Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday
Thursday | Friday | Shabbat

YOMA: CHAPTER 4 : MISHNA 6

Kehati

On other days there were - on the Altar in the Temple Courtyard, four wood-piles there - of burning logs. A baraita in the Gemara specifies the four wood-piles: the first was a large wood-pile, upon which they offered the tamid and the portions of the other sacrifices which are offered on the Altar; the second - from which they took burning coals for the Altar in the Sanctuary to burn incense upon it; the third - for maintaining the fire, as it is written, "And the fire upon the Altar shall be kept burning thereby, it shall not go out" (Lev. 6:5); the fourth - for the limbs of the afternoon tamid, which they had not managed to burn during the night; but on this day - on Yom Kippur, there were five - wood-piles on the Altar, for they added a special wood-pile from which they took coals for the incense that the High Priest brought in to the Holy of Holies; so Rabbi Meir - who holds that there were four wood-piles every day.

Rabbi Yose says, On other days there were three - wood-piles on the Altar: the large wood-pile, the second wood-pile for the incense, and the wood-pile for maintaining the fire; but on this day - on Yom Kippur, four - there was a fourth wood-pile for the special incense of the day (see above). Rabbi Yose holds that there was no special wood-pile for the limbs that had not burned up during the night, rather they would burn them by the sides of the large wood-pile.

Rabbi Yehudah says, on the other days two - the large wood-pile and a second wood-pile for the incense, but on this day three - an additional wood-pile for the special incense of Yom Kippur, for according to Rabbi Yehudah, there was no wood-pile for maintaining the fire. The Gemara explains that the large wood-pile is according to all opinions learned from the Biblical passage, "it is that which goes up on its firewood upon the Altar all night" (Lev. 6:2); the second wood-pile, for the incense, is learned from the passage, "and the fire of the Altar shall be kept burning thereby" (ibid.); Rabbi Yose and Rabbi Meir learn the wood-pile for maintaining the fire from the passage, "And the fire upon the Altar shall be kept burning thereby, it shall not go out" (ibid., v. 5).

Rabbi Yehudah, however, holds that there was no wood-pile for maintaining the fire; he learns from this verse that the person who lights thin splints in order to ignite the logs of the large wood-pile does not light them below and bring them up to the Altar when they are burning, rather he may light them only on top of the Altar. The Tannaim who disagree with him, however, learn the latter law from the verse, "And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the Altar" (Lev. 1:7; see the Gemara). The fourth wood-pile is learned - following the opinion of Rabbi Meir - from the "and" in "and the fire of the Altar"; the other Tannaim, however, do not interpret this from the "and." The halakhah follows Rabbi Yose.

YOMA: CHAPTER 5 : MISHNA 1

Kehati

After the High Priest placed the fire-pan of coals on the fourth terrace in the Temple Courtyard, They brought out to him the empty golden ladle - from the Vessels Chamber, and the fire-pan - full of the finest incense, from the chamber of the House of Avtinas (see 1:5, above), and he filled from this fire-pan, his two handfulls - of incense, as it is written, "And he shall take a censer full of coals from off the Altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small" (Lev. 16:12), and he put it- the incense in his hands into the ladle; the large according to his largeness, and the small according to his smallness - i.e., there was no fixed measure for the incense, rather the quantity corresponded to the size of the handfulls of the High Priest, whether large or small;

And such was its measure- of the incense - no more and no less than the handfulls of the High Priest. The Gemara explains that the procedure inside was the same as outside: just as outside he scooped up with his hands, and not with a utensil, so, too, inside (in the Holy of Holies), he would pour the incense from the ladle into the actual hollows of his hands, and not into a utensil the measure of his handfulls. He took the fire-pan - from the fourth terrace in the Temple Courtyard, in his right- hand and the ladle - of the incense, in his left - actually he should have taken the pan in his right hand and the fire-pan in his left, since the incense is the principle part of the act, but since the fire-pan was hot and heavy, and the incense ladle much lighter, the High Priest was allowed to take the fire-pan in his right hand and the ladle in his left hand (Gemara; see Rambam, Hil. Avodat Yom ha-Kippurim 4:1; see also Tosefot Yom Tov).

