Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 6, scan section 35

vail, he sprinkled not upon it, but opposite to it (that the blood fell on the ground). R. Eliezer b. R. Jose, however, said : I have seen on the vail in Rome the marks of the drops of blood of the bullock and goat of the Day of Atonement. What is the law, when the bloods of the bullock and goat got mingled ? What shall he do therewith ? Says Rabha: He sprinkled thereof once upward, and seven times downward, and this sufficed for both. This Halakha has been communicated to Jeremiah in Palestine: He said: Ye Babylonians are stupid. Because ye live in a dark land, ye say dark Halakhas. In this manner, he will sprinkle the he-goat's blood before the bullock's, and it is written [Lev. xvi. 20] : " When he hath made an end of atoning for the holy place." " The end " — hence everything must be in its proper turn. What, then, shall he do ? Says TRACT YOMAH (DAY OF ATONEMENT). 8i R. Jeremiah: Once he sprinkles it as the bullock's, and then a second time as the he-goat's blood. How if the bloods got mixed, when he has already sprinkled the bullock's blood upward ? Said Rabha: He should sprinkle it seven times downward as the bullock's, and then upward and downward as the he-goat's, blood. How if he has confounded the basins ? What shall he do then ? He should sprinkle three times, once for the bullock, then for the he-goat, and the third time for the he-goat (lest the he-goat's blood had preceded the bullock's when he sprinkled the first time). He emptied the bull 's blood into the he-goafs. ' ' Our Mishna will be according to him who maintains that the bloods must be mixed, for the purpose of putting it on the corners of the altar. Because it was taught : R. Joshiah and R. Jonathan said, one of them that they had to be mingled, and the other that they ought not to be mingled, but put separately on the corners of the altar. It seems that R. Joshiah was the one who said they had to be mingled, as we have heard elsewhere, though it is not written "together" [Lev. xvi. i8]; yet since it is written " and," it is as good as though it had been written " together." We have learned. in another Boraitha: It is written: " He shall take from the blood of the bullock and the blood of the he-goat." That signifies, they should be mixed together. But whence do ye know that it means that they should be sprinkled together, not separately ? Therefore it is written [Ex. xxx. lo]: " And Aaron shall make an atonement upon its horns once in a year": once, not repeatedly. We see that the anonymous Boraitha is according to R. Joshiah. ' ' He transferred {the contents of) the filled one into the empty one.'' Rami b. Hama propounded a question of R. Hisda: If he had placed one basin in the other, and therein received the blood, how is it ? Should we say, as they are of one kind, that forms no invahdation ? or that though of one kind, it is an in- validation ? R. Hisda answered him : We have learned it in our Mishna: He has transferred the filled one into the empty one. Shall we not assume that it means, he placed the full basin in the empty one ? Nay. It means, he poured the contents of the full basin into the empty one. But this is already mentioned in the beginning of the sentence ? He transfers the mixed blood again into an empty vessel, to mix the two kinds of blood the better. 6 82 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. MISHNA: He then went out to the altar which is before the Lord, which is the golden altar, and began to cleanse it, downward. Whence does he begin ? From the northeastern corner [horn] to the northwestern, southwestern, southeastern. Where he begins to cleanse the outer altar, at that spot he fin- ishes cleansing the inner. R. Eliezer says he remains where he stands, and thence cleanses [the altar being one ell square]. Everywhere he sprinkled from below upward, except at the spot where he stood, whereat he sprinkled from above downward. He sprinkled on the clean place of the altar [where the gold was to be seen] seven times, and what remained of the blood he poured at the western base of the outer altar, and what remained of the blood of the outer altar he poured at the southern base. Both kinds of blood mingled in the trench, and flowed out into the brook Kidron. And it was sold to gardeners as manure, but one offends by [using without paying for] them. GEMARA: We have learned in a Boraitha: Why is it neces- sary to repeat here, " before the Lord " ? Said R. Nehemiah: Because we find that when he held the bloods of the bullock and he-goat he stood inside of the altar, and sprinkled the blood on the vail, we might think that at the same time he should sprinkle on the golden altar: therefore it is written [Lev. iv. 7], " the altar of the incense of spice, before the Lord," to let us know that the altar was before the Lord, but not the priest. What, then, should he do ? He had to come out to the outside of the altar, and thence sprinkle. " Began to demise it, downward.'* The rabbis taught: He began to cleanse from above downward. And whence did he begin ? From the southeastern to the southwestern, northwest- ern, northeastern. So is the decree of R. Aqiba. R. Jose the Galilean said : From the northeastern to the northwestern, southwestern, southeastern. So that at the place where, accord- ing to R. Jose, he begins, according to R. Aqiba he finishes, and vice versa. Now we see that, according to all, he does not begin with the corner he meets first, but some definite corner. What is the reason ? Said Samuel: Becarse it is written, " He went out to the altar," till he has come out from the place inside of the altar, and comes outside. (What is the point of difference between the two Tanaim ?) The following: R. Aqiba thinks he has to walk round the altar, and R. Jose that he ought only to cleanse the altar at all corners, making its round with the hand. We have learned in a Boraitha: R. Ishmael said: Two high- TRACT YOMAH {DAY OF ATONEMENT). 83 priests remained of the first Temple. One said, he had passed round the altar with his hand ; and the other, he had walked round it with his feet. And both gave their reasons. The one said: As it is written, " round." The inner altar was like the outer, which was large, and had to be walked around ; while the other said: It was small, and with his hand one could reach all corners, as it was only in size like one corner of the outer altar: hence it was not necessary to walk round it. " He sprinkled at the clean place of the altars What is meant by the clean place ? Said Rabba b. R. Shila: Where the altar was not covered, as it is written [Ex. xxiv. 10] : " Like the color of heaven in clearness." We have learned in a Boraitha: Hanania says, he sprinkled on the northern side, and^ R. Jose