Tamid 29a — the Talmud in English

And although it is an adornment for the altar, nevertheless, when the time came to clear it—

never ![](pamud.bmp "

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did the priest become negligent [

for he was charged with doing this]

in removing the ashes .

And after they had done this and the place of the arrangement had been cleared,

they began bringing up on the

ramp

wood-pieces

of wood, cut and examined for defects, in order

to arrange

with them

the arrangement .

But are all woods fit for the arrangement?

Indeed,

all woods are fit for the arrangement! Except for

woods

of grapevine and olive !

And the Gemara explains the reason.

And although all woods are fit,

but with

woods

these they were accustomed:

In branches [

branches]

of fig, and of nut, and of oil tree [

a tree from which oil is extracted, and it burns like a lamp]. For all these woods burn well.

And there were three arrangements of wood on the altar.

First the priest who had performed the removal of the ashes came, and

arranged

first

the arrangement

the

large one—

eastward,

on the eastern side of the altar, and upon it they burned the offerings.

And they made a facade for the arrangement on its side, like a window, so that the wind could blow through it, to fan the fire.

And its facade

was

eastward

of the arrangement. Because the wind would come and blow through the eastern gate of the courtyard.

And the ends of

the

inner wood-pieces, which

were long,

were touching the ash heap,

which was in the center of the altar, west of the arrangement.

That is to say, the inner and outer wood-pieces were even toward the outer side of the altar, so that they would not protrude outward and tear or burn the garments of the priests walking there. Therefore the long inner wood-pieces protruded from the arrangement on the other side, toward the ash heap in the center of the altar, and they even touched it. [Raavad, chapter 2 of the Laws of the Daily and Additional Offerings, halakha 7].

And there was a space

he left

between the wood-pieces,

for besides the wood of the arrangement they brought thin wood splinters called “elitah,” and placed them between the large wood-pieces of the arrangement, and through them the large wood-pieces were kindled well . [ And we derive this from that which is written: “And the sons of Aaron the priest shall place fire upon the altar,” that is, the wood of the arrangement, and afterward: “And they shall arrange wood upon the fire”].

And for this purpose they left the space between the wood-pieces of the arrangement, because

they kindled the elitah from there,

through that space. For it is required that he kindle the elitah at the top of the altar, and not kindle it on the floor and bring it up [Yoma 45].

And when they finished arranging the first arrangement,

they selected from there,

from the wood chamber,

beautiful fig wood to arrange the second arrangement,

from which they would take fiery coals

for

the purpose of the

incense,

which they burned every day on the inner altar in the Sanctuary. And in arranging this arrangement as well, the priest who had been allotted the removal of the ashes had the privilege.

And the place of this arrangement was

opposite the southwestern corner

of the altar, adjacent to the ramp. And the place of this arrangement was

drawn away from the corner

the southwestern

toward

the side of

the north—

four cubits .

estimated

And the measure of the wood that they placed in this arrangement was

by estimation [

by estimate], so that after they burned, they would become

five seahs

of

coals.

For for the purpose of burning the incense, three kav of coals were required. And first he would scoop four kav of coals from this arrangement in a silver pan, and from it he would pour into a golden pan that held three kav. [And it was necessary to scoop four kav from the arrangement because some of the coals inevitably spilled during the pouring into the golden pan.] And the Sages estimated that in order to scoop four kav of coals comfortably from the arrangement, there needed to be five seahs of coals in it.

And on Shabbat

the measure of the wood

by estimation—

so that they would remain after the burning

eight seahs of coals.

Because

there

on the second arrangement,

they would place

on Shabbat the

two bowls of

the

frankincense of the showbread

to burn them. And for this reason they required this addition of three seahs of coals.

And they did not burn the frankincense of the bowls upon the large arrangement, but rather upon the second arrangement. Because anything taken from inside [the Sanctuary] is burned only adjacent to the inside, namely, the southwestern corner, which is adjacent to the entrance of the Sanctuary [Zevahim 58]: .

And they would bring the

limbs and fats

of the previous day,

that had not been consumed in the evening, [

and that had been arranged on the sides of the altar until now, as explained above] ,

and return them to the arrangement

to complete their burning .

And they kindled

the

two arrangements with fire.

And afterward

they descended

from the altar

and came for themselves to the Chamber of Hewn Stone [

in its half sanctified with the sanctity of the courtyard, as we expound from the verse “We will walk in the house of God amid tumult”], in order to cast lots for the other services of the day.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: Sometimes there were upon it [upon the ash heap] three hundred kor.

Rava said: Exaggeration

alone he stated! And it is not exact. For the ashes never reached such a measure, since the place of the arrangement could not contain three hundred kor.

And likewise regarding that which we learned below:

“They gave the Tamid to drink from a golden cup”—

Rava said: It is exaggeration

!

Rabbi Ami said:

We find that

the Torah spoke in the language of exaggeration!

Like the language of people who wish to strengthen their words and speak in exaggerated language.

And likewise we find that

the prophets spoke in the language of exaggeration.

And likewise we find that

the Sages spoke in the language of exaggeration!

And he proceeds to explain.

The Torah spoke in the language of exaggeration—

as

it is written: “Cities great and fortified up to the heavens.”

But

does it enter your mind that they reached the heavens

?

Rather,

it is a language of

exaggeration

.

The prophets spoke in the language of exaggeration—

as

it is written

concerning Solomon: “And all the people went after him,

and the people were playing flutes

and rejoicing with great joy,

and the earth split from their sound.”

For this matter as well—that the earth split—is a language of exaggeration.

The Sages spoke in the language of exaggeration -

that which we said

that there were three hundred kor of ash in the

apple.

And

this is

that they gave the daily offering to drink from a golden cup.

Rabbi Shmuel bar Nahmani said, Shmuel said: In three places the Sages spoke in the language of exaggeration.

And these are they:

The apple, the grapevine, and the curtain.

And it will be explained below.

And it comes

to exclude from

this

which

said

Rava.

For we learned: They gave the daily offering to drink from a golden cup.

And

concerning it

Rava said: It is exaggeration

and Shmuel disagreed with him,

and he teaches us:

only

these

three,

are not

expressions of exaggeration.

But there

with the daily offering,

it is not

exaggeration, rather this is how it was, that they gave it to drink from a golden cup. For

there is no poverty in a place of wealth

and all the Temple's acts were carried out with wealth and authority.

And he explains these three matters:

The apple

of the altar -

that which we said.

That it is exaggeration to say that there were three hundred kor in it.

The grapevine -

that which we learned: The form of a

golden grapevine stood at the entrance of the Sanctuary. And

it was

trained

[raised]

on poles

of cedar, like branches of a grapevine that lean upon wooden pillars.