Tamid 30b (ל:) — the Talmud in English

And

they gave

the

daily offering a drink from a cup

of gold,

so that it would be easy to flay its skin.

Although it had already been inspected

for blemishes

the previous evening

[the day before, since the daily offering must be inspected for blemishes four days before it is slaughtered], they

inspected it

again before offering it,

by the light of torches.

The one who won

the slaughter of

the daily offering took it and proceeded

with it

to the slaughterhouse. And

likewise,

those who won

the raising of

the limbs followed him to the slaughterhouse.

The slaughterhouse was to the north of the altar,

because the daily offering is an olah, and an olah is slaughtered “on the northern side of the altar.”

And upon it

[the slaughterhouse]

were eight short pillars

[low pillars] of stone.

And square blocks

[square ones]

of

wood

of cedar

were

upon them,

upon the pillars.

And iron hooks

[hooks]

were fixed

in those blocks.

And three rows

of hooks

were on each one

of the blocks,

on which they hung

the offering after slaughtering it!

The hooks were arranged one above the other: the upper one for bulls, the middle one for rams, and the lower one for lambs [Rabbi Shimon, Middot]. The head of the offering was not dragged along the ground. Rather, they placed the offering

and flayed

it

on marble tables that

were

between the pillars.

Those who had won the removal of the ashes from the altar

the inner altar

and from the menorah would go ahead

[before the doors of the Sanctuary were opened, although the time for removing the ashes had not yet arrived. Raavad], to be ready for their service when

they had four vessels in their hands.

These were:

the teni and the kuz,

[as will be explained, what they were],

and two keys.

and two keys.

The teni

was a basket that

resembled a tarqav

[a vessel holding three kav]

of gold,

and it

held one and a half kav.

And the kuz resembled a pitcher,

[a jug],

a large one made of gold.

And the two

keys

were intended to open the wicket adjacent to the gate of the Sanctuary.

There were two locks on this wicket: one on its inner side, facing the Sanctuary, and one outside, beside the courtyard.

One

key was the key

with which he descended

together

to the armpit passage,

that is, to the hole in the wall [and it was called this because the person opening it had to insert his hand there as far as his armpit], until he reached the inner lock and opened it.

And

one

key

of them was for the outer lock. With this key he

opened it immediately

[easily], without having to trouble himself by inserting his hand into the wall.

The supervisor came

who was in charge of opening the Sanctuary

to the wicket

[small opening]

on the north.

There were two wickets in the large gate

of the Sanctuary.

One was in the north,

to the right of the gate,

and one was in the south,

to its left.

And through the wicket

in the south, no one ever entered.

And concerning it,

the southern wicket,

it is explained by Ezekiel:

“And the Lord said to me: This gate shall be closed; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter through it,” —

“for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered through it, and it shall be closed.”

He took

the supervisor

the key,

and

opened the wicket

on the north,

and entered a chamber

in front of the Sanctuary.

And from the chamber

he entered

the Sanctuary.

Until

he

reached the large gate

on its inner side. And when

he reached the large gate, he removed the bolt

[he removed the bar]

and the locks

[the locks],

and opened it

for the gate.

The slaughterer did not slaughter

the daily offering

until

he

heard

the sound of

the large gate

of the Sanctuary

being opened!

For the offering is not slaughtered while the doors of the Sanctuary are locked, as it is written with regard to peace offerings: “And they shall slaughter it at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.” From this we derive the rule for all offerings.

From Jericho they could hear

the

sou

nd of

the large gate

of the Sanctuary

being opened!

Jericho was ten parasangs distant from Jerusalem [Yoma 39b].

Likewise,

from Jericho they could hear

the

sound

of

the magrefa

[a musical instrument that was in the Temple]!

Likewise,

from Jericho they could hear

the

sound of the flute

that was in the Temple!

Likewise,

from Jericho they could hear

the

sound of the cymbal

[a musical instrument], which

Ben Arza would strike

it

in the Temple!

in the Temple!

