Yoma 18a — the Talmud in English

And what

is the explanation of what we learned, that he takes

“four or five”?

When does he take four, and when five?

According to the Rabbis, who say:

the incoming

shift takes six

loaves,

and

the outgoing

shift takes six

loaves.

And

according to them, two loaves are given as

payment for closing the doors

at the conclusion of Shabbat—

not

does the incoming shift take them; rather, the two shifts divide all twelve loaves between them.

As for the High Priest—

he must divide from the twelve

and take his portion.

And since according to the Rabbis he takes less than half, it is

one less

loaf

than half

of the six loaves, which are half of the twelve loaves.

Therefore,

he takes five.

But

according to Rabbi Yehuda, who says

that the shift

entering takes seven

loaves, for they divide only ten loaves, whereas

two

loaves are taken by the incoming shift

as payment for closing the doors

at the conclusion of Shabbat.

And the

outgoing shift takes five

loaves from the ten that are divided.

Therefore, the High Priest

must divide ten

loaves בלבד

he must divide.

And since according to the Rabbis he takes less than half:

one less

loaf

than half

[five out of ten].

And

therefore

he takes four.

Rava said: It is all Rabbi’s opinion,

and the High Priest takes half,

and he follows Rabbi Yehuda.

But if so, what

does he take

four? He must take five!

This is not difficult.

This—

where there is a shift that remains

because of a Festival, which takes two loaves for itself, and the incoming shift takes two loaves, so that only eight loaves remain for division.

This—

where there is no shift that remains.

If there is a shift that remains—

he must divide from eight, and he takes

half of them, which are

four.

If there is no shift that remains, he must divide ten, and he takes five.

If so, what does “Rabbi says, always five” mean,

when there are times that he takes only four!?

And we conclude:

It is difficult.

Mishna:

All those days during which the High Priest was separated in the Chamber of Parhedrin in the Temple, in order to prepare himself for the service of Yom Kippur,

they entrusted him

the court

with elders, from the elders of the court,

to be with him.

And

these elders

would read before him

from the Torah

in the order of

the service of

the day

that is in the portion of After the Death, and they would teach him all the laws of the service.

And

thus they would

say to him: My master

[my lord]

High Priest! Read

also

with your own mouth.

Perhaps you have forgotten

the laws of the service,

or perhaps

you never

learned them.

And on

the eve of Yom Kippur,

in

the morning,

they would

stand him

[the High Priest]

at the eastern gate

of the courtyard,

and

they would

pass before him

there

bulls, rams, and sheep.

So that he would recognize

and contemplate them,

and

through this he would pay attention to the laws of the order of the service of the day, and would become more

accustomed to the service.

All

those

seven days—

they would not withhold from him

any

food or drink.

But on

the eve of Yom Kippur, when

before

darkness, they would not allow him to eat much, because

an abundance of

food brings sleep,

and if he slept on the night of Yom Kippur, he might come to impurity through a seminal emission and become disqualified from the service.

Gemara:

And we raise a question concerning the words of the Mishna:

Granted,

this that we learned, that they would tell him to read with his mouth,

lest he forgot—

that is fine

[that is satisfactory].

But,

as for what they were concerned about,

lest he had never learned,

this is difficult:

Who—

is it that

we appoint

a High Priest

of this sort,

who had never learned the laws of the service!?

And it was taught:

It is stated in the Torah: “And the High Priest from among his brothers.” And they expounded from here

that

the High Priest should be

greater than his brothers in strength, in appearance, in wisdom, and in wealth.

Others say: From where

do we know that if he does not have

wealth of his own, his brother priests enrich him

from their money, so that he will be greater than them in wealth?

The verse says: “And the High Priest from among his brothers”—

make him great

with money

from his brothers.

And since he is greater than all of them also in wisdom, how were they concerned about him lest he had never learned the laws of the service?

And we answer:

Rav Yosef said: This is not difficult.

Here

[in the beraita] it is referring to High Priests who served

in the First Temple,

who were appointed according to Torah law and were great in wisdom.

Here

[in our Mishna], where they were concerned about them lest they had never learned, it is referring to High Priests who served

in the Second Temple,

who were appointed through money that they paid to the government.

And this is

as Rav Asi said: A tarkav

[a measure of three kav, which are half a se’a]

of dinars, a woman brought in

[she brought in to him], and her name was

Marta daughter of Baitos—

to King Yannai,

Yannai the king,

in order that he appoint

[so that he would appoint]

Yehoshua ben Gamla

her husband

among the great priests,

that he should appoint him to the High Priesthood.

We learned in the Mishna:

On the eve of Yom Kippur, in the morning, they would stand him at the eastern gate, and they would pass before him bulls, rams, and sheep.

It was taught: Also

the

goats

they passed before him, for there were also three goats among the sacrifices of Yom Kippur. One was offered as a sin-offering, like the other additional offerings of the Festivals; and there were two other goats, one of which was an inner sin-offering, while the other was sent away to Azazel.

And we raise a question about it:

And the

tanna

of our

Mishna, for what reason did he not teach—

why did he not teach about

the goats?

And we answer:

Since

the goats come to atone

for sin,

they were concerned lest

his mind become weakened

when the High Priest remembered the sins of Israel.

And we refute:

If so, since they are concerned about the weakening of the High Priest’s mind, they should also not pass the bull before him, for

the

sin-offering bull also—

comes for sin

[it comes].

