Yoma 20b (כ:) — the Talmud in English

And if it would enter your mind

that this is in accordance with the statement of Rav—that what we learned in tractate Zevaḥim, that the time for the removal of the ashes is

from midnight

onward—

is by Torah law,

then

how do we advance

the removal of the ashes on the Festivals to the first watch, when the time of the mitzva has still not arrived?

How do we delay it

every day?

Rather, Rabbi Yoḥanan said:

What we learned, that limbs that fell from the altar after midnight should not be returned, is not for the reason stated by Rav—that once the time for the mitzva of the removal of the ashes arrived, the mitzva of burning those limbs had been completed. For it is evident from our Mishna that midnight is not, by Torah law, the time for the removal of the ashes.

Rather, we learn from another verse that these limbs, upon which the altar fire had already taken hold but which had not yet been completely consumed, become ashes at midnight, and there is no need to return them if they fell from the altar after midnight.

For

from the implication of what is stated, “It is the burnt offering upon its pyre upon the altar

all night

,”

and do I

not know that it is until morning?

And what does the verse “until morning” come to teach?

Rather, it teaches you that one should

add a morning

a further awakening

to the morning of the night

which is dawn.

For with regard to dawn, which is the morning that concludes the night, the verse tells you to add an additional period before it, which is also to be considered morning, with regard to the prohibition against burning the limbs from that point onward. And since the verse leaves the matter unspecified and does not state its time, you are compelled to interpret it as referring to midnight.

And it stands to reason that this exposition was stated with regard to those limbs that had not been completely consumed. But anything that had been consumed before midnight and had already become ashes is subject to the mitzva of removal immediately upon becoming ashes, even at the beginning of the night.

Therefore,

since no specific time was stated as the beginning of the time for the removal of the ashes, the Sages established the time for the removal according to the need. And therefore,

every day,

when there was not a great quantity of ashes, and there was no reason to hurry before the end of the night, they would

remove the ashes from the altar

at the end of the night, that is,

at the call of the rooster or near it, either somewhat before it or somewhat after it,

and

it suffices

to do so at that time.

But

on Yom Kippur,

when the service is performed only by the High Priest, since

there is weakness on the part of the High Priest,

they advance the time of the removal and

perform it from midnight,

so that he will have time to rest after this service, before beginning the service of the daily offering.

And on the Festivals, when there were many Israelites

who would ascend on pilgrimage,

and many offerings

that the Israelites would bring to be sacrificed in the Temple on the Festivals—for it is stated: “And you shall come there” and “And you shall bring there”—the quantity of ashes collected on the altar was great, and they needed considerable time to clear the ashes to the middle of the altar, in order to make room for the offerings of the day. And this clearing could be done only after the removal of the ashes. Therefore, they advanced it further.

And

they performed

the removal of the ashes

from the first watch.

And

as the reason is taught

in the Mishna:

The call of the rooster had not yet come when the Temple courtyard was already filled with Israelites.

And we raised a difficulty concerning this:

What is the call of the rooster?

Rav said: At the end of the night,

a man called out,

and he was the man appointed to proclaim: “Arise, kohanim, for your service.”

Rabbi Sheila said:

A rooster called out.

Rav happened to come

upon

Rabbi Sheila’s place

when Rabbi Sheila was lecturing publicly, and they did not recognize him there. They were accustomed to having the sage lecture in the Holy Tongue, with an amora standing before him to translate his words into Aramaic so that the people would understand better.

There was not

there

an amora to stand before Rabbi Sheila

during his lecture, so

Rav stood before him

without knowing that he was Rav.

And when Rabbi Sheila whispered to him, “The call of the rooster,” Rav translated his words

and explained: What is “the call of the rooster”?—

A man called out.

Rabbi Sheila said to him: Let the Master say: A rooster called out.

He said to him,

Rav, responding with a familiar parable:

A flute

a type of pipe

for nobles

for honored free men

is music,

and they enjoy it. But when it comes to play

for

before

tanners

people of lesser standing,

they do not accept it from him.

The parable’s application is as follows: I myself,

when I was standing

as the translator

before Rabbi Ḥiyya,

who is greater than you,

and I explained: What is “the call of the rooster”? “A man called out,”

and he heard my words

and did not say anything to me,

that demonstrates that he agreed with this explanation of mine.

And

if

you

do not accept my explanation and

say to me: Say instead, “A rooster called out,”

from Rav’s statement that he had been Rabbi Ḥiyya’s translator, Rabbi Sheila understood that he was Rav.

And

he said to him,

Rav: But

the Master is Rav;

from now on,

let the Master sit down,

for it is not respectful for Rav to be Rabbi Sheila’s translator.

He said to him,

Rav:

People say: If you have hired yourself out

if you have entered another person’s employ, do not stop working, even if

you must unravel his wool,

even though it is a degrading task.

And I too, since I began translating your words, will finish.

Some say: This is what he said to him,

Rav said to Rabbi Sheila: It is proper that

one ascend in matters of holiness and not descend,

and if I stop and someone inferior to me takes my place, that would be a decline in the standing of the lecture.

And we conclude:

It was taught in a beraita in accordance with Rav’s opinion,

and likewise

it was taught in a beraita in accordance with Rabbi Sheila’s opinion.

It was taught in a beraita in accordance with Rav’s opinion: Gavini the announcer,

the name of a man appointed to make proclamations,

what would he say?

“Arise, kohanim, for your service; Levites, for your platform; and Israelites, for your station.”

And his voice

was so strong that it

was heard at

a distance of

three parasangs.

And once there was

an incident involving King Agrippa, who was traveling on the road and heard

the

voice

of the announcer

at

a distance of

three parasangs, and when

the king

arrived at his home, he sent him gifts.

And even so,

although the voice of Gavini the announcer was strong, the voice of the

High Priest was superior to it.

For the Master said: And there was already

an incident in which

the

High Priest said on Yom Kippur, when he confessed,

“Please,

O Lord,”

aloud, and his voice was heard in Jericho.

And Rabba bar bar Ḥana said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said:

The distance

from Jerusalem to Jericho

is

ten parasangs.

And

the voice was so strong that

even though here

on Yom Kippur

there is weakness

on the part of the High Priest due to his fasting,

and

if

here,

in the incident involving Gavini the announcer,

there is no weakness,

and

furthermore,

here

on Yom Kippur—it was

during the day, whereas

there it was

at night,

before the sun had risen, when a voice is heard at a greater distance.

For

this is what

Rabbi Levi said: Why is a person’s voice not heard during the day,

with such strength

as

it is

heard at night? Because of

the sound of the

sun’s sphere sawing through the firmament, like a craftsman

artisan

sawing through

cedar

wood.

And this dust of the day

the residue of the sawdust produced by that sawing of the sun’s sphere, visible like dust in the sunlight,

is not called “la,” and this is what Nebuchadnezzar said

in praise of the Holy One, blessed be He:

“And all the inhabitants of the earth are as nothing,

utterly

accounted as nothing,”

for human beings are considered by Him no more than floating dust.

The Sages taught: Had it not been for

the sound of the

sphere

of the

sun,

the voice of

the multitude of Rome would be heard throughout the entire world; and had it not been for the sound of the multitude of Rome,

the

voice

of the

sun’s sphere would be heard.

The Sages taught: There are three sounds

that

travel from one end of the world to the other. And these are: the sound of the sun’s sphere, the sound of the multitude of Rome, and the sound of

the

soul as it leaves the body.

And some say

and add:

also

the sound of

childbirth,