Yoma 21a — the Talmud in English

And some say

and add:

even

the voice of the angel called

Ridaya

who is appointed to call for the waters of rain from above and the waters of the deep from below, to water the earth.

And the Sages pleaded for mercy

from Heaven,

saying: Let us die,

so that they would not hear his voice

when the soul leaves the body,

and their prayer was accepted,

and they annulled him.

It was taught in a beraita in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Sheila

that the term gever means rooster:

One who sets out on a journey

at night

has his blood on his own head if he does so before the crowing of the rooster

because it is dangerous to travel at night.

And some say

that even after the rooster’s crowing, he should not set out

until it crows twice

in its calling,

and some say: until it crows three times.

And with regard to which rooster did they say this? They said it with regard to an ordinary rooster

that neither crows early nor crows late.

Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: When

the

Jewish people would ascend to Jerusalem for the Festival, they would

they would

stand

in the Temple courtyard,

crowded

because of the great number of people.

And

even so, they would

bow with ample space between them,

with four cubits between each person and the next.

And

the Jewish people would

be drawn

and disperse because of the crowding into the area of

eleven cubits

on the western side of the courtyard,

behind the Holy of Holies.

And we raise a question:

What is he saying

when he says that they would be drawn away? Was a miracle not performed for them, so that there was ample space, and why did they need to disperse?

And we explain:

This is what he is saying: Even though

because of the great crowding they

were drawn

—when they were standing—into

eleven cubits

on the western side of the courtyard,

behind the Holy of Holies, and

they

stood

there

crowded,

nevertheless,

when they bowed,

a miracle was performed for them, and they

bowed with ample space between them.

And this was one of the ten miracles that were performed in the Temple.

As we learned in the Mishna: Ten miracles were performed in the Temple,

and these are they:

a.

No woman miscarried

her fetus

because of the smell of the sacred meat,

even though, naturally, when the smell of food reaches the nose of a pregnant woman, she may miscarry if she is prevented from eating it.

b.

And the sacred meat never decayed,

even limbs that remained and had not yet been consumed by the fire on the altar.

c.

And no fly was ever seen in the slaughterhouse

where the innards of the sacred offerings were washed.

d.

And the High Priest never experienced a seminal emission on Yom Kippur.

e.

And no disqualification was ever found in

the

omer offering,

because if it had become disqualified, there would have been no other omer offering to bring in its place, as its mitzva was to cut it on the night when it was offered.

f.

And

likewise

with the two loaves,

which were baked on the eve of the Festival of Shavuot; if they had become disqualified, they could not have offered others in their place.

g.

And

likewise

with the showbread,

as even its baking does not override Shabbat. If it became disqualified, the Table would remain without bread until the following Shabbat, which was the time for arranging the bread on the Table.

h.

They stood

in the courtyard while

crowded, and bowed with ample space between them.

i.

And no snake or scorpion ever harmed

a person

in Jerusalem.

j.

And no person ever said to another: “The place is too cramped for me to spend the night in Jerusalem,”

because their dwellings were not cramped there, and their food supplies were not limited.

And we raise an objection:

The tanna opened

with miracles that were performed

in the Temple, and concluded

with miracles that were performed

in Jerusalem.

And we answer:

There are two additional

miracles

of another kind

[others] that were performed

in the Temple,

as it was taught in a beraita: Never

did it happen that

the

extinguished

rains

extinguished

the fire of the wood arrangement

on the altar.

And

likewise,

the smoke of the wood arrangement

would rise and ascend above the altar, and

even

if

all the winds in the world came and blew against it, they could not move it from its place.

And we challenge this:

And are there no more

miracles?

But wasn’t it taught by Rav Shemaya in Kalanbo

[a place name]:

The broken earthenware vessels

in which sacred offerings had been cooked, which had to be broken in the courtyard because the vessel absorbed the meat of the sacred offerings and became prohibited as notar, sacrificial meat left beyond the permitted time, were

swallowed in their place

by miracle?

And

likewise

Abaye said: The crop and feathers

of a bird burnt offering, which were thrown onto the floor of the courtyard at the place where the ashes removed each day were placed,

and

likewise

the removal of the ashes from the inner altar and the cleaning of the Menorah,

which were also placed in that location, were

swallowed in their place

by miracle.

And we answer: Those

disqualifications

mentioned in the Mishna—that no disqualification was found in the omer offering, the two loaves, or the showbread—

were three,

as they are three separate items in the Mishna’s count, but

he counted them

[as one]

in a single item.

And now

remove two

[take two out of the count]

and add two,

the miracles mentioned by Rav Shemaya and Abaye, and there are therefore ten miracles.

And we raise an objection:

If so,

since you count the three miracles involving disqualifications as one miracle because they concern one matter, then the miracles involving things

that were swallowed also

although

they are two, count them

[as one]

in a single item,

and you will find that

two are missing

from the count of ten.

And we answer:

There is also

a

different

miracle that was performed in the Temple.

As Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: A great miracle was performed with the showbread

as the bread was hot and fresh when it was

removed

from the Table on Shabbat,

just as

it had been at the time of its

arrangement

on the Table on the previous Shabbat,

as

so

it is stated

about it [I Samuel 21:7]:

“To place hot bread on the day it is taken away,”

and once this miracle is added to the count, there are ten miracles.

And we raise an objection:

And are there no more

miracles?

But didn’t Rav Levi say:

We have received this matter as a tradition from our ancestors: The area of the

place

of the

Ark,

which measured two and a half cubits by one and a half cubits,

did not

reduce

the measurement

of the Holy of Holies, which was twenty cubits by twenty cubits?

For so we learned in a beraita: The Ark that Moses made had ten cubits of empty space on every side.

It follows that the place occupied by the Ark reduced nothing from the area of the Holy of Holies.

And

likewise

Ravnai said that Shmuel said:

The thickness of the bodies of the

cherubs

that Solomon made in the Temple and set on the ground beside the Ark

stood by miracle,

for the wings of the cherubs alone extended from wall to wall and filled the entire space of the Holy of Holies, leaving no room for the thickness of their bodies. Necessarily, therefore, the thickness of their bodies did not reduce the measurement.

And we answer: The tanna of the Mishna

counts miracles that occurred outside

[miracles that occurred outside the Temple]

in his count

because they are publicized and known to everyone, but miracles that occurred inside

he does not count.

And we challenge this:

If so,

this miracle involving the

showbread,

which remained hot as it had been when it was placed on the Table, should not have been counted, since it

is also a miracle that occurred inside

[a miracle that occurred inside]

.

And we answer: This miracle involving the

showbread

is also one of the

miracles that occurred outside.

As Reish Lakish said: What is the meaning of the verse

concerning the showbread [Leviticus 24:6]: “And you shall place them in two rows, six in each row,

on the pure Table

before the Lord”? Since the Torah took care to call it

“pure,”

by implication

[it indicates]

that it

can be

impure.