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Week 31 - Monday - 26 June 2000

YOMA: CHAPTER 5 : MISHNA 2

After the Ark was taken away, a stone was there from the time of the early Prophets, and it was called Shetiyah, three fingers above the ground, and upon it he would put.

Kehati

This mishnah teaches in which place in the Holy of Holies the High Priest would place the fire-pan in the Second Temple, since the Ark was no longer there.

After the Ark was taken away - when the First Temple was destroyed; we have already mentioned (Shek. 6:1) that the Tannaim differ on this point. One holds that the Ark went into exile in Babylon, as it is written, "And at the return of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him [Yehoyakin] to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the Lord" (II Chron. 36:10), taking "the goodly vessels of the house of the Lord" to refer to the Ark. According to another opinion, it was hidden by King Josiah (see Yoma 53b-54a). At any rate, the Ark was not in the Second Temple, rather a stone was there - in the Holy of Holies (see Tosefot Yom Tov),

From the time of the early Prophets - Samuel and David (Sot. 48b), and it was called Shetiyah - Foundation - a baraita quoted in the Gemara explains that it was called thus because the world was founded from it; the Sages similarly stated that the world was created from Zion (initially Zion was created, and clods of earth were appended around it on all sides until the earth was completed), as it is written, "God, God, the Lord, has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down therefore, Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth" (Ps. 50:1-2) - from it stems the beauty of the world.

Hameiri interprets "the world was founded from it" to mean that "there the purpose of the world and its meaning was founded"; Rambam writes: "the word 'Shetiyah' means Foundation, because the place of the Divine service is the foundation of the world, as we have mentioned at the beginning of the Tractate Avot"; and the Foundation Stone was Three fingers above the ground, and upon it he - the High Priest, would put - the fire-pan on Yom Kippur, and offer the incense.

YOMA: CHAPTER 5 : MISHNA 3

He took the blood from the one who was stirring it, he entered the place which he entered, and he stood in the place he stood, and he sprinkled from it one upwards and seven downwards, and he would not intend to sprinkle either upwards or downwards, but rather as though wielding a whip. And thus he would count: "One, one and one, one and two, one and three, one and four, one and five, one and six, one and seven." He came out and placed it on the golden stand in the Sanctuary.

Kehati

After the service of the incense, when the High Priest had concluded his short prayer (see mishnah 5:1, above), he went out and He took the bowl- of the blood from the hand of the one who was stirring it - the priest who kept stirring it lest it congeal (as explained above, 4:3), he entered the place which he had entered - earlier, i.e., in the Holy of Holies, and he stood in the place he had stood - at the time of the offering of the incense, i.e., between the bars (see mishnah 5:3, above),

And he sprinkled - with his finger from it - the blood, one sprinkling upwards and seven sprinklings downwards - as it is written, "And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the ark-cover on the east; and before the ark-cover shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times" (Lev. 16:14), and an oral tradition teaches that "and sprinkle it with his finger upon the ark-cover" is one sprinkling, in addition to the seven sprinklings mentioned afterwards (see Yoma 55a), and he would not intend to sprinkle either upwards or downwards - i.e., he did not intend to sprinkle with the first sprinkling the top edge of the ark-cover, nor with the following seven downwards sprinklings to sprinkle the thickness of the ark-cover, for the blood fell on the earth, and not on the ark-cover, But rather as though wielding a whip - The Gemara explains that the back of his hand was turned downwards when he sprinkled upwards (in such a manner that the blood would go up in the air, opposite the top edge of the ark-cover, and from there fall back to the ground - Hameiri), and when he sprinkled the seven sprinklings downwards, the back of his hand would be turned upwards sprinkling in front of him, One high and the next one lower and all of them would fall on the ground - Rashi), i.e., he would perform one sprinkling with an upward motion of his hand, and seven sprinklings with a downward motion of his hand. Bartenura explains "as a though wielding a whip": "As a flogger, who begins between the shoulders and proceeds downwards, so he would intend these eight sprinklings to be on the ground in a row, one under the other."

And thus he would count - the sprinklings: "One, one and one, one and two, one and three, one and four, one and five, one and six, one and seven" - the Gemara explains that he counted the upward sprinkling together with each downward one: so that he should not err in the sprinklings (counting the first sprinkling among the seven - Rambam). He - the High Priest, came out - from the Holy of Holies- and placed it - the bowl with the blood of the bullock, On the golden stand in the Sanctuary - set apart for this purpose (Hameiri).

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