Thus he would enter the Sanctuary, and he walked through the Sanctuary - facing west, until he arrived between the two curtains which separated the Holy place, i.e., the Sanctuary, from the Holy of Holies; and - there was a space of - a cubit between them - the two curtains. In the First Temple, a one-cubit thick wall (called the amah teraksin) separated the Sanctuary from the Holy of Holies. In the Second Temple, which was much taller than the First Temple, it would not have been possible to erect a wall only one amah thick. It therefore was necessary to place a curtain between the Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies, as in the Sanctuary in the desert. However, they did not know whether the amah of the wall thickness had the sanctity of the internal or the external area. They therefore placed two parallel curtains there, with a space of one cubit (of the thickness of the wall in the First Temple) between them.

Rabbi Yose says, There was only one curtain there - as in the desert Sanctuary, as it is written regarding it, "and the curtain shall divide unto you between the holy place and the Holy of Holies" - according to Rabbi Yose, there was no doubt concerning the cubit, and they hung the curtain in the place where the sanctity of the Holy of Holies ended (Hameiri; see also Tosafot, Yoma 51b). However, this mishnah follows the opinion of the First Tanna, that there were two curtains there: the outer curtain, nearer the Sanctuary, was clasped - its top was folded over towards the outside and was held by a golden clasp, so that there would be an entryway there, on the south - i.e., a part of the southern side was clasped, and the inner - curtain, nearer the Holy of Holies, was clasped on the north - the northern side. The High Priest would enter with the fire-pan in his right hand and the ladle in his left hand where the external curtain was clasped, on its southern side, and then he walked between them - the two curtains,

Until he reached the north - where the internal curtain was clasped, on its northern side. When he reached the north - and entered through the clasped part into the Holy of Holies, he turned round to the south - and walked until the space between the bars of the Ark, in the middle of the Holy of Holies, he walked with the curtain on his left - for if a person walks from north to south east is on his left and the curtain was to the east of the Holy of Holies, until he reached the Ark - the Gemara explains that the place of the Ark is meant, for this mishnah refers to the Second Temple where there was no Ark (see mishnah 2, below).

When he reached the Ark, he put the fire-pan between the two bars - of the Ark; the Gemara explains, "as between the two bars" (where they would have been - Rashi). He heaped up the incense on the coals - as already mentioned, in the Holy of Holies the High Priest had to put the incense again into his hands, and from there onto the coals. He also had to take care that not even the amount of a mustard-seed of the incense fall to the ground, for then it would not be two complete handfulls. The Gemara explains that after the High Priest had put down the fire-pan, he held the handle of the incense ladle with the fingertips of both hands, and he slowly pulled it with his two thumbs until the end of the handle was between his elbows, and the ladle itself in the palms of his hands. He then tilted the pan slightly to its side until all the incense would pour out into the hollows of his hands, which was the most difficult task in the Temple. This is the meaning of, "He heaped up the incense" - i.e., from his handfulls, "on the coals" - which were in the fire-pan, i.e., he would heap up the incense in the fire-pan on the western side, away from him, so as not to be burned,

And the entire chamber was filled with smoke - Rambam writes, "and he waits there until the entire chamber is filled with smoke." He came out - from the Holy of Holies to the Sanctuary, by the way he entered - he did not turn round to leave, but walked backwards, with his face towards the Holy of Holies, out of respect, and he prayed a short prayer in the outer chamber - in the Sanctuary, after he went out into it,

And he did not prolong his prayer, so as not to alarm Israel - for if he had tarried, the people would have thought that he had died inside, because according to tradition a High Priest who changed anything in the service of the incense, or was not worthy, would die there. The Gemara cites the prayer of the High Priest: "May it be Your will, O Lord our God, that if this year be a hot one, let it be rich in rain, and that the scepter not depart from the house of Judah, and that Your people Israel not be dependent upon each other for livelihood, and do not permit the prayers of travellers (regarding rain) to find entrance before You".

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday
Thursday | Friday | Shabbat

Return to Mishna Yomit Index

Visit the Mishna Yomit Archives