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Week 31 - Wednesday - 28 June 2000

YOMA: CHAPTER 5 : MISHNA 6

He sprinkled the surface of the Altar seven times, and he poured the remainder of the blood on the western base of the outer Altar, and of the outer Altar he poured on the southern base. This and that mingled in the channel and flowed out to the stream of Kidron, and were sold to the gardeners as manure, and the law of me'ilah applies to it.

Kehati

After the High Priest had performed all the sprinklings on the horns of the Altar, He sprinkled the surface of the Altar - itself, i.e., he raked away the coals and the ashes to either side and he sprinkled the golden top of the Altar. The Gemara explains that tahoro means lit., the clean, i.e., the exposed, seven times - as it is written, "And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it" (Lev. 16:19), And he poured the remainder of the blood - that remained after all the sprinklings, on the western base of the outer Altar - as it is written, "and all the remaining blood of the bullock shall he pour out at the base of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the Tent of Meeting" (Lev. 4:7), which was to the west of the outer Altar, and the remainder of the blood which was sprinkled on The outer Altar he poured on the southern base - of the Altar, for in the southwest corner there were two narrow outlets on the base, one westward and the other southward, where the remainder of the blood was poured out.

This then is the meaning of this mishnah: the remainders of the blood of the sin-offerings (the bullock and the he-goat of Yom Kippur offered up inside, i.e., the blood of which was sprinkled inside) were poured out on the western base, i.e., into the western channel. The remainders, however, of the blood of the "outer" sin-offerings, i.e., whose blood was sprinkled on the outer Altar), as that of the other sacrifices, was poured out into the southern channel. The reason for this is that we learn the laws of the priest's descent from the ramp after the "outer" sin-offering, carrying in his hand the remainder of blood from the going out of the High Priest from the Sanctuary, carrying the remainder of the blood of the "inner" sin-offerings; just as when going out from the Sanctuary he poured the remainder of the blood nearby, i.e., the western base, as in the above-mentioned verse (Lev. 4:7), so, too, in his descent from the ramp he would pour the remainder nearby into the southern base, close to the ramp (Zev. 53a).

This and that - the remainders of the blood from the western base and those from the southern base, mingled in the channel - the conduit for water (in a canal) in the Temple Courtyard, and flowed out to the stream of Kidron, and were sold to the gardeners as manure, and the law of me'ilah applies to it - i.e., it is prohibited to derive benefit from them without payment. The law of me'ilah, however, applies to them only by Rabbinic law, for by Torah law it does not apply to blood (see Tosefot Yom Tov).

YOMA: CHAPTER 5 : MISHNA 7

Every act of Yom Kippur stated in the prescribed order, if he performed one act before another one - he did not do anything. If he did the blood of the he-goat before the blood of the bullock - he must sprinkle again from the blood of the he-goat after the blood of the bullock. And if the blood was poured out before he completed the sprinkling within - he must bring other blood and start anew and sprinkle again within. And similarly in the Sanctuary and on the Golden Altar, for each of them is a separate atonement. Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Shimon say, At the place he stopped, there he begins again.

Kehati

Every act of Yom Kippur - all the Yom Kippur services performed by the High Priest in his white garments in the Holy of Holies and in the Sanctuary (Gemara; Rambam, Hil. Avodat Yom ha-Kippurim 5:1); according to another opinion in the Gemara: all the services which are performed in the white garments, whether inside or outside, stated in prescribed order - in this Tractate, if he performed one act before another one - changing the order, he did not do anything - and he must perform it again, according to the proper order. The Gemara learns this from the verse, "And this shall be an everlasting statute to you, to make atonement for the children of Israel because of all their sins once in the year" (Lev. 16:34) - every time the Bible uses the word "statute," it denotes indispensability. Thus, in this case also Scripture teaches that it is prohibited to change the order. Hameiri interprets this as follows: "Every act of Yom Kippur" of which is "stated" - in this Tractate, that it must be performed "in the prescribed order," and "if he changed the order and performed one act before another one - he did not do anything".

If he did the blood of the he-goat before the blood of the bullock - for the order of the sprinklings, as was taught above, is as follows: first from the blood of the bullock and afterwards from the blood of the he-goat, and if he changed the order first sprinkling from the blood of the he-goat and afterwards from the blood of the bullock, He must sprinkle again from the blood of the he-goat after the blood of the bullock - the Gemara explains that this refers to the sprinklings in the Sanctuary, "on the curtain against the Ark on the outside"; if, however, he changed the order of the sprinklings inside, another he-goat had to be slaughtered and its blood sprinkled after the blood of the bullock, for the he-goat slaughtered prior to the sprinkling of the blood of the bullock is invalid. And if the blood - of the bullock or of the he-goat, Was poured out - and he is not able to complete the sprinklings, because this happened before he completed the sprinklings within - in the Holy of Holies (see above, mishnayot 3-4),

He brings other blood - he slaughters another animal and he brings its blood, start anew and sprinkles again within - he performs all the sprinklings from the beginning. The commentators (following the Gemara), explain that if the blood of the bullock was poured out before he completed the sprinklings, and he brings another bullock, he must also take again a handful of the incense and burn it before he sprinkles the blood, for incense of which a handful was taken prior to the slaughtering of the bullock is invalid. And similarly - if the blood was poured out before he completed the sprinklings on the curtain - in the Sanctuary - he must bring other blood and he starts anew the sprinklings in the Sanctuary. However, he is not required to repeat the sprinklings in the Holy of Holies, for these and the sprinkling in the Sanctuary are two separate, distinct acts (Hameiri),

And on the Golden Altar - if he began to sprinkle on the Altar and the blood was poured out before he finished his sprinklings, he must bring other blood and repeat the sprinklings on the Altar from the beginning, for each of them is a separate atonement - therefore if the blood was poured out after he had completed one atonement, either in the Holy of Holies or in the Sanctuary, he need not repeat it. However, if the blood was poured out before he completed the atonement, he must perform it anew. The Gemara states that if the blood was poured out after he had completed all the sprinklings, prior to the pouring out of the remainders, there is no need to bring other blood, for the pouring out of the remainders on the outer Altar is not indispensable.

Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Shimon say, At the place he stopped, there he begins - even if the blood was poured out before he completed the sprinklings in the Holy of Holies, or in the Sanctuary, or on the Golden Altar, he is not required to repeat the sprinklings that he has already performed, for each sprinkling is a separate act; rather he brings other blood and continues the sprinklings from where he stopped. The halakhah does not follow Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Shimon.

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