Tamid 28a — the Talmud in English

We learned there: “The man

minister]

of the Temple Mount would go around every watch and watch

of the Temple guards,

with torches burning before him.

And every

man

of a watch who was not standing

on his feet,

he would say to him: “

Man of the Temple Mount—![](pamud.bmp "

precise column location")

Peace be upon you!”

It was recognizable

in him

that he was asleep

for presumably he was the man of the Temple Mount, an important minister. And if the guard had been awake, he would have risen before him. Biurei ha-Gra].

And he would strike him with his staff.

And he had permission to burn his garment .

And as a result that Levite would awaken and cry out.

And they [

the men of Jerusalem. Rambam] were

saying

to one another:

What is

the

sound

that is

in the Azara?

And they would answer: This is

the sound of a son of Levi

who is

being flogged and whose garments are being burned,

because

he slept at his post!

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov said: Once they found my mother’s brother asleep

at his post,

and they burned his garment

!

Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said: When Rabbi Yohanan would arrive

and study

this teaching, he would say: Fortunate are the early ones, who even for involuntary sleep administer justice

and punish .

And it is a kal va-chomer

that if

for involuntary sleep they administer justice—

a matter that one does intentionally—

without involuntary sleep, all the more so

that one is punished for it.

It was taught: Rabbi says: Which is the straight path that a person should choose

for himself

? —

Love reproof! For as long as there is reproof in the world, satisfaction comes to the world

and

goodness and blessing come to the world.

And evil departs from the world.

As it is stated: “

And it is pleasant for those who reprove, and upon them shall come the blessing of goodness!”

For it will be pleasant for the recipient of the reproof, and through him satisfaction [that is, “pleasantness”], goodness, and blessing will come to the world. And once goodness comes, evil departs from the world.

And some say:

The straight path that a person should choose for himself is that he should

hold fast to an even greater faith!

That he should conduct business faithfully and not wrong creatures.

As it is stated: “

My eyes are upon the faithful of the land, to dwell with me.”

Rabbi Shmuel ben Naḥmani said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: Whoever reproves his fellow for the sake of Heaven merits the portion of the Holy One, blessed is He!

That is, to be within His partition.

As it is stated: “

He who reproves a person”—

after Me!”

That is, with Me.

And furthermore, they draw upon him a thread of favor.

For

in the continuation of this verse

it is stated: “

He will find favor from one who smooths the tongue.”

For the man who reproves will merit favor in the eyes of all who see him, more than a man who speaks with a smooth tongue and flatters his listeners.

We learned in the Mishna:

One who wishes to remove the ashes from the altar

rises early and immerses.

And we raised it:

This itself

of the Mishna

is difficult

from the beginning to the end:

You said

at the beginning, “

One who wishes to remove the ashes from the altar—

rises early and immerses before the appointed officer comes.”

Apparently, the matter does not depend on a lottery.

Rather, whoever wishes removes the ashes.

And then it teaches

at the end: “He said to them: Whoever immersed—

let him come and hold the lottery.”

Apparently, the matter depends on a lottery,

and not on their desire. Only the one who won the lottery removes the ashes.

Abaye said: It is not difficult.

Here,

where it depends on their desire,

it is before the enactment. And here, where it depends on a lottery,

а здесь, когда дело зависело от жеребьевки,

it is after the enactment

.

For we learned: At first, whoever wished to remove the ashes from the altar would remove them.

And when

those who wished to remove them

they

were

many,

they would

run and ascend the ramp

of the altar. And

whoever preceded his fellow

to enter

within

the

four cubits

uppermost, adjacent to the top of the altar,

merited

to remove the ashes.

And if

two were equal

in entering together within these four cubits, neither of them would merit it. Rather, all the priests who wished to remove the ashes would come to cast lots. They would stand in a circle. The appointed officer would utter some number and begin counting them. Whoever the counting ended upon won the lot. And the appointed officer would

say to them: Point! [

extend a finger]! And he would count them according to the fingers.

And what would they extend?

One finger

or two!

