Yoma 9a — the Talmud in English

Yohanan the High Priest decreed concerning demai [the enactment mentioned here, to require produce purchased from an am ha-aretz to have all the tithes separated],

since he sent throughout all the borders of Israel

to check whether the ammei ha-aretz separated terumot and tithes,

and he saw that they did not

they

separate anything except the great teruma.

And therefore it was not necessary to enact that they should separate the great teruma, for they were suspected only concerning the tithes.

And likewise,

the first tithe and the poor tithe, too, they did not

obligate them to give them to the poor person and to the Levite, and it is sufficient that he designate them by name, and through this he removes the produce from the prohibition of tevel. For here there is only a doubt concerning robbery of the poor or of Levites, and we say that

the one who seeks to extract from his fellow—

upon him is the proof.

But the second tithe,

whose law is to separate it and eat it in Jerusalem in purity—for what reason were they lenient with bakers more than with other people? Is it not a doubtful prohibition?

And if so,

let them separate

the second tithe from the produce,

and let them bring it up

and bring them up,

and let them eat it in Jerusalem,

just as they decreed concerning demai produce for every person.

And we answer:

Ulla said: Since these parhedrin

are replaced every year, for they are appointed to supervise the markets, and these officials

would beat them,

the bakers, throughout

all

those

twelve months

for which they were appointed, devising new pretexts against the merchants in order to collect money from them.

And they would say to them: Sell cheaply! Sell cheaply!

Therefore,

the Rabbis did not trouble them

the bakers to separate also a tenth of the demai grain and bring it up to Jerusalem; rather, they relied upon the fact that even the ammei ha-aretz, most of them, tithe.

And we explain:

What are parhedrin?

Officials!

These are the king’s officials.

Rabba bar bar Hana said that Rabbi Yohanan said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Fear of the Lord adds days, but the years of the wicked are shortened”?

“Fear of the Lord adds days”—

this is the First Temple, which stood for four hundred and ten years, and in it there served only eighteen High Priests,

who prolonged their days in their priesthood on account of the fear of Heaven that was in them.

“But the years of the wicked are shortened”—

this is the Second Temple, which stood for four hundred and ten years, and there served in it

throughout all its years

more than three hundred High Priests.

Subtract from them—

subtract from those four hundred and twenty years—

forty years during which

during them

Shimon the Righteous served,

and

eighty

years

during which Yohanan the High Priest served,

and likewise

ten

years

during which Yishmael ben Fabi served.

And some say: eleven during which Rabbi Elazar ben Harsum served.

From this point onward,

after you subtract the total of these one hundred and thirty years,

go and calculate

how many years remained for the period of service of the other High Priests; you have in your hands two hundred and eighty years for approximately three hundred High Priests.

It follows that

each and every one

of them

did not complete his year

from the time he was appointed High Priest, because they were not fit, and they were appointed through money that they would give.

Rabbi Yohanan ben Torta said:

a.

Why was Shiloh destroyed

in the war of the Philistines in the days of Eli the priest?

Because there were in it two matters

for which they were punished:

forbidden sexual relations and contempt for sacred things.

Forbidden sexual relations—

as it is written: “And Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons would do to all Israel, and that they would lie with the women who gathered at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.”

And even though

they did not actually engage in forbidden sexual relations,

for

this

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said that Rabbi Yohanan said: Whoever says

that

the sons of Eli sinned

with forbidden sexual relations, according to the plain meaning of the verse,

is nothing but mistaken,

rather, their sin was that they were negligent in offering the sacrifices. And when women with discharges and women who had given birth would bring their offerings to the Tabernacle in order to become pure for eating sacred things, they would wait there until they saw their bird offerings being offered, and delay returning to their homes, and in the meantime become prevented from procreation.