Yoma 53b (נג:) — the Talmud in English

They said to Rav Yosef, who could not see Rava's actions because he was blind

this is how Rava acted.

This is how Rava acted [(

This is how Rava acted)].

He said to him—

Rav Yosef blessed Rava:

May it be the will of Heaven that your head be elevated above the entire city [(

May it be the will of Heaven that your head be elevated over the entire city)], that is: may you become the head of the city's yeshiva.

Rabbi Alexandri said that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: One who prays must take three steps backward, and afterward bid farewell,

as we say, “He who makes peace.”

He said —

Rav Mordecai

added:

See Dikdukei Soferim, which notes that this Rav Mordekhai may have been one of the Geonim;

Once he has taken three steps backward, there he must remain standing [(

He must stand in his place)], where the steps end, and he should not return immediately [Rashi], but should wait until Kedusha [Rabbeinu Yonah; see the Tur and the Shulhan Arukh].

This is analogous to a student taking leave of his teacher: if he returns immediately, he resembles a dog returning to its vomit,

for his subsequent action proves that his initial action was not taking leave of his teacher, since he returned to him at once [Tur, section 123].

It was also taught likewise,

as Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said:

One who prays must take three steps backward, and afterward bid farewell; and if he did not do so,

he appears not to have requested permission to take leave [Rashi], and

it would have been preferable for him not to have prayed,

it would have been better for him had he not prayed.

And because of

Rav

ben Baḥya ,

they said that he bids farewell

to the right:

he turns his face toward the right of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is the left of the person praying [as it proceeds to explain], and says: “He who makes peace in His heights,”

and afterward

he turns his face

to the left

of the Holy One, blessed be He, and says: “May He make peace” [Tur].

As it is stated,

for the right is superior:

From His right

of the Holy One, blessed be He,

a fiery law for them

the Tablets were given to Israel.

And it says: A thousand may fall at your side [(

at your left)],

and ten thousand [(

ten thousand)]

at your right,

thus indicating that the right withstands ten thousand harmful forces, while the left withstands only one thousand.

Why do I need “and it says”—

why is another verse necessary to prove that the right is superior?!

And if you would say,

perhaps you could reject this and say:

It is customary to place something on the right [(

It is customary to place something on the right)], since the right hand is always ready for use; therefore the Tablets were given into the right hand, not because of its greater importance—

therefore

come and hear

another verse:

A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right.

Rava [(

Rabba,

Ya'avetz)]

saw Abaye bid farewell first to the right [(

he saw Abaye, at the end of his prayer, bid farewell first to his own right)]—

He said to him,

Rabba:

Do you think it means your right,

that is, do you think that one must first bid farewell to his own right?! It is not so; rather,

your left,

which is the right of the Holy One, blessed be He,

for the person praying imagines that the Divine Presence is before him, as it is stated: “I have set the Lord before me always” [Rashi].

Rav Hiyya, son of Rav Huna, said: I saw Abaye and Rava,

after their prayers,

take three steps in a single bow,

as they bowed and did not straighten up until they had completed taking the steps [Ra'AL].

We learned in the Mishna:

And he recites a brief prayer in the outer chamber:

What did he pray—

what did the High Priest pray in the outer chamber?

Rava bar Rav Adda and Ravin bar Rav Adda both said in the name of Rav—

they said:

May it be Your will, Lord our God, that this year be rainy and hot [(

warm)].

And we ask: Is it really the case that a

hot year is advantageous [(

a good thing)]?!

Rather, say: If

this year

is hot, may it be rainy,

so that the climate of that year will be balanced; this is a great benefit encompassing both human beings and animals, for when the air is balanced in its composition, it heals the bodies of sick people and preserves the health of the healthy [Rambam in his Commentary on the Mishna].

Rav Aḥa, son of Rava, concluded it

in the High Priest's prayer,

in the name of Rav Yehuda: May the ruler not depart [(

May the one who exercises authority not depart)]

from the house of Judah,

that is: may authority not depart from the tribe of Judah, so that the kingdom of justice and faith will endure [Rambam there]—

And may Your people Israel not need to support one another,

that is: may God rectify each person's deeds and cause his work and commerce to prosper, so that he will not need to ask or seek from another [Rambam there].

