6. If a perutah that belonged to the Temple fell into a bag of other money; or if a man said, ‘One perutah in this bag belongs to the Temple’, so soon as he pays out the first perutah he has committed Sacrilege. So R. Akiba. But the Sages say: Only after he has paid out all that is in the bag. R. Akiba agrees that if a man said, ‘One perutah from this bag shall belong to the Temple’, he may go on paying out of the bag [and not be guilty of Sacrilege] until he pays out all that is in the bag.
1. 1. The priests kept watch at three places in the Temple: at the Chamber of Abtinas,2 at the Chamber of the Flame,3 and at the Chamber of the Hearth.4 The Chamber of Abtinas and the Chamber of the Flame were on the upper story5 and there the young men [from among the priests] kept watch. The Chamber of the Hearth was vaulted; it was a large chamber and around it ran a raised stone pavement; and there the eldest of the father’s house6 used to sleep with the keys of the Temple Court in their hand. The young priests had each his mattress on the ground. They did not sleep in the sacred garments but stripped them off, folded them up and put them under their heads and dressed themselves in their own clothes. If one7 of them suffered a pollution he would go out and go along the passage that leads below the Temple building,8 where lamps were burning here and there, until he reached the Chamber of Immersion. There was a fire there and a privy, and this was its seemly use: if he found it locked he knew that some one was there; if open he knew that no one was there. He went down and immersed himself,7 came up and dried himself, and warmed himself before the fire. He returned and lay down beside his brethren the priests until the gates were opened, when he went out and left the Temple.10 2. He that was minded to clean the Altar of ashes rose up early and immersed himself before the officer” came. At what time did he come? Not always at the same time. Sometimes he came at cockcrow and some¬ times a little sooner or later. The officer came and knocked [on the door] where they were, and they opened to him. He said, ‘Let him that has immersed himself come and cast lots’. And they cast lots and the lot fell upon whom it fell.
3. He took the key and opened the wicket and entered the Temple Court by the Chamber of the Hearth.12 The priests entered after him carrying two lighted torches and they separated into two parties, the one going along the colonnade eastwards and the other going along the colonnade westwards. As they went they kept diligent watch until they came to the place where the Baken Cakes13 were made.14 When both were come thither they called [one to the other], ‘Is all well?’ ‘All is well!’ There they left them that made the Baken Cakes to make the Baken Cakes.
1 Lit. ‘continuous’, i.e. the continual or Daily Whole-offering, brought every day throughout the year, morning and evening (Ex. 2g38'43; Num. 281'8).
2 See Shek. 51; Yom. i5; 311; Midd. il. It was in the upper story, on the south side of the ‘Court of the Priests’. 2 See Midd. i5. 4 Midd. ic.
5 It was built above the colonnade which surrounded the inner court of the Temple.
10 He could not be accounted clean and fit to minister in the Temple or eat of Hallowed Things (cf. Ber. i1) until sunset. See p. 77s, n. 6.
11 Who ‘was over the lots’. Cf. Shek. 51 (Mattithiah b. Samuel); Yom. 31.
12 i.e. north of the space that lay between the Porch and the Altar.
' ' See Men. 45; Lev. 621. 14 The south-east comer of the Temple Court.
4. He whose lot it was to clear the Altar of ashes went to clear the Altar of ashes, while they said to him, ‘Take heed that thou touch not the vessel1 before thou hast sanctified thy hands and feet in the laver;2 and lo, the firepan lies in the corner between the Ramp and the Altar, on the western side of the Ramp’.3 None went in4 with him and he carried no lamp, but he walked in the light of the Altar fire. They neither saw him nor heard the sound of him until they heard the noise of the wooden device which Ben Katin5 had made for the laver; and then they said, ‘The time is come!’ He sanctified his hands and feet at the laver, took the silver firepan and went up to the top of the Altar and cleared away the cinders to this side and to that, and scooped up the innermost burnt [cinders] and came down again. When he reached the pavement he turned his face to the north and went some ten cubits to the east of the Ramp. He heaped the cinders together on the pave¬ ment three handbreadths away from the Ramp at the place where they throw the crops of the birds6 and the ashes from the inner Altar and the Candlestick.
2. 1. When his brethren saw that he was come down they came running and hastened and sanctified their hands and their feet at the laver, and they took the shovels and the rakes and mounted to the top of the Altar. Any members [of the animal-offerings] and fat pieces that had not been con¬ sumed since the evening they raked to the sides of the Altar, and if the sides could not contain them they put them in order on the Circuit7 by the Ramp.
