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Perek 1

Mishnayos Tamid Perek 1 Mishnah 4

תמיד פרק א׳ משנה ד׳

4
The priest who won the lottery to remove the ashes from the altar shall then remove the ashes. And the other priests say to him: Be careful that you do not touch the vessel with which you perform the rite until you sanctify your hands and your feet from the Basin, as a priest may not perform any service in the Temple before sanctifying his hands and feet. The priests would continue their reminders: The coal pan with which the ashes are removed is placed in the corner between the ramp and the altar, on the western side of the ramp. No person would enter with the priest who was removing the ashes, as it was permitted to enter the area between the Entrance Hall of the Sanctuary and the altar only when performing the Temple service. And there was no lamp in his hand when he went to fetch the coal pan. Rather, he would walk by the light of the arrangement of wood on the altar, upon which the portions of the offerings sacrificed the previous day were burned during the night. The other priests would not see him, as the altar hid him from their sight, nor could they hear the sound of his steps. They were therefore unaware of his progress until they heard the sound of the wood that ben Katin crafted into a mechanism [mukhani] of pulleys that was used to sink the Basin into flowing water during the night, so that its water would not be disqualified by remaining overnight. When the priests heard the sound of the pulleys raising the Basin from the water, they said to each other: The time for sanctifying hands and feet has come. The priest sanctified his hands and his feet with water from the Basin after he raised it. He then took the silver coal pan from the corner between the ramp and the altar, and ascended to the top of the altar. The priest cleared the upper layer of coals to this side and to that side and scooped into the coal pan the inner coals that were completely consumed. He then descended the ramp. When he reached the floor, in the southeast of the Temple courtyard, he turned his face toward the north. He would walk along the east side of the ramp toward the south side of the altar, walking a distance of about ten cubits from the bottom of the ramp, which was twenty cubits from the altar. He then heaped the coals upon the floor in a location three handbreadths distant from the ramp, in the place where the priests would place the crop of the bird burnt offering, the ashes removed from the inner, golden altar, and the ashes removed from the Candelabrum.

מִי שֶׁזָּכָה לִתְרֹם אֶת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ, הוּא יִתְרֹם אֶת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ, וְהֵם אוֹמְרִים לוֹ, הִזָּהֵר שֶׁמָּא תִגַּע בַּכְּלִי, עַד שֶׁתְּקַדֵּשׁ יָדֶיךָ וְרַגְלֶיךָ מִן הַכִּיּוֹר, וַהֲרֵי הַמַּחְתָּה נְתוּנָה בַמִּקְצוֹעַ בֵּין הַכֶּבֶשׁ לַמִּזְבֵּחַ, בְּמַעֲרָבוֹ שֶׁל כָּבֶשׁ. אֵין אָדָם נִכְנָס עִמּוֹ, וְלֹא נֵר בְּיָדוֹ, אֶלָּא מְהַלֵּךְ לְאוֹר הַמַּעֲרָכָה. לֹא הָיוּ רוֹאִין אוֹתוֹ וְלֹא שׁוֹמְעִין אֶת קוֹלוֹ, עַד שֶׁשּׁוֹמְעִין קוֹל הָעֵץ שֶׁעָשָׂה בֶן קָטִין מוּכְנִי לַכִּיּוֹר, וְהֵן אוֹמְרִים הִגִּיעַ עֵת. קִדֵּשׁ יָדָיו וְרַגְלָיו מִן הַכִּיּוֹר, נָטַל מַחְתַּת הַכֶּסֶף וְעָלָה לְרֹאשׁ הַמִּזְבֵּחַ, וּפִנָּה אֶת הַגֶּחָלִים הֵילָךְ וְהֵילָךְ, חָתָה מִן הַמְאֻכָּלוֹת הַפְּנִימִיּוֹת, וְיָרַד. הִגִּיעַ לָרִצְפָה, הָפַךְ פָּנָיו לַצָּפוֹן, הָלַךְ לְמִזְרָחוֹ שֶׁל כֶּבֶשׁ כְּעֶשֶׂר אַמּוֹת. צָבַר אֶת הַגֶּחָלִים עַל גַּבֵּי הָרִצְפָה רָחוֹק מִן הַכֶּבֶשׁ שְׁלשָׁה טְפָחִים, מְקוֹם שֶׁנּוֹתְנִין מֻרְאוֹת הָעוֹף וְדִּשּׁוּן מִזְבֵּחַ הַפְּנִימִי וְהַמְּנוֹרָה:

ד׳

הזהר של תגע בכלי – in the coal-pan which is a sacred vessel, for a person is not permitted to draw close to the Altar nor to any [Divine] Service until he sanctifies his hands and his feet.

במקצוע (corner) – in the corner-piece.

בן קטין – this was the name of the High Priest who made the wheel work (a machine for sinking the wash basin (the laver for the Kohanim in the Temple courtyard) into the well (see Tractate Yoma, Chapter 3, Mishnah 10 and Tractate Tamid, Chapter 3, Mishnah 8). It was a revolving wheel that through it the wash basin was sunk into the cistern, so that their waters would not be invalidated/unfit for use by being kept overnight, because anything that was sanctified in a sacred vessel is invalidated/unfit for use by being kept overnight, but when the wash basin was sunk into the cistern, its waters were not invalidated. But Maimonides states, that the wheel work which is a utensil surrounding the wash basin, that was not sanctified in the Temple vessel, and there they would leave the water at night in order that it not become sanctified and would be invalidated overnight.

מהאכלות הפנימיות (the thoroughly lighted coals in the center) – the coals that are in the center of the fire that were well consumed/burned up to be ashes.

צבר את הגחלים על גבי הרצפה (he heaped up the cinders on the pavement) – because it is written (Leviticus 6:3): "ושמו" /”[and he shall take up the ashes to which the ffire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar] and place them beside the altar,” and we expound [Tractate Temurah 34a], “and place them” – all of it, and “place them” – so that it should not scatter.

הזהר שלא תגע בכלי. במחתה שהיא כלי שרת. שאין אדם רשאי לקרב אל המזבח ולא לשום עבודה עד שיקדש ידיו ורגליו:

במקצוע. בקרן זוית:

בן קטין. כך שמו של כהן גדול שעשה מוכני לכיור. גלגל הסובב שעל ידו משקעים הכיור בבור שלא יהיו מימיו נפסלים בלינה, לפי שכל דבר שנתקדש בכלי שרת נפסל בלינת לילה, וכשהיה משוקע הכיור בבור לא היו מימיו נפסלין. ורמב״ם אומר, שהמוכני הוא כלי סביב לכיור, שלא נתקדש בכלי שרת, ושם היו מניחים המים בלילה כדי שלא יתקדשו ויפסלו בלינה:

המאוכלות הפנימיות. הגחלים שבאמצע האש שנתאכלו היטב והן קרובים להיות דשן:

צבר את הגחלים על גבי הרצפה. משום דכתיב ושמו, ודרשינן [תמורה דף ל״ד ע״א] ושמו כולו, ושמו שלא יפזר: