Yoma 19a (יט.) — the Talmud in English

Gemara:

The tanna:

What we learned, that the elders brought him up to the upper chamber of the House of Avtinas, was in order

to teach him

the laws of

taking a handful (hafina)

of incense.

Rav Pappa said: The High Priest had two chambers

of

the High Priest

for his use during those seven days of separation before Yom Kippur.

One

in which he lived, and which is mentioned in the Mishna by the name

of the Chamber of Parhedrin, and one, the Chamber of the House of Avtinas

where they taught him the hafina of the incense.

The

one

was

in the north

of the Temple courtyard,

and one was in the south

of the courtyard.

And we explain:

One

of them

in the north

is explicitly indicated in the Mishna in tractate Middot.

As we learned: There were six chambers in the courtyard; three

of them were

on

the

northern side,

and three

on

the

southern side.

Those

on the southern side

were:

the Chamber of Salt,

and

the Chamber of Parva,

and

the Chamber of Rinsing.

The Chamber of Salt

was used

as the place where they would put

the

salt

for safekeeping, taking from it enough

to

salt the

offering.

The function of

the Chamber of Parva

was

that there the

priests

would salt

the

hides of sacrificial animals

that they had acquired.

And on its roof

of this chamber

there was a place for the immersion of

the

priest

the

High Priest

on Yom Kippur; he immersed himself each time he changed his garments, from the golden garments to the white garments, and likewise in the reverse order.

And

the Chamber of Rinsing

was so called because

there they would rinse

the

entrails

of the

sacrificial animals,

before burning them on the altar.

And from there

there

was a spiral staircase [

a round tower of steps ]

rising

for ascending by it

to the roof of the House of Parva.

And

three

of the chambers

in the north

were:

the Chamber of Wood,

and

the Chamber of the Exiles,

and

the Chamber of Hewn Stone.

Regarding

the Chamber of Wood, Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov said: I forgot

what

it was used for.

Abba Shaul says:

This chamber

was used as the chamber of the High Priest

.

And it was behind the two of them,

behind the Chamber of the Exiles and the Chamber of Hewn Stone.

And the height of

the height of the

the roofs of all three—

was equal.

equal.

The Chamber of the Exiles; there was a cistern

of water there, which the

exiles

had dug, and the wheel for drawing water from the cistern was

placed over it, and from there

they

supplied water to the entire courtyard.

The Chamber of Hewn Stone [

which was built of large hewn stones ],

there was

the seat of the

Sanhedrin of Israel.

And it

would sit

there

and judge the priests,

determining who was fit for service and who was disqualified.

And

everyone

in whom a disqualification was found would dress in black and wrap himself

in

black, and leave

from there

and go away.

And whoever

was

not found to have a disqualification would dress in white and wrap himself in white, and enter and serve with his fellow priests.

Thus, there was a chamber for the High Priest in the northern part of the courtyard.

And there was also

one chamber

for the High Priest

in the south

of the courtyard.

As we learned: There were seven gates in

the wall of the

courtyard.

Three

were

on

the

northern side, and three

on

the

side, and

one gate

was

on

the

eastern side.

These

on the southern side

were:

the Gate of Kindling [

through which they would bring wood for the altar fire; Tosafot Yeshanim ], which was the first.

The second after it

was

the Gate of the Offering [

through which they would bring the daily offering; Rosh, Middot ].

And

the third after it

was

the Gate of Water,

through which they would bring the water for libation during the festival of Sukkot.

The gate

on the eastern side

was

the Gate of Nicanor [

named after Nicanor, who brought doors from Alexandria for this gate; Gemara ].

And there were two chambers there,

on the eastern side:

one

was

to its right

of the gate,

and one to its left.

The

one

was

the Chamber of Pinhas the Dresser,

who was appointed over the priestly garments,

and one was

the Chamber of Those Who Made the Havitin,

where they made the minhat havitin, which the High Priest offered every day, half in the morning and half in the evening.

The three gates

on the northern side

were:

The first was

the Gate

of the

Spark,

and it was like

a portico building,

with two columns built on either side of it.

And an upper story

was

built above it,

called the House of the Spark.

And there

the

priests

who guarded the Temple

would guard from above,

in the upper story.

And the

the

Levites,

the guardians of the Temple,

would guard from below

at the entrance to the gate.

And this gate had an opening

inside which

there was

the “rampart,”

the elevated area on the Temple Mount outside the courtyard.

And

the second after it

was

the Gate of the Offering,

through which they would bring the offerings whose slaughter was performed in the north.

And the

third after it

was

the Gate of the Chamber of the Hearth.

And it is taught in a beraita: The High Priest would immerse five times and perform ten sanctifications

the

priest

the

High Priest would immerse and sanctify himself

on that day—on Yom Kippur—each time he changed his garments from the golden garments to the white garments, and likewise in the reverse order.

And all of them

were performed

in

the immersion chamber inside the

sacred area,

which was [

on the roof of ]

the House of Parva.

For it is stated in the Torah [Leviticus 16:24]: “And he shall bathe his flesh in water in a sacred place.”

Except for this one—

the first immersion, when he immersed himself upon coming to put on the golden garments at dawn to begin the service—which

was in a non-sacred place,

because this immersion was not part of the Yom Kippur service—he had not yet begun the service, and there was no change of garments here.