2. They began to heap up the ashes above the ash-pile, and the ash-pile was in the middle of the Altar; sometimes there were about three hundred korss [of ashes] upon it; and at the Feasts9 the priests did not clear away the ashes since they were an adornment to the Altar: [when the ashes remained] it was never through negligence of the priest to clear away the ashes.
3. They began to bring up faggots to set in order the Altar fire. Were all kinds of wood valid for use in the Altar fire? Yea, all kinds of wood were valid for use in the Altar fire save only olive-wood and the wood of the vine; but their custom was to use only boughs of the fig-tree or the walnut-tree or of oleaster- wood.
4. He10 set in order the greater of the Altar fires to the east side; and its fore side11 was to the east, and the inner ends of the faggots touched the ash-pile, and there was a space between the faggots through which they set fire to the kindling-wood.
5. They chose from thence fine pieces of fig-tree wood wherewith to set in order the second fire appointed for the incense, over against the south¬ western corner, but distant four cubits to the north of this corner; [on weekdays they took wood sufficient to give] about five seahs of cinders, and on the Sabbath sufficient to give about eight seahs of cinders, for there they used to put the two dishes of frankincense that pertained to the Shew- bread.12 Then they put back on the fire the members [of the animal- offerings] and the fat pieces that had not been consumed since the evening.
1 The silver firepan. 2 Cf. Ex. 3017ff.
3 See Midd. 3*. It was the inclined plane leading, from the south, to the top of the large outer Altar. 4 To the space between the Porch and the Altar, s Yom. 310. See below, 3s. 6 Cf. Zeb. 6G. 1 See Zeb. s3; Midd. 31, 8 App. II, D. 9 Ex. 23uff. Whose lot it was to clear the Altar of ashes.
11 The open side from which it was tended. The other side was blocked by the ash-pile.
584 FIFTH DIVISION: KODASHIM They kindled the two fires and came down and betook themselves to the Chamber of Hewn Stone.1 3. x. The officer said to them, ‘Come and cast lots’,2 [to decide] which of them should slaughter, which should sprinkle the blood, which should clear the inner Altar3 of ashes, which should trim the Candlestick, and which should take up the Ramp the members [of the Daily Whole-offering, namely] the head and the [right] hind-leg, and the two fore-legs, the rump and the [left] hind-leg, the breast and the neck, and the two flanks, the inwards, and the fine flour, the Baken Cakes and the wine. They cast lots, and the lot fell upon whom it fell.
2. The officer said to them, ‘Go and see if the time is come for slaughter¬ ing’. If it was come, he that perceived it says, ‘It is daylight’. Mattithiah b. Samuel4 used to say: [He that perceived it says,] ‘The whole east is alight’. ‘As far as Hebron?’ and he answered, ‘Yea!’
3. He said to them, ‘Go and bring a lamb from the Chamber of Lambs’.5 Now the Chamber of Lambs was in the north-western corner. Four chambers were there:6 one was the Chamber of Lambs, one the Chamber of Seals,7 one the Chamber of the Hearth, and one the chamber wherein they made the Shewbread.
4. They went into the Chamber of Utensils8 and brought forth ninety- three vessels of silver and vessels of gold; and they gave [the lamb that was to be] the Daily Whole-offering to drink from a cup of gold. Although it had been inspected in the evening of the day before, they inspect it again by the light of torches.
5. He to whom it fell to slaughter the Daily Whole-offering dragged it along to the shambles,9 and they to whom it fell to carry the members followed after. The shambles lay north of the Altar and there stood there eight short pillars; upon these were four-sided blocks of cedar- wood into which were fixed iron hooks,10 three rows to each, whereon they used to hang [the slaughtered beasts]. They used to flay them on marble tables11 between the pillars.
6. They to whom it fell to clear the inner Altar of ashes and to trim the Candlestick had already gone, bearing four utensils in their hands: an ash- bin, an oil-jar, and two keys. The ash-bin was like a large golden thr ee-kab measure and it held two and a half kabs\ and the oil-jar was like a large golden flagon; and as for the two keys, one was thrust into the lock as far as the armpit, and the other opened [the door] forthwith.
7. He reached the northern wicket.12 The great gate13 had two wickets, one to the north and another to the south. By that to the south none ever entered, whereof it is expressly said by Ezekiel, And the Lord said unto me. This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut.1* He took the key and opened the wicket. He entered into a cell, and from the cell into the Sanctuary, until he reached the great gate.15 When he reached the great gate he drew back the bolt and the locks and 12 A small door to the right of the main door leading from the Porch into the Sanctuary.
13 Midd. 42. 14 Ezek. 44-. 13 From the inside.
I opened it. He that slaughtered never slaughtered until he heard the noise of the opening of the great gate.