Likewise,

from Jericho they could hear

the

sound of the song

of the Levites in the Temple! Likewise,

from Jericho they could hear

the

sound of Gavini

the priest, who was

the herald.

Every day he would announce in the Temple: “Stand, priests, for your service; Levites, for your platform; and Israelites, for your post!” His announcement could be heard as far as Jericho.

Likewise,

from Jericho they could hear

the

sound

of the

wooden wheel that

was made by

Ben Katin, a mechanism for the laver,

to lower it into the water pit so that its water would not become disqualified through remaining overnight! [This was explained above, 28b.]

Likewise,

from Jericho a person could

could

hear

the

sound of the shofar

that they blew in the Temple every day !

And some say: Even the voice of the High Priest when he pronounced the Name

the Explicit Name

on Yom Kippur

could be heard as far as Jericho!

From Jericho they could smell

the

scent of the preparation of the incense

in the Temple; the scent spread and reached as far as Jericho.

Rabbi Elazar ben Diglai said: My father had goats in the cities of Mikhvar,

which were far from Jerusalem.

And

those goats

would sneeze from the scent of the preparation of the incense!

The one who won the removal of the ashes from the inner altar entered

the Sanctuary,

took the teni, and placed it before him

on the floor of the Sanctuary.

He would take

the ashes of the altar in his hands

and place

them

inside it,

inside the teni.

Finally,

after he had taken in his hands everything that was removed in handfuls, he

swept

[swept]

the remaining

ashes

inside it,

inside the teni.

And

when he finished, he

placed it

the teni in the Sanctuary

and went out.

After clearing the altar, they cleared the menorah , which is the “preparation of the lamps” in the morning mentioned in the verse . They did not prepare all the lamps at once; rather, they first prepared the five western lamps, and afterward the remaining two. [According to the Sages, the burning of the incense interrupted between them. And according to Abba Shaul, the sprinkling of the blood of the daily offering interrupted between them.] We derive this as follows from that which is written: “In the morning, in the morning, when he prepares the lamps.” The Torah said: Divide the preparation into two mornings; perform the preparation of five lamps first, and afterward the preparation of two lamps .

And the tanna of the Mishna holds that the menorah stood from east to west. Therefore, he left the two eastern lamps for the end. For from the verse, “to kindle a lamp continually outside the curtain of the Testimony; he shall arrange it before the Lord,” we derive that the Torah said: Designate a lamp from which to light the other lamps. This lamp is the second from the east, because when he entered the Sanctuary, he encountered the easternmost lamp first, and one does not pass over mitzvot. But it is not the first from the east, because it is written, “before the Lord,” meaning toward the west. Therefore, we identify it as the second lamp. This is the one called the “western lamp.” A miracle occurred with it in the days of Shimon the Righteous, and it did not go out until evening. It was designated for lighting the other lamps from it. Therefore, we identify the five lamps that were prepared first as the five western lamps relative to it.

The one who won the lottery for clearing the menorah entered

the Sanctuary.

And

if

he found

the

two lamps

the

eastern ones burning—

he cleared the rest of

the five lamps and removed their oil and wicks into the kuz,

and left the

two

of these burning in their places

and did not extinguish them! [And below, in chapter 6, it will be explained how he dealt with them when he entered the Sanctuary a second time, after the sprinkling of the blood of the daily offering].

He left specifically these two. But if the other five lamps were burning, he would extinguish them and clear them .

After the time of Shimon the Righteous, when that miracle no longer occurred with the western lamp—if he entered the Sanctuary and

found them

the two eastern lamps

that

had already

gone out,

he

cleared them

of the ash at the tops of their wicks,

and lit them from

the

other

lamps that were still

burning.

And if no lamps remained burning, he would light those two eastern lamps from the fire of the altar of the burnt offering.

This was not a complete clearing involving the replacement of the oil and wicks, as with the other lamps. Rather, he would light them with the old oil and wicks.

The reason for lighting them was so that the interruption between the preparation of the five lamps and that of these two would be clearly discernible.

