Tamid 28b — the Talmud in English

And they would not hear his voice until

he raised the basin from the water pit.

For

then

they would hear

the

voice

of the wooden wheel

that

he had made

Ben Katin

to be

ready

[pulley]

for the basin.

The water of the basin becomes disqualified through linah, since it is sanctified with the sanctity of the body. For every thing sanctified with the sanctity of the body becomes disqualified through linah. And in order to prevent the disqualification of linah, they would immerse the basin and the water within it [before night] in the water pit that was in the courtyard, and the water in the basin was connected to the water of the pit, and water connected to the ground does not become disqualified through linah.

And in the early morning they would raise the basin from the pit by means of this mochani .

And

when they would hear the sound of the wooden wheel,

they would say: The time has arrived

for its service!

He sanctified his hands and feet from the basin.

And he took

the

silver fire-pan

from its place,

and ascended

on the eastern side of the ramp

to the top of the altar.

And he cleared the coals

of the arrangement

this way and that

[here and there], in order to reach the inner coals. And he would

scoop

[take with the fire-pan]

the

coals

that were consumed

[thoroughly burned]

that were inner.

As it is written: “from the ashes that the fire consumed.” And they are called “ashes” because they became fine. But the outer ones are not called “ashes,” but rather coals .

And he descended

from the altar . And at the time of his descent his face was toward the south, for the ramp descended from north to south. And when he

reached the floor

of the courtyard,

he turned his face

from the south

to the north.

And he was

walking in the

courtyard toward the

eastern side of the ramp, about ten cubits ,

and there he poured out the coals. And he would not scatter them, but rather he gathered the coals into a pile upon the floor. As it is written: “and he shall place it beside the altar.” And we expound: “‘and he shall place it’—that he should not scatter it”!

And the place for placing the ashes was

three handbreadths distant from the ramp .

And it was

the place where they would place

the

crop

of the

bird burnt offering, and

the

removal of

the

inner altar, and

the

removal of the menorah .

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: “These would walk in a colonnade”!

And it entered our minds now that it was a wooden colonnade.

And we raised a difficulty:

But were there colonnades in the courtyard?

But it was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says: From where [do we know] that one does not make colonnades of

wood

in the courtyard?

The verse says: “

You shall not plant for yourself an idolatrous tree, any tree, beside the altar of Hashem your God that you shall make for yourself.”

And two different prohibitions were stated in this verse.

And thus the verse says

:

a. “

You shall not plant for yourself an idolatrous tree”

for the sake of idolatry. For by the planting itself one transgresses a prohibition, even without worshipping it.

b. “

You shall not plant for yourself any tree beside the altar of Hashem your God.”

For anyone who plants a tree in the Temple transgresses a prohibition. And the Sages prohibited every wooden structure in the Temple, even when it is not planted, as an additional distancing. And they supported it by this verse, in which “any tree” is written. [Maimonides, chapter 6 of Avodat Kokhavim, halakhot 9–10, according to the Kesef Mishneh there ].

And according to this, it is difficult: how did they build wooden colonnades in the courtyard?

Rav Hisda said:

In the

courtyard there were

colonnades of masonry!

Their columns were of stone, and they placed a stone roof upon them.

We learned in the Mishna:

“They would inspect and proceed, and so on.”

They set the makers of the flat loaves to make the flat loaves.

And we raised a difficulty:

Does this mean that the flat loaves preceded

all the services of the day?

But it was taught in a beraita: From where [do we know] that nothing on the altar precedes the daily offering of the morning?

The verse says: “And he shall arrange upon it the burnt offering.”

And Rabba said

to explain: Since “the burnt offering” is written with the definite article, and “a burnt offering” was not written, this implies as follows: “And he shall arrange upon it”—upon the arrangement—first,

the burnt offering

the important one, which is

the burnt offering

mentioned

first

of all the burnt offerings in the section of the sacrifices in Pinhas, and that is the daily burnt offering. [Rashi, Pesahim 58].

Rav Yehuda said:

As for that which it teaches, “to make the flat loaves,” it is not speaking of offering them upon the altar, but only of preparing them. And this means

to heat

water

hot for the scalding

of the fine flour of the flat loaves! For they would scald it with boiling water before kneading and baking it. But they did not offer them until after the offering of the limbs of the daily offering.

We have completed you, chapter “In Three Places.”

Mishna:

His brothers saw him

the priests [the priest who removed the ashes

who descended

from the ramp after he had performed the removal of the ashes],

and

immediately

they run and come

to the basin, to be prepared for the service .

They hastened and sanctified their hands and feet from the basin .

After they had sanctified themselves,

they took the rakes [

with which they raked the ashes and cleared them to the ash heap],

and the forks [

the forks with which they turned over the limbs],

and ascended to the top of the altar.

The limbs

of the burnt offerings,

and the fats [

the sacrificial fats]

that had not been consumed

and had not become ashes

from

the previous day

in the evening—

were

removed [

cleared away]

them

with forks—

onto the sides of the altar,

in order to return them to the arrangement afterward. For it was still impossible to burn them, since nothing is offered before the offering of the morning Tamid.

And if

there are

many limbs, and the sides cannot contain

them, since they are already full of them,

they arrange them on the surrounding ledge [

the ledge protruding from the altar at mid-height], or they would place them

on

top of

the ramp.

For if they removed the limbs entirely from the altar, they would become unfit for burning after daylight had appeared, since dawn disqualifies through overnight lodging. But on top of the altar, overnight lodging does not disqualify. And the ramp is like the altar in every respect.

They began

to rake the ashes, and they

would bring up with

the rakes the

ashes onto the ash heap.

And the

ash heap [

the pile of ashes]—

was in the middle of the altar.

And because it was round like an apple, it was called thus . [ And before the removal of the ashes they could not clear it, for first it was necessary to perform the removal of the ashes, and afterward they would clear the remaining ashes to the ash heap].

And when the ashes that were in the ash heap increased, until no place remained for arranging the wood of the arrangement, they removed it. As it is written: “And he shall take out the ashes to outside the camp, to a pure place.”

And

sometimes there were upon it three hundred kor

of ashes before they removed it.

And on the Festivals they did not remove its ashes [

take out the ashes],

because

the ash heap

is an adornment for the altar.

For through the abundance of the ashes, it is recognizable that many offerings were brought, and that the altar was not idle.