And may the prayer of travelers not enter before You,

those who pray that rain will not fall and trouble them.

Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa was traveling on the road, and rain fell upon him [(

he was traveling on the road and rain fell upon him)]—

he said: Master of the Universe, is the entire world at ease while Hanina is in distress?!

The Maharsha wrote: At first glance, this is difficult: How could he pray in this manner? Is it proper that because he was distressed, the entire world should not be at ease?! He answered: At that time the entire world did not yet need rain; it would need it only after he reached his home [see there].

The rain stopped [(

the rains stopped)].

When he arrived home [(

when he reached his home)],

he said: Master of the Universe, the entire world is in distress,

because of the lack of rain,

while Hanina

who had no fields sown that needed rain—

is at ease?!

The rain came [(

the rain fell again)].

Rav Yosef said: What benefit did the High Priest's prayer provide,

what benefit was there in the High Priest's prayer that the prayers of travelers should not be accepted,

in the case of Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa,

who nullified it [Ra'AL].

The Sages taught: An incident occurred involving one High Priest,

Shimon the Righteous [Jerusalem Talmud],

who prolonged his prayer

on Yom Kippur,

and his fellow priests assembled

to reach a decision [Ra'AL] and decided

to enter after him; they began entering, and he emerged

to meet them.

They said to him: Why did you prolong your prayer?!

He said to them:

Is it

difficult in your eyes that I prayed for you and for the Temple, that it should not be destroyed?!

They said to him: Do not make a practice of doing so, for we learned

in our Mishna:

He would not prolong his prayer, so as not to alarm Israel.

Mishna:

Once the Ark was removed

from the Holy of Holies and exiled to Babylonia at the destruction of the First Temple , and consequently he did not place the coal pan between the staves [Meiri; as the Gemara explains, according to our Mishna the Ark was exiled and not hidden]—

Rather,

there was a stone

in the Holy of Holies, on which the Ark had rested until it was removed [Rashi, Sanhedrin 26b], and which was revealed [Tiferet Yisrael]

from the days of the early prophets,

David and Samuel,

and it was called the Foundation Stone [(

the Gemara explains why it was called this)]—

The stone

was three fingerbreadths above the ground, and upon it he would place

the coal pan and heap the incense into it. After the High Priest completed the incense service and prayed in the Sanctuary, the High Priest went out to the Temple courtyard and

took

the basin containing

the blood

of the bull,

from the one who was stirring [(

mixing)]

it,

in the courtyard until the High Priest completed the incense service, so that it would not coagulate, as we learned above in the Mishna, 43b.

The High Priest entered

with the basin

to

that

place where he had entered

for the burning of the incense, that is, the Holy of Holies,

and stood in the place where he had stood,

between the staves [Rashi ].

And he sprinkled from it,

from the blood of the bull, toward the Ark cover ,

once upward and seven times downward,

one below the other [Rashi in several places]—

He did not intend to sprinkle

on the Ark cover itself,

neither upward

on the edge of the Ark cover

nor downward, but like one who lashes,

the drops fell on the ground in a row, one below the other, all eight sprinklings [Rashi; and he added: “Like one who lashes”—I do not know the meaning of this expression].

And this is how he counted:

when he made the first sprinkling upward, he counted (170):

One—

and when he made the first of the seven sprinklings downward, he counted:

One and one,

meaning: one that I sprinkled upward and this one downward that I am now sprinkling—

and when he sprinkled the second downward, he counted:

One and two;

and so forth:

one and three, one and four, one and five, one and six, one and seven.

He emerged—

from the Holy of Holies into the Sanctuary—

and placed it

the basin containing the remaining blood of the bull

on the golden stand in the Sanctuary,

which was a designated place for placing the basin [Meiri].

The High Priest left the Sanctuary for the courtyard before performing the sprinklings of the bull's blood on the curtain [Meiri], and there

they brought him the goat

that had drawn the lot for the Lord,

he slaughtered it, and received its blood in the basin—

He entered the place where he had entered

for burning the incense and sprinkling the bull's blood in the Holy of Holies,

and stood in the place where he had stood,

between the staves—

And he sprinkled from it,

from the blood of the goat, as he had sprinkled from the blood of the bull,

once upward and seven times downward, [(

and he did not intend to sprinkle either upward or downward, but like one who lashes,]]

the Vilna Gaon)];

and this is how he counted: one, one and one, one and two,

one and three, one and four, one and five, one and six, one and seven, all in the same manner as with the bull's blood [Meiri].

