Tamid 30b — the Talmud in English

And

they gave

the

daily offering a drink in a cup ![](pamud.bmp "

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of gold,

so that it would be easy to flay its hide.

And although it had already been examined

for a blemish

since the evening [

from the previous day, for the daily offering must be examined for a blemish four days before its slaughtering], they

examined it

again before offering it,

by the light of torches.

The one who won the

slaughtering of the

daily offering would draw it and go

with it

to the slaughterhouse. And

so

those who won

bringing up the

limbs would follow him to the slaughterhouse.

The slaughterhouse was north of the altar.

For the daily offering is an elevation-offering, and the slaughtering of an elevation-offering is “on the northern side of the altar.”

And upon it [

upon the slaughterhouse]

were eight short pillars [

low] of stone.

And square [

four-sided]

pieces of

wood

of cedar

were

upon their tops

of the pillars.

And hooks [

staves]

of iron were fixed

in those square pieces.

And three rows

of hooks

were on each one

of the square pieces,

on which they would hang

the offering after its slaughtering!

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 would place the offering

and flay

it

upon marble tables that

were

between the pillars.

Those who won the removal of the ashes from the altar

the inner altar

and the menorah would come early [

before the opening of the doors of the Sanctuary, even though the time for the services of 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 basket and the jug, [

as the Commentator will explain what they were],

and two keys.

and two keys.

The basket

was a basket that

resembled a tarkav [

a vessel holding three kav]

of gold,

and it

held one and a half kav.

And the jug resembled a pitcher [

a jug]

large and of gold.

And the two

keys

were intended to open the small door adjacent to the gate of the Sanctuary.

There were two locks for this small door: one on its inner side, facing the Sanctuary, and one outside, toward the courtyard. One

key

was the key

with which he would descend

with him

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

meaning the hole in the wall [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 easily [

without difficulty], without troubling himself to insert his hand into the wall.

The officer came

in charge of opening the Sanctuary

to the small door [

a small opening]

on the north.

There were two small doors for the great 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 small door

in the south, no person ever entered.

And concerning it,

concerning the southern small door,

it is expounded 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.”

The officer took

the

key,

and

opened the small door

on the north,

and entered the chamber

before the Sanctuary.

And from the chamber

he entered

the Sanctuary.

Until

he

reached the great gate

on its inner side. And when he

reached the great gate, he moved the bolt [

removed the bar]

and the locks [

the fastenings],

and opened it

for the gate.

The slaughterer did not slaughter

the daily offering

until

he

heard

the sound of the

great gate

of the Sanctuary,

when it was opened!

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

From Jericho they would hear

the

sound

of the

great gate

of the Sanctuary,

when it was opened!

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

And likewise,

from Jericho they would hear

the

sound

of the

mortar [

a musical instrument that was in the Temple]!

And likewise,

from Jericho they would hear

the

sound of the flute

that was in the Temple!

And likewise,

from Jericho they would hear

the

sound of the cymbal [

a musical instrument],

which

he would strike

Ben Arza

in the Temple!

And likewise,

from Jericho they would hear

the

sound of the song

of the Levites in the Temple! And likewise,

from Jericho they would hear

the

sound of Gavini,

the priest who was

the herald. He would proclaim every day in the Temple: “Stand, priests, for your service; Levites, for your platform; and Israelites, for your station!” His proclamation could be heard as far as Jericho.

Every day he would proclaim in the Temple: “Priests, stand for your service; Levites, for your platform; and Israelites, for your station!” His proclamation could be heard as far as Jericho.

And likewise,

from Jericho they would 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 by remaining overnight! [And this was explained above, 28b.]

And likewise,

from Jericho a person

would

hear

the

sound of the shofar

that they would blow in the Temple every day !

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

the explicit

on Yom Kippur

could be heard as far as Jericho!

From Jericho they would smell

the

scent of the preparation of the incense

in the Temple; the scent would spread and reach Jericho.

Rabbi Elazar ben Daggai said: My father had goats in the cities of Makwar,

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,

and took the basket and placed it before him

on the floor of the Sanctuary.

And he would take by handfuls

in his hands the ashes of the altar

and put

them

into it,

into the basket.

And finally,

after he had taken by handfuls all that was removed in his handfuls, he

swept [

swept]

the rest

of the ashes

into it,

into the basket.

And

when he finished, he

placed it

the basket in the Sanctuary ,

and went out.

