Sotah 40b — the Talmud in English

The Gemara explains:

And why so much

, when in the Temple they say this 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 said

in Ezra’s prayer in the Second Temple: “Rise, bless the Lord your God, from everlasting to everlasting, and let them bless the Name of Your glory, and it is exalted above every blessing and praise”: “

Rise, bless the Lord

your God, from everlasting to everlasting”:

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

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

And from where [do we know] that for every blessing and blessing

you shall give Him

praise [“

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

As it is said: “ And they shall bless the Name of Your glory, and it is exalted above every blessing and praise,”

and it implies:

above every blessing and blessing, give Him praise.

A. The following Mishna continues the explanation of the mitzvot taught in the first Mishna of this chapter, which are recited in the Holy Tongue; and among those mitzvot we learned: “The blessings of the High Priest.” The laws of our Mishna are also explained in the Mishna in Yoma 68b, and here they will also be explained according to Rashi’s words there.

B. At the completion of the Yom Kippur service, the High Priest reads in a Torah scroll three passages concerning Yom Kippur: two passages from the scroll and one by heart, as will be explained in our Mishna; and Rashi explained the source of this reading in Yoma 68b: 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, under “the reading”], and it appears that he holds that this reading is by Torah law; and at the completion 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” that are recited only in the Holy Tongue means the blessings, but the law of the reading itself, if it is in the Holy Tongue, depends on what was discussed in the Gemara above, 33a, whether the entire Torah was said in the Holy Tongue or in every language—that is, whether one reads in the synagogue in the Holy Tongue or in every language; but according to Tosafot Yom Tov, “the blessings of the High Priest” means the reading and not the blessings.

B. At the completion of the Yom Kippur service, the High Priest reads from a Torah scroll three passages concerning Yom Kippur: two passages from the scroll and one by heart, as will be explained in our Mishna. Rashi explains in Yoma 68b that the source of this reading is the inauguration of Aaron and his sons: At its beginning, Moses read the entire passage of the inauguration offerings [as explained in Yoma 5b and in Rashi there, s.v. “the reading”]. It appears that he holds that this reading is required by Torah law. At the completion of the reading, he recites eight blessings, as will be explained in our Mishna. The simple meaning of the matter is that “the blessings of the High Priest,” which are recited only in the sacred tongue, refers to the blessings, whereas the law governing the reading itself, if it is recited 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 every language—that is, whether one may read it in a synagogue in the sacred tongue or in any language. However, according to the Tosafot Yom Tov, “the blessings of the High Priest” refers to the reading, not to the blessings.

. Mishna:

Mishna:

How are the blessings of the High Priest [performed]:

After the Yom Kippur service had ended,

the attendant [the synagogue beadle] of the

synagogue

that was near the Court 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 in the Torah that speak concerning Yom Kippur:

A. In the passage

“After the death”

from its beginning, and the entire chapter 16, until “And he did as the Lord commanded Moses”; this passage is 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 is adjacent to 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,” and within the passage of the festivals is also the passage of Yom Kippur, as it is said 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

scroll and places it in his lap,

for he does not read the third passage from the scroll, but by heart.

And he says

to the people: “

More than what I have read before you—

concerning the matter of the day—

is written here [in the Torah scroll],”

that is: do not think that since I will read the third passage concerning the matter of the day before you by heart, this Torah scroll surely lacks that passage. This is not so, for more concerning the matter of the day is written in the scroll than what I have read before you until now.

C. “

And on the tenth

of this seventh month,”

in the Book of the Numberings —

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

the High Priest reads

it

by heart.

And he blesses over it

[over the reading]

eight blessings:

A.

For the Torah,

this is the blessing that is recited after every Torah reading: “Who gave us a Torah of truth.”

B.

And for the service, “Be favorable, in Your people Israel, and may You desire the service in the Sanctuary of Your house, etc.”

“Blessed are You, Whom alone we shall serve in reverence”; and he recites this because of the service that he performed. C.

And for thanksgiving,

it is the blessing of “We give thanks to You,” until “the Good, to You it is fitting to give thanks”; and the reason that he recites it is because thanksgiving follows the service, as it is said: “Whoever sacrifices a thanksgiving offering honors Me,” and it implies: after the service, thanksgiving—and this is “thanksgiving.”

D.

And for forgiveness of sin,

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

And for the Temple,

that is, he prays for the Temple,

and concludes: “Blessed is He Who chose the Temple.” F.

And for Israel,

he prays for Israel,

and concludes: “Blessed is He Who chooses His people Israel.” G.

And for the priests,

he prays for the priests,

and concludes: “Blessed is He Who chose the descendants of Aaron.” H.

And for Jerusalem.

And for Jerusalem.

And for the rest of the prayer:

And for 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:

And the Gemara infers:

Can you learn from this—from the anonymous wording of our Mishna, in which we learned that the head of the synagogue and the deputy are honored before the High Priest—that the halakha is according to the one who says [Bava Batra 119b]:

one apportions honor to a student in the presence of the teacher

[when the teacher is there], and there is no disgrace to the teacher in this?

Abaye said:

There is no proof from here, because

the whole of it

[everything they do there]

is for the honor of the High Priest,

for through this the High Priest is aggrandized, as they show his ranks, each one higher than the other.

We learned in the Mishna:

And the High Priest stands, receives, and reads:

And we infer: since we learned that the High Priest

stands

in order to receive the Torah scroll,

it follows that

until now

he was sitting!?

And it entered our minds that the High Priest’s reading was in the Court, and therefore we ask:

But the Master said: “

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

And from where [do we know] that sitting was permitted in the Court for the kings of the House of David? For we find sitting among them,

as it is said [2 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

Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me to this point?’”; thus, David was permitted to sit “before the Lord,” and the same law applies: he is permitted to sit in the Court.

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

If so, how does the high priest sit in the Temple Court, before he receives the Torah scroll into his hands!? And we answer

as Rav Hisda says

nearby, that the reading of the high priest was

in the Women's Court.

Here too, in the Women's Court,

and the Women's Court did not have sanctity, but was non-sacred like the rest of the Temple Mount, and it was permitted to sit in it.

It was objected:

And where do they read it,

the reading of the high priest:

in the Temple Court.

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says: In the Temple Mount

they would read it,

as it is stated: