the water separate the garment from the flesh. Rambam therefore writes: 'And he comes up and he dries himself'" (following the text of the mishnah, for this obligatory).

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