Tamid 26a — the Talmud in English

And if

one of them experienced a seminal emission and became impure, then he

became impure, and he

goes out and

goes down, and

goes away ![](pamud.bmp "

exact location of the page")

by the staircase [a building element containing winding stairs]

that runs beneath the bira [the Temple].

because it is forbidden for one who has experienced a seminal emission to remain in the Levite camp [the Temple Mount]. And they made this passageway so that he would descend through it and go to the place of immersion, and would not go by way of the Temple Mount. And it is permitted for him to remain there, since the place of the passageways beneath the Temple Mount was not sanctified.

And lamps

were

burning on both sides along the passageway,

along the length of the passageway, in order to illuminate his way,

until he reached the place of immersion.

And a fire was there,

in order for him to warm himself by it after he immersed.

And a lavatory of honor

was there, near the place of immersion. And it was called “of honor” because it had a door.

And this was its honor—

that if

a person found it

a person

locked, it is known

that it

contains a person,

and he turns back. And if he found it

open—

it is known that there is no person there,

and he could enter there and attend to his needs.

The priest

who had become impure through a seminal emission

descended and immersed at the place of immersion. And he

in the place of ritual immersion. And

ascended, dried himself, and warmed himself opposite the fire

that was in the Chamber of the Hearth.

And after he became pure,

he came

and returned to the Chamber of the Hearth,

and sat beside his fellow priests until

there were

the gates

of the azarah

opening.

And

when they opened, he

goes out and goes away

to his house. For one who immersed that day remains so until evening, and is forbidden to perform the service.

d. When the pillar of dawn rose, they performed the removal of the ashes from atop the altar. And it was the first service of every day. And they would cast lots among the priests of the paternal division of that day, which of them would merit it.

And everyone

who

was among the priests of that paternal division

who wished

to participate in the lottery in order to merit

removing

the ashes—

would rise early and immerse before the supervisor came

for the lottery! For if he won the lottery, he would be ready for this service. For no person enters the azarah until he immerses, even if he is pure.

And at what time does the supervisor come?

Not all times are equal.

Sometimes he comes at “

the call of the rooster,”

which is during the third of the second half of the night. And sometimes he does not come at that hour. Rather,

either near it

to this time

before it, or

near it

after it,

and there is no fixed hour for this. But in the middle of the night he does not come at all.

And

the supervisor would come and knock on them

on the gates of the Temple Mount,

and they [the guards]

the guards

would open for him.

And afterward he would knock on the gates of the Chamber of the Hearth, and they would open for him.

He said to them,

the supervisor to the priests:

Whoever has immersed—

let him come and participate in the lottery,

let him participate in the lottery!

They conducted the lottery

in its sanctified half of the Chamber of the Hearth . And

whoever won, won

the removal of the ashes.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: In three places the priests keep watch in the Temple.

And we raise an objection concerning it:

From where are these words

that the priests keep watch in three places?

Abaye said: The verse says, “

And those encamped before the Tabernacle eastward, before the Tent of Meeting, eastward—Moses, Aaron, and his sons, guarding the guard of the Sanctuary as a guard for the Children of Israel; and the stranger who approaches shall be put to death.” And Aaron and his two sons—there are three. From here, three guards are required.

and the non-priest who approaches shall be put to death.” Aaron and his two sons—there are three. From here it is derived that three watches are required.

And we refute this:

They said: Yes,

indeed,

we find mere guarding

in this verse,

which is required.

However,

this is what we ask: for

the Mishna teaches, “

In three places the priests keep watch in the Temple,”

which implies that the priests keep watch separately, in addition to the Levites keeping watch separately in twenty-one other places. [As we learned in Middot].

But

in the

verse

concerning guarding

priests and Levites are written together,

as it is written, “Moses, Aaron, and his sons.” And Moses was a Levite.

And we answer:

They said: This is what the verse says:

the verse: “

And those encamped before the Tabernacle eastward, before the Tent of Meeting, eastward”—

Moses”!

And afterward

it is written in the end of the verse: “

Aaron and his sons guarding

the guard of the Sanctuary

as a guard for the Children of Israel.”

For Aaron

guarded

in one place, and his sons in two places

additional places. Thus, there are three places with the priests alone.

And we explain:

From what

that the verse is divided into two parts, and its beginning and its end do not concern the same matter?—

From the fact that it is written

at the beginning of the verse, “

and those encamped,”

and it is written

after it, “

guarding.”

And it implies: Levites

encamped

in one place

separately, and

priests

guarding

separately

in another place.

And we ask again:

But say: all of them [Aaron and his two sons]

Аарон и два его сына]

in one place alone

were guarding together. And still, from where do we know three places?

And we answer:

It does not enter your mind

to say so. For

as

Moses

who is written in this verse, we compare them.

Just as Moses was in one place

alone, by himself and not together with them,

so too Aaron and his sons, each and every one

of them was guarding

in one place alone,

by himself.

Rav Ashi said: From the end of the verse

we learn that they guarded in three places, for three expressions of guarding are written in it: 1.

“guarding,”

2.

“the guard

of the sacred place,” 3.

“as a guard

for the Children of Israel.” And if they guarded in only one place, then there would be only one guarding.