I 8. From Jericho they could hear the noise of the opening of the great gate; from Jericho they could hear the sound of the ‘Shovel’;1 from Jericho they could hear the noise of the wooden device which Ben Katin made for the laver;2 from Jericho they could hear the voice of Gabini the herald;3 from Jericho they could hear the sound of the flute; from Jericho they could hear the noise of the cymbal;4 from Jericho they could hear the sound of the singing; from Jericho they could hear the sound of the Shofar; and some say, even the voice of the High Priest when he pronounced the Name on the Day of Atonement;5 from Jericho they could smell the smell at the com¬ pounding of the incense. R. Eleazar b. Diglai said: My father’s house kept goats in the mountain of Machwar,6 and they used to sneeze from the smell of the compounding of the incense.
9. He to whom it fell to clean the inner Altar of ashes went in and took the ash-bin, set it down before him, scooped up the ashes with both hands and put them into it; what was left at the last he swept into it; there he left it and came away. He to whom it fell to trim the Candlestick went in, and if he found the two easternmost lamps7 burning he trimmed the rest, but left them burning as they were. If he found that they had gone out, he trimmed them and kindled them from those that were still alight, and then trimmed the rest. There was a stone before the Candlestick in which were three steps; on this the priest stood to trim the lamps. He left the oil-jar on the second step and came away.
4. 1, The lamb was not [wholly] bound up but [only] tied, and they to whom it fell to take the members [of the lamb] laid hold on it. And thus was it tied up — with its head to the south and its face to the west. He that slaughtered it stood to the east with his face to the west. [The Daily Whole-offering] of the morning was slaughtered at the north-western comer at the second ring;8 that of the afternoon was slaughtered at the north-eastern comer at the second ring. He whose lot it was to slaughter slaughtered it; and he whose lot it was to receive [the blood]9 received the blood and came to the north-eastern corner [of the Altar] and sprinkled it to the east and to the north; then he came to the south-western corner and sprinkled it to the east and to the south.10 The residue of the blood he poured out at the base [of the Altar] on the south side.
2. He [that slaughtered it] did not break its hind-leg but pierced the knee- joint and so hung it up; he flayed it downwards as far as the breast; when he reached the breast he cut off the head and gave it to him whose lot it was to take it. He cut off the shanks and gave them to him whose lot it was to take them. He stripped off all the hide, slit the heart and let out its blood. He cut off the fore-legs and gave them to him whose lot it was to take them. He came up to the right hind-leg, cut it off, and gave it with the two stones * Heb. Magrefah. Cf. below, 5*. It is explained as being an instrument having ten pipes, ten holes in cadi pipe, and made in the shape of a shovel. Ft is not identified with the shovel mentioned below, 5*.
1 See above, 1*. It was a device for lowering the water into a well below. Seep. 165, 3 Cf. p. 165, n. 8; Sot. 7*. 6 East of the Dead Sea.
7 The ‘candlestick’ was a large seven-armed candelabrum, carrying a lamp (cf. p. 581, n.6j on each arm. The lamps were in line, running east and west (cf. Men. 11*;.
* See Midd. 3s; Sukk. 5“. « Cf. Pes. 5*. Zeb 54'.
