Yoma 19a — 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

the handful-taking

of the incense.

Rav Pappa said: He had two chambers for the kohen

the

High

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

One

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

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

where they taught him the handful-taking of the incense.

The

one

was

in the north

of the courtyard,

and one was in the south

of the courtyard.

And we explain:

one

of them

in the north,

is explicitly so stated in the Mishna in tractate Middot.

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

of them were

on the

side of

the north, and three

were

on the

side of

the south.

Those

in the south

are:

the Chamber of Salt

and

the Chamber of Parva

and

the Chamber of Those Who Rinse.

The Chamber of Salt

served

for there they would place

the

salt

to store it, taking from it in order

to

salt the

sacrifice.

And the function of

the Chamber of Parva

was

that there

the priests

would salt

the

skins of the sacred offerings

which they had merited.

And on its roof

of this chamber

there was a place of immersion for

the immersion of the

kohen

the

High

on Yom Kippur, for he immersed each time that he changed his garments from the golden garments to the white garments, and likewise in the reverse direction.

And

the Chamber of Those Who Rinse

is so called because

there they would rinse

the

innards

of the

sacred offerings,

before burning them on the altar.

And from there

there was

a spiral staircase [

a circular flight of steps]

ascending

to go up by it

to the roof of the House of Parva.

And

the three

chambers

in the north

are:

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 have forgotten

for

what it served.

Abba Shaul says:

This chamber served 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 roof of all three—

was equal.

equal.

The Chamber of the Exiles—there was a cistern

of water, which those who ascended from

the exile dug, and the wheel

for drawing the water from the cistern was

placed upon it, and from there

they

provided water for the entire courtyard.

The Chamber of Hewn Stone [

which was built from large hewn stones],

there was

the place of the sitting of

the Sanhedrin of Israel.

And it

sat

there

and judged the priests,

who was fit for the service and who was disqualified.

And

everyone

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

in

black, and would leave

from there

and go away.

And

whoever

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

Thus, there was a chamber for the High Priest in the north 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

side of

the north, and three on the

side of

the south, and

one gate

one

was

on the

side of

the east.

These

in the south

are:

the Gate of Kindling [

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

Second to it

was

the Gate of the Sacrifice [

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

And

third to it

was

the Water Gate

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

The gate

in the east

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—

the Chamber of Those Who Made the Griddle-Cakes

where they made the griddle-cake offering which the High Priest brought every day, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening.

The three gates

in the north

are:

The first was

the Gate

of the

Spark,

and as

a colonnaded structure it was

with two columns built on its two sides.

And an upper story

was

built for it above it,

which was called the House of the Spark.

And there

the

priests

who guarded the Temple

would guard from above,

in the upper story.

And

the

Levites

who guarded the Temple would

guard from below

at the entrance of the gate.

And this gate had an entrance

inside which

was

the “rampart,”

which is the elevated area on the Temple Mount outside the courtyard.

And

second to it

was

the Gate of the Sacrifice

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

And the gate

third to it

was

the Gate of the House of the Hearth.

And it was taught: The High Priest would immerse five times and sanctify himself ten times

the

kohen

the

High Priest would immerse and sanctify himself

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

And all of them

were performed

in

the immersion chamber within the

sanctuary,

which was [

on the roof of]

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

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

Except for this—

the first immersion in which he immersed himself when he came to put on the golden garments in the morning, to begin the service—

it was in an ordinary place,

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

Rather, everyone who enters the courtyard for service, even on the other days of the year, requires immersion.

And for this reason it need not be in a holy place.

And

above the Water Gate

which was in the south was this immersion pool,

and beside his chamber

of the High Priest

it was.

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

And Rav Pappa said:

For

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 conversely, that

the reverse:

the Chamber of the House of Avtinas

was

in the north, and

the

Chamber of Parhedrin

was

in the south.

And it appears

to me

that the Chamber of Parhedrin

which served as the residence of the High Priest during those seven days of his separation,

on the

side of

the south

it was, beside the Water Gate.

And Rav Pappa explains:

What is the reason

that it is reasonable to say so?

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

rises early

and

stands,

rising early and getting up from his bed,

and relieves himself, and

immediately afterward

immerses

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

and

after the immersion

goes to

his second chamber, which is in the

north,

and it is the Chamber of the House of Avtinas,

and completes

there

the handful-taking,

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

And

afterward

he comes to the Temple and performs

there

service the entire day,

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

And after the service,

toward evening [

at evening time]

they sprinkle upon him [

they sprinkle upon him] the water of purification, to purify him from possible corpse-impurity, as we learned in the beraita [8a].

And afterward, he goes

and returns and goes

to

his chamber which is in the

south.

And

there

he immerses

a second time, according to Rabbi Akiva, who holds that one who was pure and upon whom the water of purification was sprinkled becomes impure. Therefore, in order that he be able to serve on the following day, he needed to immerse after the sprinkling, so that the sun would 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 beside the immersion chamber, without troubling himself to go to a place far from the immersion chamber.

And Rav Pappa proves:

For if you say that

that

the Chamber of Parhedrin—

where he lived—was

on the

side of

the north, while the Chamber of the House of Avtinas—in which he studied the laws of handful-taking—was in the south, we would be causing him unnecessary trouble.

For in the morning he

For in the morning he

rises early and stands [

rising early and standing up from his bed] and relieves himself.

And

since he must immerse, he

goes from north to south, and immerses

there, for there was the Water Gate above which was the immersion chamber.

And he completes

there

the handful-taking

in the Chamber of the House of Avtinas,

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

And after the service,

toward evening [

at evening time]

they sprinkle upon him.

And

since he must immerse to remove the impurity of the water of purification, he

again goes [

returns and goes] to the immersion chamber which is in the

south, and immerses

there.

And he must return and go—

and he must return and go

to

his chamber which is on the

north, and lie down.

And must we trouble him with all this!

Is it appropriate to trouble him so much?

And the Gemara rejects Rav Pappa’s proof:

Why [

and why]

not

trouble him? For it is proper that

we trouble him more.

And there is a reason for this:

if he is a Sadducee

and is not God-fearing, and does not accept upon himself the service of the Temple when it involves exertion, it is fitting for us to trouble him, so that he

withdraw

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

Alternatively—there is another reason to trouble him, so that

there is another reason to make him exert himself:

the High Priest’s mind should not become haughty

of the High Priest

over him,

to become arrogant over his crown of the High Priesthood.

For if you do not say so

that it is proper for us to cause him exertion,

we should make [

we should have made]

both of them—

both the Chamber of Parhedrin, in which he lived, and the Chamber of the House of Avtinas, in which he studied handful-taking—

next to each other

near the immersion chamber, and he would not have the exertion of going from one side to the other.

Alternatively, one chamber would suffice for him

both for his residence and for studying handful-taking, and it is proven from this that they deliberately caused him to exert himself; and from now it is proper that the Chamber of Parhedrin, in which he lived, should be on the north side, and the second one, in which he studied handful-taking, on the south 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 question about it:

Shall we say that it be

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

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 kohen: his law is that the kohen is forbidden to perform his agency, but nevertheless the kohen is permitted to offer his sacrifices for him, because

these priests

who serve in the Temple do not offer sacrifices as the agents of the owner of the sacrifice, but rather

they are agents of the Merciful One,

for they were commanded in the Torah to offer the sacrifices of Israel.