Yoma 31b — the Talmud in English

And they raise an objection:

But there is —

there is also

a cubit

in the thickness of the

ceiling

above the space of the gateway, which was 20 cubits,

and

there is also

a cubit

of additional thickness in the

plastering

[a mixture of clay and sand bonded together,] so that the water in the ritual bath would not seep into the space of the gateway.

If so, it necessarily follows that Ein Eitam was 25 cubits high! Why, then, did Abaye say that it was only 23 cubits high?

And they answer:

The gateways of the Temple, since they were made of marble,

and marble stones are strong,

were made with some thickness

they were made with only any minimal thickness.

The plastering above them, too, was only of minimal thickness. Since a marble ceiling is almost completely impermeable, the plastering did not need to be a cubit thick.

And they raise an objection:

But

there is

this minimal thickness!

There is that thickness in the marble and the plastering, and if so, the height of the ritual bath was more than 23 cubits! Why did Abaye say that Ein Eitam was only 23 cubits high?

And they answer:

Since it was not a cubit,

since that minimal thickness was not a full cubit,

he did not count it

Abaye did not consider it and did not include it in the measurement.

We learned in the Mishna: [When the High Priest descended to immerse,]

they spread a linen sheet

between him and the people.

And we inquire about this:

What is different

about a sheet

of linen

that they chose to use, rather than sheets made of another fabric?

And they answer:

As Rav Kahana said

below, in his explanation of the following Mishna, they made the sheet specifically of linen

so that he would recognize

[the sheet would serve as a reminder to him]

that the service of the day is performed in linen garments.

On Yom Kippur, services performed inside were carried out in linen garments, whereas during the rest of the year the High Priest served in eight garments, some of which were golden garments, such as the headplate, the breastplate, the ephod, and the bells of the robe.

Here too

in our Mishna, the reason they chose to use a linen sheet was

so that he would recognize that the service of the day is performed in linen garments.

Mishna:

We learned at the end of the preceding Mishna that when the time came to slaughter the daily offering, they spread a linen sheet between the High Priest and the people so that he could descend to immerse.

The Mishna here continues describing the order of the service:

1.

He removed

the non-sacred garments he was wearing, and

descended

to the ritual bath,

and immersed.

He ascended

from the ritual bath

and dried himself,

wrapping himself in a towel to absorb the water on his body.

They brought him golden garments,

the eight garments in which the High Priest served throughout the year, some of which were made of gold [the headplate, breastplate, ephod, and bells of the robe],

and he put them on

in order to offer the daily offering, which was offered in golden garments.

The Sages derived from the passage describing the Yom Kippur service that every time the High Priest changed his garments on Yom Kippur, he required a sanctification upon removing them [washing his hands and feet from the basin] and a sanctification upon putting them on.

And

therefore, after the High Priest had put on the golden garments,

he sanctified his hands and feet

from the basin.

2.

They brought him the

daily

offering.

He partially slaughtered it:

he slaughtered only most of the two identifying organs [the windpipe and the esophagus] in the animal’s neck, because he had to hurry to receive the blood, since all the services of Yom Kippur were performed only by the High Priest.

And he completed

the koen

after

the

slaughter, on his behalf

for him.

He received

the High Priest

the blood

of the daily offering from the animal’s neck into a vessel,

and sprinkled it

on the altar.

Before the High Priest continued the service of the daily offering [burning its limbs], he went to perform the burning of the incense and the preparation of the lamps:

3.

He entered

the Sanctuary in order to perform the following services:

to burn the morning incense,

which was burned every day on the golden altar [Exodus 30:7].

And to prepare

to ready

the lamps

of the menorah so that they would be fit for lighting.

4.

And

he continued the service,

offering the head and the limbs

of the daily burnt offering.

And

the meal offering of

the griddle cakes

that the High Priest offered every day [one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour, half in the morning and half in the evening. Leviticus 6:13].

And the wine,

which was poured with the daily offering every day [a quarter of a hin for each lamb. Numbers 28:7].

5. The Mishna now returns to explain that all the services of the daily burnt offering were not performed one immediately after the other [also during the rest of the year]:

The morning incense was offered between

the sprinkling of

the blood

of the daily offering

and

the burning of its

limbs

.

And the incense

of the evening

[which was burned every day on the golden altar in the evening. Exodus 30:8] was offered

between

the burning of the

limbs

of the afternoon daily offering

and

the burning of the

libations

that accompanied the daily offering.

6. Here the Mishna has finished explaining the order of offering the morning daily offering, and it returns once again to the laws of the High Priest’s immersion:

If the High Priest was elderly or delicate,

extremely pampered and unable to tolerate the coldness of the water during his immersion [Meiri],

they heated

water

hot

on the eve of Yom Kippur,

and poured

it

into

the

cold

ritual bath on Yom Kippur itself,

so that they would lessen

so that they would remove

their coldness

the coldness of the water.

Gemara:

In the following Mishna [below, 34b], Rabbi Meir and the Sages disagree about the sanctification of the hands and feet performed by the High Priest close to the second immersion, when he changed from the golden garments to the white garments. How did he perform it?

The view of the Sages:

The sanctification was always performed while the High Priest was wearing sacred garments.

And this is what he did: He sanctified himself before removing the golden garments, then removed them, immersed, put on the white garments, and sanctified his hands a second time while wearing the white garments.

It follows that, according to the Sages, one sanctification was for removing the garments, and the second sanctification was for putting on the new garments.