586 FIFTH DIVISION: KODASHIM to him to whose lot they fell. He slit [the carcase] so that all the inward parts lay open before him. He removed the fat and put it above where the head was cut off. He removed the inward parts and gave them to him whose lot it was to swill them. The stomach was swilled as many times as it needed in the swilling chamber, and the inwards were rinsed at least three times on the marble tables between the pillars.1 3. He took the knife and cut asunder the lungs from the liver, and the lobe of the liver from the liver itself, but he did not remove it. He cut open the breast and gave it to him to whose lot it fell. He came up to the right flank and cut downwards as far as the backbone; he did not touch the back¬ bone itself until he came to the two small ribs; he then cut off the flank and gave it to him to whose lot it fell, with the liver attached thereto. He came to the neck and left with it two ribs on either side; he cut it off and gave it to him to whose lot it fell, with the windpipe, heart, and lungs attached thereto. He came to the left flank and he left with it two thin ribs above and two below; and in like manner he left them on the other flank; thus with both flanks he left two each above, and two each below. Then he cut it off and gave it to him to whose lot it fell, with the backbone and spleen attached thereto. This was the larger portion; but they used to call the right flank the larger, since the liver was attached thereto. He came to the rump and cut it off and gave it to him to whose lot it fell, with the fat tail, the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys attached thereto. He took the left hind-leg and gave it to him to whose lot it fell. So they all stood in line with the members [of the lamb] in their hands: the first bore the head and a hind-leg, the head in his right hand, its muzzle along his arm, and its horns in his fingers, and the place where it was slaughtered upwards, with the fat thereon, and the right hind-leg in his left hand with the flayed end outer¬ most; the second bore the two fore-legs, the right leg in his right hand, the left leg in his left hand, with the flayed end outermost; the third bore the rump and the [other] hind-leg, the rump in his right hand and the fat tail hanging down between his fingers, and the lobe of the liver together with the two kidneys, while the left hind-leg was in his left hand, with its flayed end outermost; the fourth bore the breast and the neck, the breast in the right hand, and the neck in the left, and the ribs thereof between his fingers; the fifth bore the two flanks, the right flank in his right hand and the left in his left, with their flayed end outermost; the sixth bore the inwards in a dish with the shanks set on top; the seventh bore the fine flour; the eighth bore the Baken Cakes; and the ninth bore the wine. They went along and put them on the lower half of the Ramp and on the west side of it, and salted them; then they came down and betook themselves to the Chamber of Hewn Stone to recite the Shema. 2 5. 1. The officer said to them, ‘Recite ye a Benediction!’ They recited a Benediction, and recited the Ten Commandments, the Shema',3 and the And it shall come to pass if ye shall hearken* and the And the Lord spake unto Moses. 5 They pronounced three Benedictions with the people: ‘True and sure’,6 and ‘Abodah’,7 and the Priestly Blessing;8 and on the 1 The (Temple- )service. One of the ‘Eighteen Benedictions’. See Singer, p. 50 (‘May the service of thy people Israel be ever acceptable unto thee!’)
Sabbath they pronounced a further Benediction for the outgoing Course of priests.1 2. He said to them, ‘Ye that are new2 to the incense preparation, come and cast lots’, and they cast lots, and the lot fell upon whom it fell. ‘Both ye that are new to it and ye that are not, come and cast lots, which of you shall take up the members from the Ramp to the Altar’. R. Eliezer b.Jacob says: He that takes up the members to the Ramp takes them up also upon the Altar.
3. The other priests3 they delivered to the ministers of the Temple.4 These stripped them of their raiment and left them with their drawers only. There were wall-niches5 there whereon was written [the names of] the several articles of raiment.
4. He to whom fell the lot of [offering] the incense took the ladle. The ladle was like a large golden thr ee-kab measure, holding three kabs; within it was a dish, heaped up full of incense. It had a lid and over this a kind of covering.6 5. He whose lot it was to bear the firepan took the silver firepan and went to the top of the Altar and cleared away the cinders on this side and on that, scooped up fire with the firepan, came down and emptied it out into the golden [firepan]; there were spilled from it about a kab of cinders which he swept away into the water-channel.7 On the Sabbath he put an upturned psykter8 over them. The psykter was a large vessel holding a lethek,9 and on it were two chains; with one of them they pulled to lower it, and with the other it was held firm from above so that it should not roll. It was used for three things: it was put upside down over the cinders or over a creeping thing on the Sabbath, and with it they lowered the ashes from upon the Altar.
6. When they reached the space between the Porch and the Altar, one of them took the ‘Shovel’10 and cast it between the Porch and the Altar, and in Jerusalem none could hear his fellow’s voice by reason of the noise of the ‘Shovel’. It was used for three things: when a priest heard the noise of it he knew that his brethren the priests had entered in to prostrate them¬ selves, and he ran and came also; and when a levite heard the noise of it he knew that his brethren the levites were gone in to sing, and he ran and came also; and [when he heard the noise of it] the chief of the Maamad 11 made the unclean12 to stand at the Eastern Gate.
6. 1. Then they13 began to go up the steps of the Porch.14 They went first whose lot it was to clear the ashes from the inner Altar and the Candlestick.15 1 Cf. Sukk. 5s. 2 i.e. ‘Ye to whose lot It has never yet fallen to offer the incense’.
s Who were allotted no part in the service for the day.
* Namely to the servants of Phineas, the officer in the Temple (Shek. 51) who ‘was over the vestments’. Cf. Midd. i4. 5 Cf. Sukk. 5®.
10 Most commentators hold that this was not the ‘shovel’ of 3s, but was a utensil shaped like a shovel and serving the purpose of a signal-gong. On the other hand the verb rendered ‘throw’ may here have the sense of ‘making a noise on’ the organ-like instrument called the Magrefah or ‘Shovel’. 11 See Taan. 41. App. I. 21.
