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Week 28 - Friday - 9 June 2000

SHEKALIM: CHAPTER 8 : MISHNA 8

The limbs of the tamid offering were placed on the lower half of the ramp on the east, and of the musaf offerings were placed on the lower part of the ramp on the west, and of Rosh Hodesh were placed on the karkov of the altar above. Shekels and firstfruits only apply when the Temple stands but the grain tithes and cattle tithes and the firstborn both when the Temple stands and when the Temple does not stand. One who consecrates shekels and firstfruits, they are consecrated. R. Shimon says, One who pronounces firstfruits consecrated - they are not consecrated.

Kehati

The limbs of the tamid offering - The dissected parts of the daily tamid offering, were placed on the lower half of the ramp on the east - There was a sloping ramp to the south of the altar, upon which the kohanim would ascend to the altar. Its length was thirty-two amot (cubits) and its width was sixteen amot, and when the kohanim carried the different parts of the tamid up to the altar, they would not bring them up in a single trip. Instead, they would first place them on the ramp and would go to the Gazit Chamber to recite the Shema prayer. Only then would they carry it up the ramp. Our mishnah teaches us that it was placed on the lower half of the ramp, namely within the lower sixteen amot, and within the eight amot to the east.

And of the musaf offerings - Which are brought on Sabbaths and festivals, were placed on the lower half of the ramp on the west - within eight amot to the west; and there are those who have a version which reverses the sides: "The limbs of the tamid offering were placed on the lower half of the ramp on the west, and those of the musaf offerings were placed on the lower half of the ramp and on the east (see Tosefot Yom Tov); and of Rosh Hodesh - The limbs of the musaf offerings brought on Rosh Hodesh, were placed on the karkov of the altar above - Between the corners of the altar, the walkway of the kohanim (Jerusalem Talmud; Rambam), and the reason is explained in the Talmud (Jerusalem Talmud here and Babylon Talmud Sukkah 54b), in order to publicize the fact that today is Rosh Hodesh - Others have the text: Those of Rosh Hodesh are placed below the karkov of the altar (Rashi, Sukkah ib., Bartenura), namely in the upper half of the ramp, close to the karkov of the altar, slightly below it (see Tosefot Yom Tov).

Shekels and firstfruits only apply when the Temple stands - at the time that the Temple stood; Shekels - because they were collected for the communal sacrifices, and when there are no sacrifices there are no Shekels; as to firstfruits - the Torah says about them (Ex. 23:19), "The firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the House of the Lord your God," on which our Sages expounded: "As long as there is a House of God, there are firstfruits; if there is no House of God, there are no firstfruits. Other derive this from the verse (Deut. 26:4): "And he shall place it before the altar of the Lord your God" - as long as there is an altar there are firstfruits; if there is no altar, there are no firstfruits. When the Temple stood, however, there was a difference between shekels and firstfruits, in that shekels had to be given by each Jew, regardless of which country he was living in, while firstfruits were only brought by those residing in Eretz Yisrael. But the grain tithes - Terumah and ma'aser of wheat, And animal tithes - The Torah specified that one of each ten animals of a kosher species born to a person each year must be set aside, as we see in the verse (Lev. 27:32), "whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord," And the firstborn - The law of the sanctity of the firstborn, as explained in the Torah (Ex. 13:1-13; Num. 18:15-18), both when the Temple stands and when it does not stand - whether the Temple is standing or not. As to grain tithes, Bartenura explains because Eretz Yisrael did not lose its sanctity. Sifre (on Parshat Korah) expounds on the verse (Num. 18:19), "All the terumot of the holy things, which the Children of Israel offer unto the Lord, have I given you, and your sons and your daughters with you, by an everlasting statute" - that this law exists for all generations (see Mishnah Bikkurim 2:3); animal tithes - are compared to grain tithes; and the firstborn are consecrated from birth on, and are not dependent on the owner. Thus we see that the sanctity of a firstborn and animal tithes apply today as well, but one waits until these animals develop a blemish, after which they may be eaten in any place. The Talmud, though, states (Tractate Bekhorot 53a) that the Sages abolished animal tithing, for fear that he may forget while waiting for the animal to develop a blemish, and unlawfully shear its wool or use it for work (an animal tithe has the same law as the firstborn in this regard - see Deut. 15:19), or that the person might slaughter the animal before it develops a blemish. As to the firstborn, our Sages were not able to abolish its consecration, because its sacredness does not depend on us.

One who consecrates shekels and firstfruits - One who consecrates money for shekels or produce for firstfruits today, when there is no Temple, They are not consecrated - The money or produce becomes consecrated, and the fruit must be set aside until it rots, while the money must be hidden away (Rivevan) or thrown into the Dead Sea (Rashas).

R. Shimon says, One who pronounces firstfruits consecrated - they are not consecrated - For the Torah states clearly, You shall bring it to the House of the Lord your God," therefore even if the person declared it to be such, it does not bear the name firstfruits and is not consecrated. The Jerusalem Talmud brings a view that even in regard to shekels, R. Shimon argues with the Tanna Kamma, and holds that the money is not consecrated. Rambam explains that the dispute between the Tanna Kamma and R. Shimon refers to the era when the Temple stood, and the case here is one where a person set aside his shekel or his firstfruits for the upkeep of the Temple, where, according to the Tanna Kamma, his words are binding, and R. Shimon disagrees about firstfruits, and holds that they are not consecrated for the upkeep of the Temple, for the firstfruits belong to the kohanim, and a person cannot consecrate something which doesn't belong to him. As to shekels, R. Shimon agrees that they are consecrated (see Tosefot Yom Tov). And the halakhah follows R. Shimon.

As to the beginning of this mishnah, Tiferet Yisrael writes: "I have not been privileged to understand how this law belongs here, for it has no connection with the previous or following part and this would belong more properly in Tractate Tamid. And may the Holy One, Blessed be He, enlighten me in the mysteries of His Torah. And it may have been brought here incidental to Mishnah 4, that the curtain was stretched out on the portico so that the people should see the beautiful workmanship, and this mishnah was brought here to tell us the second part, that the limbs of the musaf offering of Rosh Hodesh are placed on the karkov of the altar, so as to publicize that this day is Rosh Hodesh."

And R. S. Sirilio gives as the reason that as we learned above regarding the boundaries for burning sacrificial meat that became tameh, this mishnah was also brought as it deals with the boundaries of where the limbs of the sacrifices were placed on the ramp before being brought up to the altar.

YOMA: CHAPTER 1 : MISHNA 1

Seven days before Yom Kippur they separate the High Priest from his house to the Palhedrin Chamber, and they prepare for him another priest in his stead, in case a disqualification befalls him. Rabbi Yehudah says, Even another wife they prepare for him, in case his wife dies, as it is written, "and he shall make atonement for himself, and for his house" (Lev. 16:6), his house - this is his wife. They said to him, If so, there would be no end to the matter.

Kehati

This Tractate contains eight chapters, the first seven of which describe the order of the High Priest's Yom Kippur service in the Temple, as specified in Lev. 16; only the last chapter deals with the laws of the fast and discusses the subjects of repentance (teshuvah) and atonement (kaparah). Yoma, the title of the Tractate, is an Aramaic word meaning "the day," i.e., the special day, Yom Kippur. Similarly, Yom Kippur is termed "Yoma Rabbah," the great day, in the Gemara (R. H. 21a). In the Tosefta and in other sources, however, the Tractate is called Yom Kippurim. The first chapter describes the preparations of the High Priest for his service on Yom Kippur, for the entire Temple service of the day is valid only if performed by him; in addition to the day's special sacrifices, which are listed in the Torah section of Aharei Mot (Lev. 16), he also offers the morning tamid sacrifice, the Musaf sacrifice, and the afternoon tamid sacrifice. This mishnah teaches that these preparations began seven days before Yom Kippur, at which time the High Priest went to live in his special chamber in the Temple, so that his purity would be maintained. All these seven days he would be occupied with the work of the tamid, with the burning of the incense and with the dressing of the lamps; and the elders of the Court would instruct him in the order of the day's service, so that he would be well versed in it and familiar with it.