The view of Rabbi Meir:

First, he removed the golden garments, and only afterward sanctified his hands and feet and immersed. After he put on the white garments, he sanctified his hands and feet a second time.

For according to Rabbi Meir, both sanctifications were for putting on the new garments: one sanctification before putting them on and the second after putting them on.

The following statement

was stated by the Sages

Rab Pappa’s students

before Rab Pappa:

This

our Mishna, which mentions only one sanctification for the first immersion [after putting on the golden garments], is well understood according to the Sages.

According to them, one sanctification was for removing the garments, and the second was for putting them on. In the first immersion, he removed non-sacred garments [which he had worn during the night], and those do not require sanctification. Therefore, he sanctified his hands and feet only once, when putting on the golden garments.

And it is

not in accordance with Rabbi Meir.

For if

our Mishna is in accordance with

Rabbi Meir,

one can raise the following difficulty:

Since he said

that Rabbi Meir said that

the two sanctifications

the two sanctifications

are performed for putting on the garments,

they are performed close to putting on the garments: one sanctification before putting them on and one after putting them on,

if so,

here too,

also for the first immersion

let him perform two sanctifications for putting on the garments!

He should perform two sanctifications for putting on the golden garments! Why, then, did we learn in the Mishna that for the first immersion he performs only one sanctification? This proves that our Mishna follows the Sages [and not Rabbi Meir].

Rab Pappa said to them,

his students: The words of our Mishna can also be reconciled with the view of Rabbi Meir:

According to both the Sages

and

Rabbi Meir,

one

sanctification is performed

for removing the sacred garments, and

only

one

sanctification is performed

for putting on

the new sacred garments.

Therefore, here in our Mishna, concerning the first immersion, since the garments he removed were non-sacred garments [which he had worn during the night], everyone agrees that he needed to perform only one sanctification.

However, if so, there is a difficulty: Why did Rabbi Meir disagree with the Sages and say that the first sanctification was performed after removing the garments?

Rav Pappa answered this:

and here

concerning the second immersion,

in this they disagree:

It is stated [Leviticus 16, verses 23–24], concerning the service of Yom Kippur:

a.

“And he shall remove

the linen garments that he wore

”. b.

“And he shall wash

his flesh in water in a holy place

”. c.

“And he shall don

his garments

”. And the washing mentioned here, the Sages interpreted as being sanctification of the hands and feet.

And since washing [“and he shall wash”] is mentioned in the Torah between removal and donning, the Sages expounded the washing as referring to the removal before it and to the donning after it; thus there are two sanctifications when changing the garments.

And the Sages and Rabbi Meir agree that the second sanctification, which he performed upon donning the garments, was done after the donning. And they expounded this below from the verse.

And further, the Sages and Rabbi Meir agree that since removal and donning were written in the Torah adjacent to one another, and sanctification for both of them is learned from the same word—“and he shall wash”—therefore the sanctification of removal is juxtaposed to the sanctification of donning, as follows.

Except that they disagree regarding what the verse juxtaposed one to the other:

Rabbi Meir holds: The verse juxtaposes

the verse

removal to donning

to teach you this:

Just as with donning—

first

he dons, and afterward sanctifies.

so with removal—

first

he removes, and afterward sanctifies.

And the Sages hold: The verse juxtaposes

the verse

removal to donning

to teach you this:

Just as with donning—

when he is wearing

sacred garments

he sanctifies.

so with removal—

when he is wearing, he sanctifies,

before he removes.

It follows that, according to Rav Pappa, everyone agrees that the first sanctification is on account of removing the sacred garments, and therefore, adjacent to the first immersion, he sanctified only once, upon donning. But for the removal he did not sanctify, since the removal was in ordinary garments.

The Sages said to him

the students

to Rav Pappa,

there is cause to wonder about your words:

And can you say this?

Can you say that Rabbi Meir requires, adjacent to the first immersion, only one sanctification

?! But it was taught,

for we learned in a beraita concerning the first immersion:

The Sages say:

They spread a linen sheet between him and the people; he removed, descended and immersed, ascended and dried himself, they brought him golden garments, and he donned them and sanctified his hands and feet.

It follows that, according to the Sages, there was only one sanctification adjacent to the first immersion.

Rabbi Meir says:

the High Priest performed two sanctifications:

he removed and sanctified his hands and feet

the first time.

And he descended and immersed, ascended and dried himself, they brought him golden garments, and he donned them and sanctified his hands and feet

the second time.

And it is explicit in the beraita that, according to Rabbi Meir, there were two sanctifications adjacent to the first immersion. And from here the students of Rav Pappa raised an objection to his words, that Rabbi Meir agrees that at the first immersion there was only one sanctification.

He said to them,

Rav Pappa answered them:

I said that from the words of the Mishna below, concerning the second immersion, one cannot learn that Rabbi Meir disagrees with our Mishna.

But,

if it was taught

explicitly in a beraita that Rabbi Meir disagrees, and holds that adjacent to the first immersion there were two sanctifications, then

it was taught.

That is, since there is an explicit beraita that Rabbi Meir disagrees with our Mishna, one must not dispute the words of the beraita.

And now that we have learned that the Sages and Rabbi Meir disagree concerning the first immersion, whether there were two sanctifications in it or one sanctification, the Gemara, accordingly, discusses the words of the preceding Mishna [folio 30a], in which we learned: Five immersions and ten sanctifications the High Priest immerses and sanctifies on that day.