And they would not extend

a

thumb

in the Temple for the lottery, because of cheats! For if one of the priests saw that the counting would end upon the priest after him, he would extend his thumb and another finger and separate them from one another so that they would appear as two fingers belonging to two people, and the appointed officer would count them as the fingers of two priests, and the counting would end upon him.

And this is how they would act, until an

incident occurred, in which the two of them were [

the two priests]

equal, and were running on the ramp, and one of them pushed his fellow

in order to precede him,

and his leg was broken.

And when the court saw that they were coming into danger, they enacted that they would remove the ashes from the altar only by a lottery.

Rava said: Both this and that [

the beginning and the end of the Mishna],

are after the enactment,

and the matter always depends on a lottery. And that which is difficult for you, what does it teach: “One who wishes to remove”—

this is what it teaches: One who wishes to come and hold the lottery

in order to remove,

rises early and immerses before the appointed officer comes!

For if he did not immerse, he does not participate in the lottery, since he is not fit to enter the Azara and remove the ashes.

Mishna:

a.

The appointed officer took

the

key

from beneath the marble tablet in the Chamber of the Hearth,

and opened

with it

the small door [

the small opening] that was inside the Chamber of the Hearth and opened into the Azara. [But the gates of the Azara themselves they did not open until dawn].

And he entered

through it

from the Chamber of the Hearth into the Azara.

And the priests entered after him.

And two torches of light were in their hands .

And they divided

those priests

into two groups,

in order to go around the Azara and check whether all the Temple vessels were in their places.

And they walked beneath the colonnade. [The center of the Azara was open above. And on the sides they built a roof over pillars around it, on its four sides, in order to stand beneath it and store vessels there. And that roofed area is called “a colonnade”].

And the two groups began to walk from the Chamber of the Hearth, which was on the northern side of the Azara.

These [

the first group]

walked along

the northern length of the

colonnade by way [

in the direction]

of the east,

and continued along the eastern wall of the Azara until the Chamber of the Makers of the Havitin, and waited there.

And these [

the second group]

walked

from the Chamber of the Hearth,

along

the northern wall of the

colonnade by way [

in the direction]

of the west.

And they continued along the entire western side of the Azara, and along the entire southern side. And from there they continued along the eastern wall,

until they reached the place of the maker of the Havitin [

the chamber in which they prepared the meal-offering of the High Priest]. And there they met the priests of the first group.

And when

these and those arrived

there,

they said

one group to the other:

Peace

to the Azara,

everything is peaceful,

and nothing is missing from it!

b. Afterward,

they appointed the makers of the Havitin to make the Havitin

for the meal-offering of the High Priest.

c.

The one who won

in the lottery

to remove

the ashes from

the altar, he shall remove them .

And they [

his fellow priests]

say to him: Be careful not to touch any vessel

of service,

until you sanctify your hands and feet from the water of the basin!

For it is forbidden to approach the altar or perform a service except after the sanctification of hands and feet. As it is written, “When they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water and not die, or when they approach the altar to serve.” And yesterday’s sanctification is not effective, because overnight invalidates the sanctification of hands and feet, and he must sanctify them again.

And even though he knows this matter, we are concerned lest he forget at the time of the act, and there will be no one to remind him, since no one is with him when he removes the ashes, as is brought below.

And they show him and say to him:

And behold, the firepan

with which you will remove the ashes

is placed in the corner

that

is between the ramp and the altar, on the western side of the ramp !

For the ramp stood to the south of the altar. And the altar extended beyond the ramp by eight cubits on every side. And the firepan was placed in the corner between the south of the altar and the west of the ramp.

And since, in order to take the firepan, the priest needed to enter the western side of the altar, which was the place between the Hall and the Azara,

no person entered with him!

For it is forbidden to enter this place except for the purpose of service.

And he did not

have

a lamp in his hand,

even though he walked alone .

Rather

he

walked by the light of

the fire of

the arrangement.

And

they would not see him.

Because the height of the ramp concealed him from the eyes of the priests who were on its other side.