Pesachim 57a (נז.) — the Talmud in English

And we raise the following question:

Shall we say that there were three tannaitic opinions

concerning this matter? The first tanna before Rabbi Yosei holds that one gives turnip and cabbage. And the first tanna before Rabbi Shimon holds that one gives turnip and leek. And Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Shimon hold that one gives all three.

And we reject this:

No.

Rather,

there were only two tannaitic opinions

in this matter.

And the first tanna before Rabbi Shimon,

who says, “One gives turnip and leek,”

is Rabbi Yosei.

For Rabbi Yosei, too, obligated one to give only these two, and not cabbage.

And the first tanna before Rabbi Yosei,

who says, “One gives turnip and cabbage,”

is Rabbi Shimon.

For Rabbi Shimon, too, obligated one to give only these two, and not leek.

And what

is the meaning of “even”

that Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Yosei say [which implies that they agreed with the words of their respective first tanna and came only to add to them]?

They did not agree with all the words of the first tanna, but only

with the first.

That is, with the first species that he mentioned. For with regard to what the first tanna said, that one gives turnip and cabbage, Rabbi Yosei agreed with him only concerning turnip, and added leek to it.

Similarly, with regard to what the first tanna of the other beraita said, “One gives turnip and leek,” Rabbi Shimon agreed with him only concerning turnip, and added cabbage to it.

It follows that there are two opinions concerning this matter:

The first opinion is that one gives turnip and cabbage. And the second opinion is that one gives turnip and leek. But there is no one who says that one gives all three.

The Sages taught: Ben Bohan gave pe'a to vegetables. And his father came and found poor people who had taken vegetables and were standing at the entrance of the garden.

He said to them: My sons, throw off from yourselves

the vegetables that you took,

and I will give you twice as much in tithed vegetables

as the law requires.

And it is not because I am begrudging

what you took that I am telling you to throw it away.

Rather, it is because the Sages said: One does not give pe'a from vegetables!

And it is forbidden to give pe'a from them, because pe'a is exempt from tithes. As it is written with regard to tithes: “And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you.” And we expound: For an item concerning which he has no portion or inheritance with you, you are obligated to tithe. Pe'a is excluded, since the poor Levite has a portion and inheritance with you through it, for it is ownerless for the poor.

Therefore, when he gives pe'a from vegetables, although it is not subject to the obligation of pe'a, it is obligated in tithes, since it does not have the status of pe'a by Torah law. And when the poor eat from it without tithing it, as though it were pe'a, they are found to be eating tevel.

And we ask:

Why did he need

Ben Bohan

to say to them,

the poor,

“It is not because I am begrudging”?

But he promised them twice as much from tithed produce. It is obvious that he did not tell them to return the pe'a out of begrudgingness.

And we answer: He said this to them

so that they would not say

to themselves,

“He is merely putting us off!”

And in truth he would ultimately give them nothing. For if he intended to give it to them, why did he ask them to return what they had taken? Therefore, he had to explain the reason for his instruction.

The Sages taught:

The hides of burnt offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings, and all communal offerings were divided among the priests.

At first they would place

the

hides of sacrificial animals

[of the most sacred offerings]

in the Chamber of the House of Parva

in the Temple courtyard.

And in the evening they would divide them among the members of the paternal house

who had served that day. For each watch was divided into six paternal houses, and each paternal house served on a different day. Each paternal house would take the hides of that day, whether they were numerous or few.

And the strong-armed priests

[powerful priests]

would seize them by

the force of the

arm.

Therefore,

the Sages instituted that they should divide them from one Shabbat eve to the next Shabbat eve.

For then all the priestly watches would come and take their shares together!

The hides collected throughout the week would be divided equally among all the priests of the watch. And since all the members of the watch were present at the time of the division, the strong-armed priests could no longer take them by force. Rather, they were divided equally.

And the senior priests

[the officials among them]

would still seize them by force.

