Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 6, scan section 14

the eve of the Day of Atonement, at dusk, he is not permitted to eat much, as it would induce drowsiness. GEMARA : It is right that they should say to him, Perhaps thou hast forgotten. But that they should say to him. Perhaps thou hast not studied, is an ignorant man made a high-priest ? Have we not learned in a Boraitha: It is written [Lev. xxi. 10]: " And the priest that is highest of his brethren." That signifies, that he must be highest among his brethren in physical strength, in personal beauty, in wisdom, and in wealth. An anonymous teacher said : Whence do we know that, if he is not rich, his brethren the priests must make him rich ? Be- cause it is written: " That is highest of his brethren," that sig- nifies, his brethren must contribute to make him highest. Said R. Joseph : It presents no difficulty. That was the case TRACT YOMAH (DAY OF ATONEMENT). 53 during the time of the first Temple, and this in the time of the second Temple. As R. Assi said : A whole measure of dinars, Martha daughter of Bithas gave to the king Janai, that he should make Joshua b. Gamla high-priest. " On the morning of the day preceditig the Day of Atonement. '' We have learned a Boraitha: The he-goats were also passed before him. But why does not our Mishna mention it ? Be- cause (it holds that they were not passed), as the he-goats are only for the atonement of sin, he would have become dejected. If so, why were the bullocks passed, they are also for sins ? Because the bulls were to atone for his sins and those of the priests, his brethren ; he would not have become dispirited, because if they had sinned, he would have been told, and he would have induced them to repent. But the he-goats were to atone for the sins of all Israeh so he could not know who had sinned. Said Rabhina: This is what people say. Even if your sister's son is a (publican), you should not pass him in the street, for, since he knows your affairs, he will take from you more than from others. " During all the seven days,'' etc. We have learned in a Boraitha: R. Jehudah b. Naqusa said: They gave to him to eat bread of the best flour, and eggs that it should be digested more easily (that he should not find himself compelled to interrupt his service on the Day of Atonement for a human necessity). The sages said to him : This heats yet more. We have learned in a Boraitha : Symmachos said : They gave him as food no citron, no eggs, no old wine. According to others, he received no citron, no eggs, no fat meat, no old wine. Still others say: Even white wine he did not receive, because white wine brings a man to uncleanness. MISHNA: The Elders of the Beth Din left him to the attendance of the Elders of the priesthood, who took him up to the house of Abtinas, made him swear, took farewell, and went away. They said : My lord the high-priest, we are delegates of the Beth Din, and thou art our delegate and the delegate of the Beth Din; we conjure thee by Him who has made His abode in this house, tkat thou shalt not alter one thing about which we have spoken to thee. He took farewell weeping, and they parted weeping. If he was a teacher, he lectured; otherwise, the scholars lec- tured before him. If he was practised in reading, he reads; if not, they read to him. From which books of the Scriptures ? 24 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. From Job, Ezra, and Chronicles. Zechariah b. Kabutal says: Many times I read to him out of Daniel. GEMARA: We have learned in a Boraitha: Teaching him the service consisted in teaching him to take a handful of incense (which had neither to be spilled nor any left on the top of the hand). R. Papa said : The high-priest had two chambers, one that of Palhedrin, to sleep in, the other that of Abtinas, to learn the service. One was in the north, one in the south. One in the north, as we have learned in Midoth (V., 3): Six cham- bers were in the court : three in the north, three in the south. Those of the south were the chambers of salt, of Parva, and that where the entrails were washed. The chamber of the salt was where the salt was kept for the sacrifices ; that of Parva, where the skins of the sacrifices of the sanctuary were salted, and on its roof was a bath-house for the high-priest on the Day of Atonement. The washing chamber was where the entrails of the sacrifices of the sanctuary were washed. Thence a stone staircase led to the roof of the chamber of Parva. The three in the north were : a chamber for wood, the chamber of Exile, and the chamber of Gazith (hewn marble stones). About that of wood, said R. Eliezer b. Jacob, I forget for what purpose it was used. Abbu Saul says, the chamber of the high-priest was behind the first two of the above-mentioned ones; the roofs of them all were on the same level. In the chamber of Exile there was a well, which those returned from the Exile had dug; over it was a wheel, whereby water was drawn, to supply the whole Temple. In the chamber of Gazith the Sanhedrin of Israel held session, and examined there the priests. Whatever priest was found to be legally unfit for ser- vice, used to dress himself in black clothes, enveloped himself in black, and went away. If he was found fit, he would dress him- self in white, envelope himself in white, and enter the Temple to serve with his brethren. One other chamber was in the south, as we have learned in the following Mishna (Midoth V., 4): Seven gates were in the court: three at the north, three at the south, and one at the east. The south one was the Gate of Illumination, the other the Gate of the Sacrifices, the third the Gate of Water. At the east was the Gate of Nicanor ; to this gate were adjoined two chambers, one at the right and one at the left. One was the chamber of Pin'has, the superintendent of the priests' wardrobe ; the other was where barrels were manu- factured. At the north was the Gate of Nitzutz. There was TRACT YOMAH (DAY OF ATONEMENT). 25 a balcony and an attic over it, where priests were watching (the Temple) above, and the Levites beneath. Inside was the Choyl (a round walled and roofed place, in the Temple), The other was the Gate of Sacrifices. The third was the Gate of the Heat- ing House, and we have learned in another Boraitha that on that day the high-priest took five legal bathings, and ten times sanc- tified his hands and feet from the laver. [See Ex. xxx. 18.] Both the bathing and the sanctifications he performed on the roof of the chamber of Parva, in the sanctuary, except the first one, which he did not take in the sanctuary, but near the Gate of Water. The bath-house was on one side of his chamber, only I don't know whether the Chamber of Palhedrin was in the north and that of Abtinas in the south, or vice versa.