Rather, everyone who enters the courtyard for service, even on the other days of the year, is required to immerse.

And for this reason, it need not take place in a sacred area.

And

above the Gate of Water

on the southern side was this ritual bath,

and beside his chamber

of the High Priest

it was.

Thus, there was also a chamber for the High Priest on the southern side.

And Rav Pappa said:

I do not know whether

the Chamber of Parhedrin

was

in the north, and the Chamber of the House of Avtinas

was

in the south,

or the reverse:

the reverse:

the Chamber of the House of Avtinas

was

in the north, and

the

Chamber of Parhedrin

was

in the south.

And it seems

to me

that the Chamber of Parhedrin,

which was used as the residence of the High Priest during those seven days of separation, was

on

the

southern side, near the Gate of Water.

And Rav Pappa explains:

What is the reason

What is the reason

that it seems appropriate to say so?

Because in this manner the order of the High Priest’s day during those seven days works out well, as follows: In the morning he

rises early

and

gets up

early from his bed,

and relieves himself, and

immediately afterward

immerses

in that immersion chamber above the Gate of Water, which was near his chamber,

and

after the immersion

goes to his second chamber, which was in the

his second chamber, which was in the

north,

the Chamber of the House of Avtinas,

and completes

there

the taking of the handful,

as was explained above in the beraita, that they taught him there the laws of hafina.

And

afterward

he comes to the Temple and performs

there

the service all day,

as we learned, that he served in the Temple throughout all those days in order to become accustomed to the service.

After the service,

toward evening [

at evening time ]

they sprinkle upon him [

they sprinkle on him the water of the ashes of the red heifer ] to purify him from possible impurity due to contact with a corpse, as we learned in the beraita [8a].

And then, he goes

and returns and goes

to his chamber in the

his chamber in the

south.

And

there he

immerses

a second time, according to Rabbi Akiva, who holds that one who was pure but had the water of the ashes of the red heifer sprinkled upon him becomes impure. Therefore, in order to be able to serve the following day, he had to immerse after the sprinkling so that the sun could set over him, as explained above [14b].

And with this he concludes his daily order

and rests [

and lies down ] in the Chamber of Parhedrin near the immersion chamber, without having to go to a place far from the immersion chamber.

And Rav Pappa proves:

For if you say

that

the Chamber of Parhedrin—

in which he lived—was

on

the

northern side, while the Chamber of the House of Avtinas—in which he studied the laws of hafina—was in the south, we would be needlessly imposing a burden upon him.

For in the morning he

For in the morning he

rises early and gets up [

rises early and stands up from his bed ] and relieves himself.

And

since he must immerse, he

goes from north to south and immerses

there, as the Gate of Water, above which the immersion chamber was located, was there.

And he completes

there

the taking of the handful

in the Chamber of the House of Avtinas,

and comes to the Temple and performs the service all day.

After the service,

toward evening [

at evening time ]

they sprinkle upon him.

And

since he must immerse in order to remove the impurity resulting from the water of the ashes of the red heifer, he

then goes back [

returns and goes ] to the immersion chamber in the

south, and immerses

there.

And he would have to go back and walk—

and he would have to return and go

to his chamber on the

his chamber on the side of the

north, and rest.

And would we impose all this exertion upon him!

Is it appropriate to burden him so greatly?

The Gemara rejects Rav Pappa’s proof:

Why [

and why ]

not

burden him? Is it not fitting that

we impose even more exertion upon him?

There is a reason for this:

If he is a Sadducee

and is not God-fearing, and does not accept upon himself the Temple service when it entails exertion, it is worthwhile for us to burden him, so that he

will withdraw

from the service. For the Sadducees were suspected of altering the service.

Alternatively—

there is another reason to burden him, so that

the High Priest’s heart will not become haughty

over

himself,

becoming proud of his crown of the High Priesthood.

For if you do not say so,

that it is appropriate for us to cause him exertion—

we should have made [

we should have arranged ]

both of them—

both the Chamber of Parhedrin, in which he lived, and the Chamber of the House of Avtinas, in which he studied the hafina—

adjacent to each other,

near the immersion chamber, so that he would not have to go from one side to the other.

Alternatively, one chamber would suffice for him

both for his residence and for studying hafina. It is evident from this that they deliberately caused him exertion; consequently, it is fitting that the Chamber of Parhedrin, in which he lived, should be on the northern side, and the other chamber, in which he studied hafina, on the southern side.

We learned in the Mishna:

And they said to him

the elders when they administered the oath to him:

“My master, High Priest, we are agents of the court, and you are our agent and the agent of the court.”

And we raise a difficulty concerning it:

Shall we say that it is our Mishna, in which we learned that the High Priest is considered an agent of the community,

our Mishna, which states that the High Priest is considered an agent of the community, is

a refutation of Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua?

For Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, said

with regard to one who prohibited himself by a vow from deriving benefit from a priest: the law is that the priest is prohibited from acting as the agent of the one subject to the vow; nevertheless, the priest is permitted to sacrifice his offerings for him, because

these priests

who serve in the Temple do not offer sacrifices as the agent of the owner of the offering; rather,

they are agents of the Merciful One,

as they were commanded in the Torah to offer the offerings of Israel.