And afterward he cleared the rest of

the five western lamps . After he sprinkled the blood, he would return and extinguish the eastern lamps, and clear them .

And there was a stone before the menorah, with three steps [

steps] corresponding to the three expressions of raising written with regard to the menorah: “When you raise the lamps,” “and he shall raise its lamps,” and “to kindle a lamp continually.”

Upon which [

upon the stone] the

priest stood

to prepare the lamps. Since the menorah was eighteen handbreadths high, he had to ascend it in order to reach the lamps and clear them.

And

when he finished clearing the five lamps, he

placed the kuz

with the ashes

on

the

step

of the

second

step on the stone [and left it there, because he still had to clear the two lamps],

and exited

the Sanctuary!

We will return to you, chapter “The One Who Appointed Them”

Mishna:

1.

They did not bind the lamb

of the daily offering by all four of its legs together, nor did they bind its two forelegs separately or its two hind legs separately.

Rather, they would perform the binding

[tie]

it

hand to leg, like the binding of Isaac. The Gemara explains the reason.

Those who were privileged to

bring up the

limbs

to the ramp

would hold it

—the lamb—during the slaughter, and assist the slaughterer.

And this was

the manner of

its binding:

They placed it to the north of the altar, since its slaughter was to be performed north of and opposite the altar, not outside it.

Its head

of the lamb was placed toward

the south,

facing the altar, since the slaughter had to be brought as close to the altar as possible, as it is written: “on the side of the altar.” Its legs were toward the north.

Its face

was inclined

toward

the

west,

facing the Sanctuary, because it is written: “And he shall slaughter it before the Lord.”

And the slaughterer would stand at

the northeastern corner of the altar, to the

east

of the offering,

with his face toward

the

west,

facing the Sanctuary. [And the one who received the blood would stand beside him diagonally, turning his face toward the south, toward the lamb’s head].

The morning daily offering and the afternoon daily offering differed with regard to the place of their slaughter.

Twenty-four rings were fixed in the floor of the Temple courtyard, beside the altar to its north. They would insert the neck of the offering into them, so that it would not move during slaughter. They corresponded to the twenty-four priestly watches, one ring for each watch. The rings were arranged in six rows running from east to west, with four rings in each row running from north to south.

The morning daily offering was slaughtered near

the

northwestern corner

of the altar,

on the ring

on the west side of the

second

row from the altar. The slaughterer’s face and the animal’s neck were diagonally oriented toward the northwest, so that the place of slaughter would not be concealed from the sunlight coming from the east in the morning.

He did not slaughter it on a ring in the first row from the altar, because there the height of the altar, which was ten cubits, would block the sunlight. The slaughter had to be “opposite the day,” meaning facing the sun, as the Gemara expounds. But they did not distance it any farther, because wherever possible we bring it close to the altar, as it is written: “on the side of the altar.”

Whereas the daily offering

of the afternoon

was slaughtered

near

the

northeastern corner

of the altar,

on

the

ring

on the east side of the

second row.

The Gemara explains the reason.

The slaughterer slaughtered, and the receiver received

the blood in order to sprinkle it on the altar [the priest who was privileged to perform the sprinkling of the blood would receive it and carry it to the altar].

An olah requires two applications that are four. That is, the two applications are given on the four sides of the altar, as it is written: “And they shall sprinkle the blood on the altar all around.”

And this was the order of giving them:

The one who sprinkled it came

the blood

to the northeastern corner

of the altar,

and gave

there one sprinkling of the blood, which spread

eastward

from the corner and

northward.

He then came to the

southwestern corner, and gave

one sprinkling, which spread

westward

from the corner and

southward.

Thus, the blood was given on all four walls of the altar.

[He did not give the blood on the corners at the top of the altar. Rather, he stood on the floor and cast it from a distance onto the wall of the altar, below the scarlet line in the middle of the altar].

And the remnants of the blood remaining after these two applications he poured onto the southern foundation of the altar.