12 According to Maimonides these were the lepers who had been pronounced clean, and who were set in readiness at the Eastern or Nicanor Gate to bring their offerings and to be sprinkled. See Neg. 14**, Others suppose them to be priests who were stationed there to shame them for their remissness in contracting uncleanness; or priests who were made to stand there to show that it was not from idleness that they were not serving in the Temple.
13 See above, 54f. 1+ See Midd. 3*. '5 See above, 3*.
588 FIFTH DIVISION: KODASHIM He whose lot it was to clear the ashes from the inner Altar went in and took the ash-bin, prostrated himself, and came out. He whose lot it was to trim the Candlestick entered in, and if he found the two easternmost lamps burning, he trimmed the easternmost one and left burning that to the west, since with that he lighted the Candlestick in the afternoon. If he found it extinguished he trimmed it and then lighted it from the Altar of the Whole¬ offering. He then took the oil-jar from the second step, prostrated himself, and came out.
2. He whose lot it was to bear the firepan piled up the cinders on the [inner] Altar, smoothed them with the back of the firepan, prostrated him¬ self, and came out.
3. He whose lot it was to bring the incense took the dish from the midst of the ladle1 and gave it to his friend or kinsman. If aught was spilled from the firepan into the ladle he gave it to him into his two hands. They used to teach him,2 ‘Take heed that thou begin not in front of thee lest thou be burnt’.3 He began to smooth it down and came out. He that offered the incense did not offer it until the officer said to him, ‘Offer the incense!’ If it was the High Priest he used to say, ‘My lord High Priest, offer the incense!’ When all were gone away he offered the incense and prostrated himself and came away.
7. 1. When the High Priest came in [to the Sanctuary] to prostrate himself, three [priests] held him, one by his right hand and one by his left hand, and one by the precious stones;4 and when the officer heard the sound of the High Priest’s feet as he came out,5 he raised the curtain for him, and he went in and prostrated himself and came out. Then his brethren the priests went in and prostrated themselves and came out.
2. They came6 and stood on the steps of the Porch. They that came first stood to the south of their brethren the priests; and they bore five utensils in their hands, one having the ash-bin, another the oil-jug, another the firepan, another the [incense] dish, another the ladle and its cover. They then pronounced the Blessing [of the Priests] over the people as a single Blessing;7 in the provinces it was pronounced as three Blessings, but in the Temple as a single Blessing. In the Temple they pronounced the Name as it was written, but in the provinces by a substituted word. In the provinces the Priests raised their hands as "high as their shoulders, but in the Temple above their heads, excepting the High Priest, who raised his hands only as high as the frontlet. R. Judah says: The High Priest also raised his hand above the frontlet, for it is written, And Aaron lifted up his hands towards the people and blessed them.8 3. When the High Priest was minded9 to burn the offering, he used to ascend the Ramp having the Prefect10 at his right hand. When he had reached half way, the Prefect took him by the right hand and led him up. The first priest stretched out to him the head and the hind-leg, and he laid his hands on them and threw them [into the Altar fire]. The second priest 1 See above, 5’. 2 Since he had never offered the incense before (cf. above, 52).
3 The incense must be burnt over the whole Altar; therefore to prevent himself from being burnt by the burning incense he is advised to begin with the farthermost portion of the jAitSr S si 1 rfn pp 4 See Ex. 289fJ. Cf. p. 305, n. 10. s Of his own chamber. See Midd. s'1.
6 The priests who had completed their allotted tasks.
lu Cf. Yom. 39; 4'; 71; Sot. 7r> s. The chief of the priests.
then gave the first one the two fore-legs and he gave them to the High Priest who laid his hands upon them and threw them. The second priest then slipped away and departed. In like manner1 they held out to him the rest of the members [of the offering] and he laid his hands on them and threw them. When he was so minded he only laid his hands on them while others threw them. Then he walked around the Altar. Where did he be¬ gin? From the comer at the south-east, and so to the north-east and to the north-west and to the south-west. They gave him the wine for the drink- offering, and the Prefect stood by each horn of the Altar with a towel in his hand, and two priests stood at the table of the fat pieces with two silver trumpets in their hands. They blew a prolonged, a quavering, and a prolonged blast.3 Then they came and stood by Ben Arza,3 the one on his right and the other on his left. When he stooped to pour out the drink- offering the Prefect waved the towel and Ben Arza clashed the cymbal and the levites broke forth into singing. When they reached a break in the sing¬ ing they blew upon the trumpets and the people prostrated themselves; at every break there was a blowing of the trumpet and at every blowing of the trumpet a prostration. This was the rite of the Daily Whole-offering in the service of the House of our God. May it be his will that it shall be built up again, speedily, in our days. Amen.