Yoma 15b — the Talmud in English

Rather, the intention is the sprinkling of the blood

on the body of the altar

on its upper surface, after cleaning it of the ashes of the incense, and it is called “purify it” on account of the purity of its cleanliness, as

as it is written

[Exodus 24]

“and like the very substance of the heavens for purity”,

whose meaning is clarity.

And we are still discussing the order of giving the blood of the continual burnt offering:

What is different that he gives

according to the order of giving the blood of

the burnt offering first, and afterward he gives

according to the order of giving the blood

of the sin offering?

Let him give first

the two that are four according to the order

of the sin offering, and afterward let him give

the one that is four according to the order

of the burnt offering!?

And we answer:

Since

in the end, in any event, the sacrifice

is a burnt offering—

it preceded first.

And we further discuss it:

And what is different that he gives

on the corner

of the northeast and

on the corner

of the southwest?

Let him give on the southeast, and afterward on the northwest!

They say: A burnt offering requires a foundation,

so that its blood should be given in a place beneath which the altar has a foundation,

and

if

the southeast corner would not have had a foundation.

But there is still a question:

What is different that he gives first on the northeast and afterward on the southwest?

Let him give first on the southwest, and afterward on the northeast

where there was a foundation beneath it [unclear: the wording is corrupt]!?

And we answer:

Since the Master said

[below 58b]:

Every turning that you turn

in the Temple service

shall be only by way of the right,

so that your turning should be

toward the east

by way of the right! And this is what it means: if he ascends to the altar [by the ramp, which stands on the southern side of the altar], he first turns right, toward the east.

And the first corner that he encounters, the southeast one, is not fit for giving the blood of a burnt offering there, since there is no foundation beneath it; and only the next corner, the northeast one, beneath which there is a foundation, is fit for him to begin giving the blood.

And therefore, even when giving the blood of the burnt offering below, when he does not ascend by the ramp to the altar, he follows the order of ascending by the ramp of the altar, so that he will always turn toward the east on the right side, and at the northeast corner

first,

at the beginning—

there he encounters it.

And we further discuss it:

And from where is it that, concerning a burnt offering, the Merciful One said: Perform upon it the act of a sin offering? Perhaps it is concerning a sin offering that the Merciful One said: Perform upon it the act of a burnt offering?

And we answer:

It does not enter your mind.

Do not let this enter your mind!

For

behold,

it is written

[Numbers 28]: “For a sin offering”—

“upon the continual burnt offering shall it be performed, and its libation.”

And necessarily,

what does the Merciful One say: Something

of the matter

of a sin offering—

cast

it

upon a burnt offering.

We learned there

in tractate Tamid [30a]:

The appointed one said

to the priests who had won the lottery, before daybreak:

Go out and bring a lamb from the chamber of the house of the lambs

for the continual offering!

But surely the chamber of the lambs was in the northwest corner.

And there were four chambers there: one, the chamber of the lambs; one, the chamber of the seals; one, the chamber of the hearth; and one, a chamber in which they made the showbread.

And we raise a contradiction

from the Mishna in tractate Middot [1:6]:

There were four chambers belonging to the house of the hearth,

and those chambers were open to it

like small chambers

[small rooms]

that open into a reception hall,

a large hall.

Two

of the chambers, the southern ones, were built

in the sacred area.

And two

of them, the northern ones, were built

in the non-sacred area,

outside the boundaries of the courtyard.

And the reception hall in the house of the hearth also was built half in the sacred area and half in the non-sacred area.

And the heads of pegs,

pieces of wood projecting from the wall as a sign,

separated between the sacred area and the non-sacred area.

And

for

what were they used,

those chambers?

The chamber in the

southwest—

it was the chamber of the lamb of the continual offering,

where the lambs inspected for defects were kept.