תמיד 29 — Soncino English Talmud

¹THE PRIEST WAS NEGLECTFUL IN TAKING OUT THE ASHES. THEY THEN BEGAN TO TAKE UP THE LOGS TO LAY THE FIRE. WERE ALL KINDS OF WOOD SUITABLE FOR THE FIRE? ALL KINDS OF WOOD WERE SUITABLE FOR THE FIRE EXCEPT VINE AND OLIVE WOOD. O WHAT THEY MOSTLY USED, HOWEVER, WERE BOUGHS OF FIG TREES AND OF NUT TREES AND OF OIL TREES: HE THEN ARRANGED THE GREAT PILE ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE ALTAR WITH ITS OPEN Slde ON THE EAST, WHILE THE INNER ENDS OF THE [SELECTED] LOGS TOUCHED THE CENTRAL HEAP. SPACES WERE LEFT BETWEEN THE LOGS IN WHICH THEY KINDLED THE BRUSHWOOD. THEY PICKED OUT FROM THERE SOME SPECIALLY GOOD FIG-TREE BRANCHES AND WITH THESE HE LAID A SECOND FIRE FOR THE INCENSE NEAR THE SOUTH-WESTERN CORNER SOME FOUR CUBITS TO THE NORTH OF IT, USING AS MUCH WOOD AS HE JUDGED SUFFICIENT TO FORM FIVE SE'AHS OF CINDERS, AND ON SABBATH AS MUCH AS HE THOUGHT WOULD MAKE EIGHT SEAHS OF CINDERS, BECAUSE FROM THERE THEY USED TO TAKE FIRE FOR THE TWO DISHES OF FRANKINCENSE FOR THE SHEW-BREAD. THE LIMBS AND THE PIECES OF FAT WHICH HAD NOT BEEN CONSUMED OVER NIGHT WERE PUT BACK ON THE WOOD WHICH HAD BEEN LAID. THEY THEN KINDLED THE TWO FIRES AND DESCENDED AND WENT TO THE CHAMBER OF HEWN STONE. GEMARA. Said Raba: This is an exaggeration. [Similarly with regard to the statement]. ‘They made the beast for the daily offering drink from a gold cup’. Raba said: This is an exaggera tion. R. Ammi said: The Torah used hyperbole, the prophets used hyperbole, the Sages used hyperbole. The Torah used hyperbole, as where it is written, The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. Up to heaven, think you? No; but it is an exaggeration. ‘The Sages Used hyperbole’, in the cases we have just mentioned — the heap and the giving the sacrifice beast to drink from a gold cup. ‘The prophets used hyperbole’, as it is written, And the people piped with pipes. . . . so that the earth rent with the sound of them. R. Jannai b. Nahmani said in the name of Samuel; In three places the Sages used the language of hyperbole, namely, in connection with the heap, the vine and the veil. This excludes the case cited by Raba, where we have learnt, ‘They made the beast for the daily sacrifice drink from a gold cup’, and Raba said, This is an exaggeration. This teaches us that this is true of the other cases, but not of this one, because in the abode of wealth no sign of poverty is allowed. [The exaggeration in the case of] the heap is as stated. In the case of the wine it is as has been taught: A gold vine used to stand at the door of the inner temple, trailed on poles, and anyone who offered a leaf^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ^ˢ