And we answer:

The bull,

his sin-offering,

since it comes to atone

for

him and his brother priests—

his mind will not become weakened.

For

with regard to his brother priests, if there is a person

among them,

who has something

[a transgression]—

he certainly knows it

the High Priest, and arouses him,

and returns him

that priest

to repentance.

But

with regard to all Israel,

who are atoned for through the goats, if there are sinners among them—

he does not know

about them, and his mind becomes weakened lest they not repent and not be atoned for.

Ravina said:

This that the High Priest recognizes the deeds of his brother priests,

that is

similar to what

people say,

that people are accustomed to say this saying:

If your sister’s son

[who knows you and knows your deeds]

were a bailiff,

he is the king’s officer,

see

and pay attention to how you should conduct yourself:

before him in the marketplace—

do not pass!

Do not pass before him in the marketplace, so that he should not take it upon himself to find a pretext in your deeds and property, to extract money from you for the government, since he knows your deeds.

We learned in the Mishna:

All seven days they would not withhold from him

food.

On the eve of Yom Kippur, when it became dark, they would not allow him to eat much, because food brings sleep.

It was taught: Rabbi Yehuda ben Nekosa says:

On the morning of the eve of Yom Kippur they would

feed him flour and eggs,

for they were concerned lest he need to relieve himself on the following day, during the service; therefore they fed him these foods, which have a laxative effect,

in order to dissolve it

[to dissolve the food in his intestines], so that he would completely clear himself that day.

They said to him,

to Rabbi Yehuda ben Nekosa: If you do this,

all the more so you

cause him harm, for by eating these things you

bring him to arousal,

since flour and eggs increase semen.

It was taught: Sumakhos says in the name of Rabbi Meir:

Besides what we learned in the Mishna, that they would not allow him to eat much, there are also certain foods that bring about impurity through a seminal emission, and he had to refrain from eating them.

Therefore,

they do not feed him either etrog, eggs, or old wine.

And some say: neither etrog, eggs, meat, nor old wine.

[And this will be explained below.]

And some say: they also do not

allow him to drink

white wine.

And we explain:

“Not etrog, eggs, or old wine”—

not etrog, not eggs, and not old wine.

And some say: “Not etrog, eggs, meat, or old wine”—

not etrog, not eggs, not meat, and not old wine.

And some say: also not white wine, because

even

wine

the

white brings a person to impurity.

One from whose body seminal fluid has emerged is called a man with a seminal emission, and he is impure for one day. And if discharge has emerged from his body [whose appearance is not like the appearance of seminal fluid] one time, he too is impure only for one day, like a man with a seminal emission.

But if he saw two sightings of discharge, he requires the counting of seven clean days free of discharge, and afterward he becomes pure. And if he saw three sightings of discharge, he is also liable to bring an offering.

The discharge renders impure only if it emerged from his body neither because of illness nor because of an accident. For it is stated: “A man from whose flesh there is a discharge,” and they expounded: because of his flesh, and not because of something else.

Therefore, if some cause liable to bring about discharge preceded his sighting, this is not a sighting of discharge that renders him impure with the severe impurity of one with a discharge; rather, his status is that of a man with a seminal emission.

This law applies with regard to the second sighting: if he saw because of an accident, he does not become one with a discharge, requiring him to count seven clean days. But the first sighting—which in any event does not make him one with a discharge—renders him impure like a man with a seminal emission, even though it occurred because of an accident.

Likewise, a sighting caused by an accident is not considered a sighting of one with a discharge with regard to liability for an offering.

Rather, the tannaim disputed the matter when he had already seen the first two sightings, which were “because of his flesh” [that is, naturally], and now he saw a third sighting, so that if it is discharge he becomes liable for the offering of one with a discharge.

According to Rabbi Eliezer, they examine him to determine whether, before the third sighting, there preceded a cause liable to bring him to this discharge.

But according to the Rabbis, they do not examine him, because he had already become subject to discharge through the two times that he saw. And he becomes liable for an offering on the third time even through a sighting caused by an accident.

And all agree that if he became one with a discharge through three natural sightings, “because of his flesh” [whose law is that he count seven clean days free of discharge and afterward become pure], and he began counting the clean days, and saw a sighting of discharge during the counting of the seven clean days, then even if this sighting was caused by an accident, the counting of the seven clean days is invalidated, and he must begin again to count seven other clean days.

And the seven clean days during which he examines himself to see whether the discharge has indeed ceased from him are called “the days of his examination.”

And concerning this,

the Sages taught:

One with a discharge,

who saw discharge after eating excessively—

they suspend it for him

ascribing the cause of the discharge

to

the abundance of

food,

and he does not become one with a discharge through this sighting with regard to seven-day impurity or an offering.

And all types of food

bring a person to discharge if he eats a great deal of them, and not specifically certain foods.

Eleazar ben Pinhas says in the name of Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira:

They do not feed him

at all during these days,

neither milk, cheese, eggs, and wine, nor beans, meat, and rice, nor all

the

things that bring about impurity.

And we explain:

“Not milk, cheese, eggs, and wine”—

not milk, not cheese, not eggs, and not wine.

“Nor beans, meat, and rice”—

not the water of crushed broad beans, and

not

fatty meat, and

not

rice.

And we raise a question: This that the tanna taught at the end:

“Nor all the things that bring about impurity”—

what does this come to include

[what does he come to include by this]?

And we explain:

It comes to include

the following,

as the Sages taught:

Five things,

when they are eaten—

bring a person to impurity, and these are: garlic,