And because of this,

all

the priests of the watches who were the

owners

of the hides

arose and consecrated them to Heaven.

This was so that their colleagues would not be able to take them by force.

As a result, the funds of the Temple treasury increased.

And they said: It was not many

[days that passed]

before they covered the entire Sanctuary with golden tablets, which were

each

one cubit by one cubit in size and as thick as a gold dinar.

And at

the time of

the pilgrimage Festival, they would fold them

[the tablets]

and place them on top of

the

stairway on the Temple Mount

[there was an open area outside the courtyard, with six steps].

So that the pilgrims would see

how

beautiful their workmanship was, with no blemish

[flaw] in it.

It was taught: Abba Shaul says: There were beams

[tree trunks rooted in the ground]

of sycamore trees in Jericho. And the strong-armed priests would seize them by force

from their owners.

The

owners

arose and consecrated them to Heaven,

in order to prohibit them to the strong-armed priests.

Concerning them

[the strong-armed priests]

and their like, Abba Shaul ben Batnit said in the name of Abba Yosef ben Hanan:

Woe is me because of the House of Boethus

[he was a High Priest, and his name was Boethus].

Woe is me because of their cudgels

[their staffs], for their servants were violent and would beat the people with cudgels.

Woe is me because of the House of Hanan,

the High Priest,

woe is me because of their whispering.

For they would whisper and give evil counsel.

Woe is me because of the House of Kathros,

the High Priest,

woe is me because of their pens.

For they would write letters for evil purposes.

Woe is me because of the House of Ishmael ben Phiabi,

the High Priest,

woe is me because of their fists.

For

all these

were High Priests, their sons were treasurers, and their sons-in-law were supervisors of the Temple treasury

[those appointed over the consecrated property; this is an acronym for “say all,” as all the needs of the consecrated property were decided according to his word].

And their servants

would

beat the people with staffs.

The Sages taught: The Temple courtyard cried out four cries.

The

first

cry

was: “Go out from here, sons of Eli, who have defiled the Sanctuary of the Lord!”

As it is written: “And Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.”

And the courtyard cried out another cry,

the second cry:

“Go out from here, Issachar of Kefar Barkai, who honors himself and profanes the sacred offerings of Heaven!”

And we explain:

This

priest

would wrap his hand in silk

[he would wrap his hand in a cloth]

and perform the Temple service!

And this service was invalid, because an interposition invalidates the handling of sacrificial offerings, as it is written: “And the priest shall take.” We require that he take it in his hand without an interposition. And through this he also showed contempt for the service.

And another

third cry

the courtyard cried out: “Raise your heads, O gates, and let Ishmael ben Phiabi, the student of Phinehas, enter and serve as High Priest!”

For he himself was fit. And the statement cited above, “Woe is me because of the House of Ishmael ben Phiabi,” was because the members of his household were strong-armed.

And another

fourth cry

the courtyard cried out: “Raise your heads, O gates, and let Yohanan ben Narbai enter,

the High Priest,

the student of Pankai, and fill his belly with the sacred offerings of Heaven!”

They said about Yohanan ben Narbai that he would eat three hundred calves, drink three hundred jugs of wine, and eat forty se'a of fledglings as dessert!

That is, he maintained many priests in his household, and he required such a large quantity of food for their meal.

They said: Throughout all the days of Yohanan ben Narbai, no leftover sacrificial meat was found in the Temple,

for he would eat the sacrificial meat until it was completely finished.

And we ask:

What became of

the fate of

Issachar of Kefar Barkai?

They said: The king and queen

of the Hasmonean dynasty

were sitting. The king said:

The meat of

a kid is better

[better] for eating than the meat of a lamb!

And the queen said:

The meat of

a lamb

[lamb]

is better

than that of a kid!

They said: Who can prove

[who can bring proof] which of them was correct? —

The High Priest, who raises

[offers]

sacrifices every day,

he will decide the matter!

He came

[Issachar of Kefar Barkai, the High Priest] before them.