He emerged and placed it

in the basin containing the goat's blood

on the second golden stand in the Sanctuary.

Rabbi Yehuda says: There was only one stand there,

and when he came to place the goat's blood,

he first took

from the stand

the bull's blood and placed

upon it

the goat's blood.

According to the Sages, he first placed the goat's blood on the second stand, and afterward took the bull's blood from the first stand [Gemara 56b]—

And he sprinkled from it,

from the bull's blood,

on the curtain

opposite the Ark

from outside,

outside the Holy of Holies,

once upward and seven times downward, and he did not intend

to sprinkle either upward or downward, but like one who lashes;

and this is how he counted:

one, one and one, one and two, one and three, one and four, one and five, one and six, one and seven.

He took the blood of the goat

from the stand,

and placed

upon it

the blood of the bull, and sprinkled from it

from the blood of the goat

on the curtain opposite the Ark, on the outside, once above and seven times below;

and he did not intend to sprinkle either above or below, but rather like one who lashes; and this is how he counted: One; one and one; one and two; one and three; one and four; one and five; one and six; one and seven.

When he completed all the sprinklings,

he poured

the blood of the bull

into

the vessel containing

the blood of the goat ,

and he again

placed

[poured]

the full vessel

containing all the blood

into

the vessel that had been

emptied

in order to mix them well; as it is stated: “And he shall take from the blood of the bull and from the blood of the goat [from the blood of both of them together] and place it on the horns of the altar [the inner altar] around.”

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: “After the Ark was removed”:

And we deduce:

It did not state: ‘After the Ark was concealed,’

the Ark,

but rather: ‘After the Ark was removed,’

so it follows that

we learned

in our Mishna

in accordance with the one who says: The Ark was exiled to Babylonia,

and was not concealed.

As it was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Eliezer says:

The Ark was exiled to Babylonia, as it is stated:

“Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, etc. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia, came up against him and bound him in copper fetters, etc. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.”

And at the return of the year

[at the end of the year in which he had exiled Jehoiakim, his father],

King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him

[King Jehoiachin]

to Babylonia,

[together]

with the precious vessels of the House of the Lord,

which is the Ark.

Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai

too

says:

The Ark was exiled to Babylonia

from another verse,

as it is stated:

“And Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him: What did these men say, etc.? And he said: What did they see in your house? And Hezekiah said: They saw everything that is in my house; there is not a ‘thing’ that they did not see in my treasuries” [he showed them the Torah scroll in the Ark]. “And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, etc.: Behold, days are coming, and everything that is in your house and that your fathers have stored until this day shall be carried off to Babylonia,”

“nothing shall remain,” said the Lord

—these are the Ten Commandments contained in it,

that is: the “thing” that he showed them [as explained according to the Maharsha].

Rabbi Judah

disagrees and

says:

The Ark remained in its place

in the Holy of Holies;

it was concealed, as it is stated: ‘And the poles were lengthened’

[Rashi and Dikdukei Soferim]

‘and the ends of the poles could be seen from the Sanctuary, before the Inner Sanctuary,’

[the Holy of Holies, in the Targum]

‘but they could not be seen outside.’

And since he said: “Until this day,” it follows that even today it is there, concealed in its place [and the Gemara below explains it in this manner].

And this disagrees

with what is stated in a beraita, that the opinion of Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai is that the Ark was exiled to Babylonia,

according to Ulla—

as Ulla said:

Rabbi Mattia ben Ḥarash asked Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai in Rome

when he went there to annul the decrees [of the Romans]:

But since Rabbi Eliezer teaches us, the first time and

a

second time,

that is, from two verses,

that the Ark was exiled to Babylonia,

[“you—Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai—what do you say?”].

We first explain this, and afterward conclude with the words of Rabbi Mattia: Granted, the

first

verse, the first verse from which Rabbi Eliezer learned that the Ark was exiled to Babylonia—that is

the verse we cited: ‘And he brought him to Babylonia together with the precious vessels of the House of the Lord.’

But the

second

verse—the second verse—

what is it?