Sotah 40b (מ:) — the Talmud in English

The Gemara explains:

And why so much?

Since in the Temple they recite this blessing as one blessing!?

Because they do not answer Amen in the Temple.

The Sages taught:

From where do we know that they do not answer Amen in the Temple?

As it is stated

in Ezra’s prayer in the Second Temple: “Arise, bless the Lord your God, from world to world; and let them bless Your glorious Name, which is exalted above every blessing and praise”: “

Arise, bless the Lord

your God, from world to world”:

When you bless the Lord in the Temple, say as follows: “Blessed is the Lord, God of Israel, from world to world; blessed is the Shield of Abraham [or, Who revives the dead].” “

And let them bless Your glorious Name”: When the people hear the blessing of the Lord, they say: “Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.”

And from where do we know that for every blessing,

one gives Him

praise [“Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever”], rather than one praise at the end of all the blessings?

Blessed is the Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever”], and not just one praise at the end of all the blessings?

As it is stated: “

And let them bless Your glorious Name, which is exalted above every blessing and praise,”

and it implies:

For every blessing and every blessing, give Him praise.

A. The following Mishna continues the explanation of the mitzvot listed in the first Mishna of this chapter, namely, those recited in the sacred tongue. Among those mitzvot we learned: “the blessings of the High Priest.” The laws of our Mishna are also explained in the Mishna, Yoma 68b, and here they will be explained as well on the basis of Rashi’s words there.

B. At the completion of the Yom Kippur service, the High Priest reads three passages concerning Yom Kippur from a Torah scroll: two passages from the scroll and one by heart, as will be explained in our Mishna. Rashi, Yoma 68b, explained the source of this reading: it is learned from the inauguration of Aaron and his sons, at the beginning of which Moses read the entire passage of the inauguration [as explained in Yoma 5b and in Rashi there, s.v. mikra]. It appears that he holds that this reading is required by Torah law. At the conclusion of the reading, he recites eight blessings, as will be explained in our Mishna. C. The plain meaning is that “the blessings of the High Priest,” which are recited only in the sacred tongue, refers to the blessings; but the law governing the reading itself, if it is in the sacred tongue, depends on the discussion in the Gemara above, 33a, as to whether the entire Torah was given in the sacred tongue or in any language—that is, whether one reads in the synagogue in the sacred tongue or in any language. However, according to Tosafot Yom Tov, “the blessings of the High Priest” refers to the reading and not to the blessings

. Mishna:

How are the blessings of the High Priest [recited]?

After the Yom Kippur service had been completed,

the attendant

synagogue beadle] of the

synagogue

that was adjacent to the Temple courtyard on the Temple Mount

takes a Torah scroll,

and gives it to the head of the synagogue,

and the head of the synagogue gives it to the deputy,

the High Priest,

and the deputy gives it to the High Priest.

And the High Priest stands

and receives

the Torah scroll,

and reads

before them three passages from the Torah concerning Yom Kippur:

A. In the passage

“After the death”

from its beginning, and the entire sixteenth chapter until “And he did as the Lord commanded Moses”; this passage describes the order of the Yom Kippur service.

B.

And

the passage

“But on the tenth”,

that is, he reads in the passage of Emor [Leviticus 22:26], from “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: An ox or a sheep…” , which follows the passage of the Festivals; and he reads the entire passage of the Festivals, until “And Moses declared the appointed times of the Lord to the children of Israel.” Within the passage of the Festivals is also the passage concerning Yom Kippur, as it says there: “But on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement.”

And

before the High Priest reads the third passage, he

rolls up the

Torah

and places it in his lap,

because he reads the third passage not from the scroll but by heart.

And he says

to the people: “

More than what I have read before you”—

concerning today—

is written here [in the Torah scroll],” that is: Do not think that, since I will read the third passage concerning today by heart, this Torah scroll must certainly be missing that passage. This is not so, for more concerning today is written in the scroll than what I have read before you until now.

C. “

C. “

And on the tenth

of this seventh month”

in the Book of Numbers —

this is the passage of the additional offerings for Yom Kippur in the passage of Pinhas—

the High Priest reads

it

by heart.

And he recites over it

the reading]

eight blessings:

A.

Over the Torah,

the blessing recited after every Torah reading: “Who has given us a Torah of truth.”

B.

And over the service, “Be favorable, Lord, toward Your people Israel, and accept the service in the Sanctuary of Your House, etc.”

; “Blessed are You, whom alone we shall serve with reverence.” He recites this blessing on account of the service that he performed.

C.

And over thanksgiving,

the blessing “We give thanks to You,” until “It is good to thank You”; and the reason they recite it is that thanksgiving follows service, as it is stated: “Whoever sacrifices a thanksgiving offering honors Me,” implying: after service comes thanksgiving, and this is “thanksgiving.”

D.

And over forgiveness of sin,

the blessing “You have chosen us,” which we recite in the Yom Kippur prayer until the end of the blessing.

And over the Temple,

that is, he prays concerning the Temple, and concludes: “Blessed is He who chose the Temple.”

V.

And over Israel,

he prays concerning Israel, and concludes: “Blessed is He who chooses His people Israel.”

VII.

And over the priests,

he prays concerning the priests, and concludes: “Blessed is He who chose the descendants of Aaron.”

VIII.

And over Jerusalem.

And over the rest of the prayer,

the Gemara explains it.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: The synagogue attendant takes a Torah scroll and gives it to the head of the synagogue, and the head of the synagogue gives it to the deputy, and the deputy gives it to the High Priest:

The Gemara infers:

Can you learn from this—

from the anonymous Mishna, in which we learned that the head of the synagogue and the deputy are honored in the presence of the High Priest—that the halakha follows the one who says [Bava Batra 119b]:

One accords honor to a student in the presence of his teacher

[when the teacher is present], and this does not constitute an affront to the teacher?

Abaye said:

There is no proof from here, because

everything

[everything they do there]

is for the honor of the High Priest: through this, the High Priest is dignified, since they display his ranks of honor one above the other.

We learned in the Mishna:

“

And the High Priest stands and receives and reads”:

The Gemara infers: Since we learned that the High Priest

“stands”

to receive the Torah scroll,

it follows that

until now

he was sitting!?

And it entered our minds that the High Priest’s reading took place in the Temple courtyard, and therefore we ask:

But the Master said: “

There is no sitting in the Temple courtyard except for the kings of the House of David alone.”

And from where do we know that sitting in the Temple courtyard was permitted to the kings of the House of David? For we find that they sat,

as it is stated [

II Samuel 7:18 ]: “

And King David came and sat before the Lord” [

before the Ark, which was in the City of David]

and said, ‘Who am I

O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?’” Thus, David was permitted to sit “before the Lord,” and the same law applies: he was permitted to sit in the Temple courtyard.

But if so, how could the High Priest sit in the Temple courtyard before he received the Torah scroll into his hands? And we answered:

as Rav Hisda said

shortly afterward, the reading of the High Priest took place

in the Women’s Courtyard.

in the Women’s Courtyard. Here too, in the Women’s Courtyard,

and the Women’s Courtyard had no sanctity; rather, it was unconsecrated, like the rest of the Temple Mount, and it was permitted to sit there.

Meitivi:

And where do they read it

the reading of the High Priest:

in the Temple courtyard.

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says: On the Temple Mount

they would read it,

as it is stated: