Yoma 22a (כב.) — the Talmud in English

Mishna:

Originally,

at first, they did not institute a lottery (payis) for the removal of the ashes, but rather,

whoever wished to remove the ashes from the altar,

provided that he was a kohen from the beit av that was serving in the Temple that day,

would remove them.

And when they were numerous,

when there were many kohanim who wished to remove the ashes, this is what they would do:

they would run and ascend the ramp

of the altar, which was thirty-two cubits long.

And

whoever reached a point four cubits ahead of his fellow,

having arrived first within the uppermost four cubits of the ramp, adjacent to the altar,

was entitled

to remove the ashes.

And if the two were equal,

if two kohanim reached the four-cubit area simultaneously, neither of them was entitled to it. A lottery was conducted among all the kohanim .

And this was how the lottery was conducted:

The supervisor

over the lotteries in the Temple

would say to them: “Point!”

That is, they were to extend their fingers so that the fingers could be counted. [

It is explained in the Gemara that the kohanim would stand in a circle, and the supervisor would remove the cap from the head of one of them, indicating that the lottery would begin with him. He would call out a particular number, much larger than the number of kohanim present there—for example, one hundred or sixty, and he would begin counting the fingers from the kohen whose cap he had removed. He would proceed around the circle, counting and returning repeatedly until reaching the end of the number. The kohen at whom the count ended was the winner ].

And this was how all the lotteries in the Temple were conducted.

And what would they extend?

A finger

or two!

The Gemara explains that only a sick kohen, whose two fingers emerged together, would extend two fingers. They did not count the two fingers; rather, they counted only the person extending them.

And they would not extend a thumb in the Temple

at the time of the lottery, because of cheats. If they saw that the count was about to end on the kohen standing after them, they would extend a thumb and another finger, so that the supervisor would mistakenly count them as two because of the distance between the thumb and the finger, thereby causing the count to end on them.

An incident occurred in which the two were equal, and they ran and ascended the ramp, and one pushed his fellow, who fell and broke his leg.

And when the court saw that they were coming into danger

as a result of running on the ramp,

they instituted that the ashes of the altar would be removed only by a lottery

of pointing, and not by running on the ramp. [The Gemara explains why they did not institute a lottery for the removal of the ashes from the outset].

There were four lotteries there

in the Temple each day, for the various services. They would gather four times a day for the lotteries.

And this,

the lottery for the removal of the ashes,

was the first lottery!

Gemara:

And we raise an objection:

But,

this service of removing the ashes,

initially,

before the mishap occurred during their race on the ramp,

for what reason did the Sages not institute a lottery for it,

as they did for all the other services in the Temple, for which they instituted a lottery from the outset, as will be explained later in the chapter?

And we answer:

Initially they thought,

at first they assumed:

since

the removal of the ashes

is a nighttime service,

which is valid at night, unlike the other services, which are valid only during the day,

they would not consider it important

to the kohanim,

and they would not come,

they would not come to quarrel over it.

But

once they saw

that it was nevertheless important in their eyes and that they were competing for it,

that they were coming,

as many kohanim had arrived,

and they came

and were coming

into danger, the Sages instituted a lottery for it.

And we challenge this:

But

the burning of the

limbs and fats

[of the offerings] of the daily offering is also a nighttime service, as it too is valid at night,

and the Sages instituted a lottery for it

from the outset!?

And we answer: That service

is the conclusion of the daytime service.

The burning is the completion of the service of the daily offering, which was slaughtered during the day and whose blood was sprinkled during the day. Therefore, it was important in the eyes of the kohanim, despite the fact that the burning itself was performed at night, and consequently there was concern from the outset that they would come to quarrel over it.

And we challenge this: But

this too,

the removal of the ashes,

is the beginning of the daytime service,

as it is the beginning of the day’s service, and it was important in the eyes of the kohanim from the outset!?

The proof that it is considered the beginning of the day’s service and not a nighttime service is from the following statement:

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: If he sanctified his hands

from the basin at night

for the removal of the ashes, the next day,

at daybreak,

he need not sanctify

his hands again for the services of that day [if he had not left the Temple in the interim], since

he had already sanctified

them

at the beginning of the service.

Thus, the removal of the ashes is called the beginning of the day’s service!?

And we answer:

Say instead:

This is what Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Since

he had already sanctified

them

at the beginning of the service,

for the service that is obligatory on the following day.

But in fact, the removal of the ashes does not belong to the services of the day. Rather, it is a service in its own right, and it is a nighttime service.