Seven days before Yom Kippur they separate the High Priest from the house - the Gemara explains that they separate him from his wife, lest he become unclean through her due to a dubious state of nidah, when he would be prohibited from coming to the Temple on Yom Kippur; since the entire Yom Kippur service could be performed only by the High Priest (see above), his purity had to be maintained. This our Sages learned from the Torah passage regarding the seven days of consecration (yemei milu'im), "And you shall not go out from the door of the Tent of Meeting seven days...As has been this day, so the Lord has commanded to do, to make atonement for you" (Lev. 8:33-34): "to do" refers to the service of the red heifer; "to make atonement for you" refers to the Yom Kippur service, i.e., both the priest who burns the red heifer and the priest who performs the Yom Kippur service must be separated from their house for seven days, just as Aaron and his sons were commanded to separate from their house during the seven days of consecration. They therefore separate the High Priest from his house, and bring him in

To the Palhedrin Chamber - which was in the azarah (Temple Inner Court). The version of the mishnah in the Gemara reads "Palhedrin"; the commentaries explain that this is a Greek word, meaning, "the King's officials." A baraita quoted in the Gemara states that this chamber had initially been called the "Balvati Chamber," which means (in Greek), the chamber of the officials and dignitaries; since the prestige of the office of High Priest had gone down during the Second Temple when it was bought for money, and the High Priest changed every twelve months (for during the time of the Second Temple most of the High Priests were wicked, and did not survive their first year as High Priest - Rashi), as the parhedrin (the king's officials), who were exchanged every twelve months; they therefore called it the Parhedrin or Palhedrin Chamber (Yom 8:2; see Jer. Talmud, 1:1);

And they prepare for him another priest - to be High Priest - in his stead, in case a disqualification befalls him - which will make him unfit for the service, such as uncleanness, in which event the second priest will come and serve in his stead. The second priest, however, was not separated from his house, because the separation was not an indispensable precondition for the Yom Kippur service (Gemara).

Rabbi Yehudah says, Even another wife they prepare for him - the High Priest, before Yom Kippur, in case his wife dies - and a High Priest who does not have a wife is prohibited from performing the Yom Kippur service, as is written, "and he shall make atonement for himself, and for his house" - from which it was adduced: his house - this is his wife - the Gemara explains that it also is prohibited for him to have two wives, for it is written, "and for his house," and not for two houses. This preparation, therefore, consists of his marrying the second woman before Yom Kippur, so that she will be "his house" if his first wife should die, but he divorces his first wife on the eve of Yom Kippur, on condition that he will perform some deed, such as entering the synagogue on the Mount of Olives. It follows that if the first wife does not die on Yom Kippur, the get given to the second one takes effect retroactively, and he is married only to his first wife, and if the first one should die, he will fulfill the condition (entering the synagogue) close to her death, and therefore on Yom Kippur he would be married only to the second wife.

They - the Sages, said to him - Rabbi Yehudah, If so - if we fear the possibility of death, there would be no end to the matter - for the second wife might also die. Since sudden death is not a common occurrence, we are not concerned about it, but we do fear the invalidation of the priest through uncleanness, which occurs frequently. They therefore prepare for him a substitute priest, and they do not argue, "If so, there is no end to the matter," because the High Priest is scrupulous and careful in the performance of his service, and especially since they prepare another priest, he will be especially careful not to become disqualified. But they do not prepare another wife for him. Rabbi Yehudah, however, fears that one wife might die, and does not fear the death of two wives. The halakhah follows the Sages.

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