Yoma 48b (מח:) — the Talmud in English

He contemplated

a disqualifying thought

while taking the coals: what is the ruling

as to whether the incense becomes disqualified? [And in another formulation, Rashi explained: What is the ruling as to whether the coals become disqualified?] That is to say: Is taking the coals considered a “Temple service” or not?

The preparatory acts of a mitzva

the coals, which are the preparatory acts for the incense, whose primary mitzva is its burning,

are considered like the mitzva itself,

and just as a thought disqualifies the incense when taking a handful of it, so too a thought is effective when taking the coals, to disqualify the incense [or the coals]],

or not.

(They raised

They raised

the members of the study hall

this question before Rav Sheshet:

There are four services involving the blood:

a.

Slaughter,

and it is valid even when performed by a non-kohen, and certainly when performed with the left hand.

b.

Receiving the blood and sanctifying it in a vessel,

and it is valid only when performed by a kohen, as it is stated: “And he shall slaughter the young bull before the Lord, and the sons of Aaron, the kohanim, shall offer the blood”; for although the Torah said “shall offer,” which is an expression of conveying, the verse means only receiving, since it is written after slaughter, and there is no conveying unless the blood has first been received [Rashi, Hagiga 11a]].

Since the expression “priesthood” is stated with regard to receiving, it is valid only when performed with the right hand, for this is what the Sages received as a tradition: Wherever “finger” or “priesthood” is stated, it refers only to the right hand.

c.

Conveying the blood for sprinkling on the altar,

it is valid only when performed by a kohen, and this is derived from the fact that the Torah wrote the service of receiving using the expression “shall offer,” which denotes conveying; and the law concerning conveying with the left hand is clarified in the sugya before us.

d.

Sprinkling,

and it is valid only when performed by a kohen, as it is stated: “And the sons of Aaron, the kohanim, shall offer the blood, and they shall sprinkle—the kohanim—the blood around the altar”; and since this is so, it too is valid only when performed with the right hand, since “priesthood” is stated with regard to it.

Conveying

the blood—for the expression “priesthood” was not explicitly stated with regard to it, since the principal meaning of the verse, “And the sons of Aaron, the kohanim, shall offer the blood,” refers to receiving the blood and not to conveying it, even though the Sages expounded it as referring to conveying—which is performed

with the left hand: what is the ruling

as to whether it is valid?

Rav Sheshet said to them: You have learned it

as the answer to your question in our Mishna, as we learned:

He took the coal pan

of coals

with his right hand, and the spoon

containing the incense

with his left hand,

which demonstrates that conveying with the left hand is valid.

And we question Rav Sheshet, who resolved the uncertainty that they had raised concerning the blood of a sacrifice by referring to the incense, which is not a sacrifice:

Let Rav Sheshet resolve it

for them

from that which we learned

in tractate Tamid with regard to the sacrifice itself—in the order of conveying the limbs of the daily offering to the ramp in order to burn them on the altar:

“The first one—the one who won the lottery to bring the limbs up to the ramp—won the head and the right leg; the head—he received it from the one who dismembered the limbs—in his right hand, etc.; and the

right leg in his left hand

and—

and

he conveys the leg with

the side where its skin was

—the side that had been covered by skin before the flaying, that is, not at the place of the cut—

facing outward;

while the place of the cut faces inward, toward the kohen, because this is the proper manner.

We have thus learned that conveying with the left hand is valid. Why, then, did Rav Sheshet not resolve the question directly from this Mishna, which speaks of a sacrifice and not of the incense?!

And we answer:

If you would derive it from there

—from the Mishna in Tamid, which discusses conveying limbs for burning on the altar—it still could not be conclusively inferred that conveying blood for sprinkling is valid with the left hand, because

I might have said: This applies

—that which we rendered valid with the left hand—

to conveying

the limbs

that does not prevent

their burning from effecting

atonement,

because atonement is achieved only through the blood, and if the limbs were not burned, the sacrifice is nevertheless valid.

But conveying the blood, since

the sprinkling of

the blood prevents atonement, it effects atonement,

I might have said that

it does not.

Therefore,

Rav Sheshet teaches us

that even conveying of this kind is valid with the left hand, for the burning of the incense on Yom Kippur is indispensable, and nevertheless conveying it is valid with the left hand.