There are those who say: The reason they did not institute a lottery for the removal of the ashes from the outset was that

since

initially they thought: Since there is the constraint of sleep,

as the kohanim were still asleep at that hour,

they would not come

and would not arrive for this service.

Once they saw that they did come,

the kohanim nevertheless,

and that they too came into danger—

the Sages instituted a lottery for it.

And we challenge this:

But

the burning of

the limbs and fats, for which there is also

likewise

the constraint of sleep,

since it too is performed at night,

and

nevertheless

the Sages instituted a lottery for it?

And we answer:

Sleeping is different from rising.

Postponing sleep is not comparable to rising early.

For the burning of the limbs is performed at the beginning of the night, whereas the removal of the ashes is performed at the end of the night. A person prefers to deprive himself of sleep, even until the end of the night, rather than rise early.

And we challenge this:

And

if

the institution was for this reason,

that is, was the lottery instituted only because of the mishap that occurred?

But

the institution was also for this reason!

There was another reason why they should have instituted a lottery from the outset.

For the kohen who removed the ashes also arranged the woodpile on the altar and added two logs to it. Since one kohen performed all three of these services, they were important [even though they too were nighttime services, Maharsha], and surely the kohanim would make the effort to come for their sake even merely because of the possibility of receiving them. If so, they should have instituted a lottery from the outset!?

As it was taught in a beraita: Whoever was entitled to remove the ashes—

was entitled

also

to arrange the woodpile and to place the two logs,

which he would place on top of the woodpile. We derive from a verse that two logs must be added to the altar every day, both with the morning daily offering and with the afternoon daily offering.

And we answer:

Rav Ashi said: There were two institutions:

1.

Initially they thought: They would not come,

because of the reasons mentioned above.

Once they saw that they were coming, and that they were also coming into danger—

they instituted a lottery for it.

2. But

once they instituted a lottery for it,

they did not come;

they stopped coming. For

they said: Who can say that it will fall to us,

that we will win the lottery? It is not worthwhile to come for such a service when the outcome is uncertain.

They then instituted for them

that

the one who was entitled to remove the ashes would be entitled

also

to arrange the woodpile and place the two logs, so that they would come and participate in the lottery

for the sake of all these services.

We learned in the Mishna:

And when they were numerous,

they would run and ascend the ramp; whoever reached a point four cubits ahead of his fellow was entitled to it.

Rav Pappa said: It is obvious to me: The four cubits on the ground,

the four cubits on the floor of the Temple courtyard adjacent to the lower beginning of the ramp—certainly

not

did the Mishna mean that whoever reached the beginning of those four cubits first was entitled to it. For

“they would run and ascend the ramp,” we learned.

And likewise,

the first,

the first four cubits of the ramp,

also not.

It is impossible to say that whoever reached the beginning of those four cubits first was entitled to it. For

“they would run and ascend the ramp,” we learned, and afterward,

only afterward—

“whoever reached a point ahead of his fellow

was entitled to it.” This implies that he did not become entitled to it immediately upon reaching the ramp.

And likewise, the four cubits

in between,

any four cubits among the thirty-two cubits of the ramp,

also not,

because

the matter would not be identifiable; there would be no clear way to know which four cubits they were.

and there would be no clear sign by which to know which four cubits were meant.

Therefore,

it is obvious to me that the four cubits

that

we learned are those adjacent to the altar—

the ones at the upper end of the ramp, adjacent to the altar, and whoever reached their beginning first was the winner.

However, Rav Pappa was uncertain about the following:

The altar was built in the form of three stepped cubes, one above the other.

At the bottom it had one cube, the foundation, one cubit high. Above it was a second cube [five cubits high], which was narrower than the foundation by one cubit on every side, so that the foundation projected beyond it by one cubit in width.

Above the second cube was a third cube, three cubits high. This cube was narrower than the cube beneath it by one cubit on every side. Thus, the altar became progressively narrower, receding inward by one cubit in width around its entire perimeter. This recession was called the sovev.

The ramp reached below as far as the foundation, and from there it rose. It “flourished”—that is, rested—over those two cubits of the width of the foundation and the width of the sovev, and touched the top of the altar at its upper end. In light of this:

Rav Pappa raised a dilemma: The four cubits that they stated—

do they include

with them,

as part of them, also the section of the ramp that projects over

the cubit of the foundation and

over

the cubit of the sovev?

That is, are these areas included within the four cubits adjacent to the edge of the top of the altar?