And after the cleaning of the altar, they cleaned the Menorah and this is “the preparation of the lamps” in the morning, which is stated in the verse And they did not prepare all the lamps at one time; rather, first they 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.] And we derive this so 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 would leave the two eastern lamps for last. For from that which is written, “to raise a perpetual lamp outside the curtain of the Testimony; he shall arrange it before the Lord,” we learn that the Torah said: Designate a lamp from which to light the other lamps! And this lamp is the second from the east, because when he enters the Sanctuary, he encounters the eastern 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,” that is, toward the west. Therefore, we establish it as the second lamp. And it is called the “western lamp.” And a miracle occurred with it in the days of Shimon the Righteous, so that it did not go out until the evening. And it was designated for lighting the other lamps from it. Therefore, we establish the five lamps that he cleans first as the five western lamps from it.

The one who was chosen for the cleaning of the Menorah entered

the Sanctuary.

And

if

he found

the

two lamps

the

eastern ones burning—

he cleaned the rest of

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

and left

the two

these burning in their place

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

And specifically these two would he leave. But if the other five lamps were burning, he would extinguish them and clean them .

And 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,

then he

cleaned them

of the ash on the tops of their wicks,

and lit them from

the lamps

the

others that were still

burning.

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

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

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

And afterward he cleans the rest of

the five western lamps . And after he sprinkles the blood, he returns and extinguishes the eastern lamps, and cleans them .

And there was a stone before the Menorah, and on it were three steps [

stairs] corresponding to the three elevations that are written concerning the Menorah: “When you raise the lamps,” “and he shall raise its lamps,” and “to raise a perpetual lamp.”

upon which [

upon the stone] the

priest stood

and prepared the lamps. Since the Menorah was eighteen handbreadths high, he needed to ascend upon it in order to reach the lamps and clean them.

And

when he completed the cleaning of the five lamps, he would

place the kuz

with the ash

upon

the

step

the

second

that was on the stone [and leave it there, because he still needed to clean the two lamps],

and went out

from the Sanctuary!

We will return to you, chapter “The appointed one said to them”

Mishna:

1.

They did not bind the lamb

of the daily offering by all four of its legs together, nor even its two front legs separately or its two hind legs separately.

Rather, they would bind

[tie]

it,

the hand with the leg, like the binding of Isaac . And in the Gemara the reason is explained.

Those who merited

bringing the

limbs

to the ramp

would hold it

by the lamb at the time of slaughter, and would assist the slaughterer.

And this was

the manner of

its binding:

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

And its head

of the lamb was placed toward the

south,

toward the altar, since the slaughter must be brought as close to the altar as possible, as it is written, “on the side of the altar.” And its legs were toward the north.

And its face

was inclined

to

the side of

the west,

toward the Sanctuary. Because it is written, “and he shall slaughter it before the Lord.”

And the slaughterer stood at

the northern corner of the altar,

east

of the offering,

and his face was toward

the side of

the west,

toward the Sanctuary. [And the one who received the blood stood beside him at an angle, and turned his face toward the south, toward the lamb’s head].

And the daily offering of the morning and the daily offering of the afternoon differed in the place of their slaughter.

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

The morning daily offering was slaughtered near

the

northwestern corner

of the altar,

on the ring

on the western side of the

second

row from the altar. And the slaughterer’s face and the animal’s neck were at an angle toward the northwest, so that the place of slaughter would not be concealed from the sunlight that came in the morning from the east.

And he did not slaughter on a ring of the first row from the altar, because there the height of the altar, which was ten cubits, would conceal the sunlight. And it is required that the slaughter be “opposite the day,” that is, facing the sun, as the Gemara expounds . But they did not distance it any more than this, because wherever possible we rely on being close to the altar, as it is written, “on the side of the altar.”

But the daily offering

of the afternoon

was slaughtered

near

the

northeastern corner

of the altar,

on

the

ring

on the eastern side of the

second row.

And in the Gemara the reason is explained.

The slaughterer slaughtered, and the receiver received

the blood in order to cast it on the altar [for the priest who had merited casting the blood was the one who received it and carried it to the altar].

And the burnt offering requires two placements that are four; that is, the two placements are given on the four sides of the altar. As it is written, “and they shall cast the blood on the altar around.”

And this was the order of their placement:

He came

the one who cast

to the northeastern corner

of the altar,

and gave

there one casting of blood, which spread

eastward

of the corner and

northward.

And afterward he came to the

southwestern corner, and gave

one casting, which spread

westward

of the corner and

southward.

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

And 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 red line in the middle of the altar.

And the remnants of the blood that remained after these two placements he poured onto the southern foundation of the altar .