^ᵃnote:I.e., if the ashes were left, it was not through neglect.
^ᵇnote:Outside the camp, when there was a large quantity on the altar.
^ᶜnote:Special large blocks of wood, well smoothed. (10) The reason is explained in the Gemara.
^ᵈnote:The one who was chosen to clear away the ashes.
^ᵉnote:So called by contrast with the other mentioned later.
^ᶠnote:Lit., ‘transparency’. The open side from which it was touched, the other side was blocked by the central heap.
^ᵍnote:So that there should be a draught from the door of the Azarah.
^ʰnote:To start the fire.
^ⁱnote:I.e., to obtain coals for kindling the incense. For this it was reckoned a mark of respect to have a special fire.
^ʲnote:These five cubits of the altar faced the doorway of the Hekal, and could therefore be described as being ‘before the Lord’, and it was considered meritorious to obtain the coals for the incense from this space. The fifth cubit had to be used because four were taken up by the projections of the altar.
^ᵏnote:It is not clear if this was before or after the daily offering was kindled.
^ˡnote:To cast further lots, half of this chamber being in unconsecrated ground. The Chamber of Hewn Stone was the Hall wherein the Great Sanhedrin used to sit. Schurer II, p. 264 identifies it with the Chamber ‘close to the Xystus’ on the western border of the Temple Mount, v. J. E. XII, 576.
^ᵐnote:The statement that there were three hundred kor of ashes on the altar.
^ⁿnote:Infra, 30a.
^ᵒnote:Deut. I, 28. This is hardly a proof, as the Torah is here quoting the language of the spies.
^ᵖnote:I Kings, I, 40.
^ᵠnote:v. infra.
^ʳnote:I.e. no expense was to be spared in the Temple service.
^ˢnote:Mid. III, 8.

²or a single grape or a cluster used to bring it and hang it thereon. Said R. Eleazar son of R. Zadok: On one occasion three hundred priests were commissioned to clear it. The case of the veil as has been taught: We have learnt: R. Simeon b. Gamaliel says: The thickness of the veil was a handbreadth. It was formed of seventy-two strands, and each was made up of twenty-four threads. Its length was forty cubits and its breadth was twenty cubits, and it was made by eighty-two young girls, and two were made every year, and it took three hundred priests to immerse it. THEY BEGAN TO TAKE UP THE LOGS TO LAY THE FIRE. . . . EXCEPT VINE AND OLIVE WOOD. Why were these excepted? — R. Papa said: Because they have knots: R. Aha b. Jacob said: Because of the amenities of the Land of Israel. The following was cited in objection [to R. papa]: upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar; this implies wood which rapidly becomes fire. Which kind is that? Thin boughs like spits which do not form knots, that is, that do not become knotted inwardly. Are all kinds of wood suitable for the altar fire? All kinds are suitable excepts olive and vine, but what were mostly used were boughs of fig trees and nut trees and oil trees. R. Eleazar adds [as not suitable]: also wood from the matish and the oak and the date tree and the carob and sycamore. There is no difficulty here for the one who says that it is because they are knotted. The difference according to him is that one authority holds that although they are not knotted on the inside, yet since they are knotted on the outside we do not use them, while the other holds that since they are not knotted on the inside, although they are knotted on the outside we still bring them. But to the one who says, it is because of the amenities of the Land of Israel, we can object, does not the date tree contribute to the amenities of the Land of Israel? — He can reply to you: By the same reasoning does not the fig tree contribute to the amenities of the Land of Israel? But what do you answer to this? That we speak of a fig tree which does not produce fruit. Similarly we speak of a date tree which does not produce fruit. But are there fig trees which do not produce fruit? Yes, as stated by Rahabah. For Rahabah said: They bring white fig trees^ᵗ^ᵘ^ᵛ^ʷ^ˣ^ʸ^ᶻ^ᵃᵃ^ᵃᵇ^ᵃᶜ^ᵃᵈ^ᵃᵉ^ᵃᶠ

^ᵗnote:Shek. 12b.
^ᵘnote:Between the Hekal and the Holy of Holies.
^ᵛnote:Of gold, purple, etc.
^ʷnote:Var. lec. It cost eighty-two thousand denars.
^ˣnote:In the second temple there were two veils with a cubit space between them, to take the place of the wall which was in the First Temple.
^ʸnote:Like all holy things, it was immersed in water before being used. The ‘three hundred’ is the exaggeration.
^ᶻnote:Which retain moisture and so prevent the wood from catching.
^ᵃᵃnote:Lit., ‘the Settlement of the Land of Israel’. To which vines and olive trees were held to contribute in a high degree.
^ᵃᵇnote:Lev. I, 8.
^ᵃᶜnote:Lit. ‘which is dissolved to become fire’.
^ᵃᵈnote:It is only in this case that moisture forms.
^ᵃᵉnote:An unknown kind of hardwood tree.
^ᵃᶠnote:Since even so there is sufficient moisture to disqualify them.