יומא 28 — Soncino English Talmud

¹Surely there is [the smoking of] the limbs and fat-pieces? — That is the end of the service of the day. But what of the removal of the ashes? — It is the beginning of the service of the day, for R. Johanan said: If he sanctified his hands by washing for the removal of the ashes,in the morning he need not sanctify [his hands] since he had already sanctified them at the beginning of the service. If so the difficulty remains? — Rather if this statement was made it was made thus: R. Assi said in the name of R. Johanan: If a non-priest arranged in order two logs of wood [on the altar] he incurs the penalty of death, because it is a complete service. To this Raba demurred: If this is so let it require a count. But it requires no count? Surely it was taught, He who secures the privilege in respect of the removal of the ashes, secures also the privilege in respect of the arranging of the two logs of wood? This is what he means. It should have a separate count for itself? The [reason is] as we have already stated. Are we to say that for a service which is complete, and for the performance of which a non-priest incurs the penalty of death, a count is required, but for one, for performance of which a non-priest does not incur such penalty, no count is required — but there is the killing [of the sacrificial animal]? — It is different with that killing, because it is the beginning of the service of the day. Shall we say that only a complete service requires the count, but a service followed by another does not require it — but there is the smoking of the members and the fat-pieces? — That is the end of the service of the day. — But there is the removal of the ashes? — Here [the count is due] because of what happened. Mar Zutra or R. Ashi said: We too have learnt thus: The officer said to them: GO FORTH AND SET WHETHER THE TIME FOR THE KILLING OF THE MORNING SACRIFICE HAS ARRIVED. But he does not teach anything about the time for the laying in order of the two logs of wood? — He teaches only concerning such things as cannot be remedied again, but not concerning such for which there is a remedy. MISHNAH. THE OFFICER SAID TO THEM: GO FORTH AND SEE WHETHER THE TIME FOR KILLING [OF THE MORNING SACRIFICE] HAS ARRIVED. IF IT HAD ARRIVED THEN HE WHO SAW IT SAID: IT IS DAYLIGHT! MATHIA B. SAMUEL SAID: THE WHOLE EAST IS ALIGHT. EVEN UNTO HEBRON? AND HE ANSWERED ‘YES’. AND WHY WAS THAT [CONSIDERED] NECESSARY? BECAUSE ONCE WHEN THE LIGHT OF THE MOON ROSE THEY THOUGHT THAT THE EAST WAS ALIGHT AND SLAUGHTERED THE CONTINUAL OFFERING, WHICH AFTERWARDS THEY HAD TO TAKE AWAY INTO THE PLACE OF BURNING. THE HIGH PRIEST WAS LED DOWN TO THE PLACE OF IMMERSION. THIS WAS THE RULE IN THE TEMPLE: WHOSOEVER CROSSED HIS FEET REQUIRED AN IMMERSION, AND WHOSOEVER MADE WATER REQUIRED SANCTIFICATION BY WASHING HIS HANDS AND FEET. G E M A R A.^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ^ˢ

^ᵃnote:[This service, it is now assumed, receives its completion only with the removal of the ashes, and yet must not be performed by a non-priest under the penalty of death (Tosaf.).]
^ᵇnote:[The original assumption n. 3. is rejected. The smoking of the limbs is in itself regarded as the completion of the day service (Tosaf.).]
^ᶜnote:[Which must be followed by the taking of the ashes outside the camp, v. Lev. VI, 4’ and yet is considered a complete service, v. supra 24a (Tosaf.).]
^ᵈnote:[Whereas the taking of the ashes outside the camp is not performed daily (v. Tamid II, 2) and consequently it cannot be regarded as completing the removal of the ashes (Tosaf.).]
^ᵉnote:Of R. Ze'ira.
^ᶠnote:[V. supra 22a. For the reason that no special count has been arranged for the two logs of wood. R. Hananel.]
^ᵍnote:That the laying of the two logs of wood is a complete service.
^ʰnote:[Because it is considered a night service completing the arranging of the wood pile on the altar (Rashi), v. also Tosaf.]
^ⁱnote:V. supra, p. 128, nn. 8, 9.
^ʲnote:The Mishnah continues the account of the procedure, where it had been interrupted, 26a. This Mishnah refers not only to the Day of Atonement, but to the continual sacrifice on every morning of the year.
^ᵏnote:The Mishnaic hterc ‘barkai’ may be a contraction of ‘barka hi’, i.e. there is a shining. Or: the shining one, i.e., the morning star.
^ˡnote:[Rashi (Men. 100a) regards these words not as reporting the view of Mathia b. Samuel, but as a historical narrative. The passage is consequently to be translated: Mathia b. Samuel (who was a Temple officer v. infra), used to say (in announcing the time in question) The whole east is alight, ohbah ‘xu, a.l.
^ᵐnote:V. Gemara. For the choice of Hebron, which is too far from Jerusalem to permit one in Jerusalem to see its towers, the Yerushalmi has a plausible suggestion, viz., that that city was mentioned for its historical importance; because of the cave of Machpelah, in which the patriarchs and matriarchs of Israel are buried.
^ⁿnote:This could not have happened on a Day of Atonement, because on that day the moon has gone down long before dawn, but on one of the last days of a month, in which the moon, to the west of the sun, rises before dawn.
^ᵒnote:When the sky is clouded the light coming from the moon may be confused with that of the sun. But it never reaches as far as the latter, hence the question of the officer whether the horizon is alight even unto Hebron. The officer may have been Mathia. V. Shek. V, 1.
^ᵖnote:Possibly a room in the Temple, V. Baneth, Pes. IX, note 49.
^ᵠnote:The account of the service on the Day of Atonement is here continued, immediately interrupted again, and re-continued on 30a.
^ʳnote:A euphemism for: to ease oneself, to relieve nature.
^ˢnote:In the water of the holy laver. Ex. XXX, 18.

²It was taught: R. Ishmael said: The morning [star] shines. R. Akiba said the morning [star] rose. Nahuma b. Afkashion said: The morning [star] is already in Hebron. Mathia b. Samuel, the officer in charge of the counts, said: The whole east even unto Hebron is alight. R. Judah b. Bathyra said: The whole east even unto Hebron is alight and all the people have gone forth, each to his work. If that were the case, it would be [too much of the day] too late! — Rather: each to hire working men. R. Safra said: The [afternoon] prayer of Abraham is due when the walls begin to grow dark. R. Joseph said: Shall we indeed learn [our laws] from Abraham? — Raba answered: A Tanna learned from Abraham and we should not learn from him! For it has been taught: And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised, this passage teaches that the whole of the [eighth] day is proper for the circumcision, but the zealots perform their religious duty as early as possible as it is said: And Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his ass. — Rather, said Raba, is it this that appeared difficult to R. Joseph: For we have learnt: If the eve of Passover falls on the eve of Sabbath, the paschal lamb is to be slaughtered at one half after the sixth hour, and offered up at one half after the seventh hour. — But let it be slaughtered when the walls begin to grow dark! — What is the difficulty? Perhaps the walls of the Sanctuary begin to grow dark half an hour after the sixth hour because they were not exactly straight. Or [one might say]: It was different with Abraham whose heart [mind] knew great astronomical speculation. Or: Because he was an elder [zaken] who had a seat at the scholar's council, for R. Hama b. Hanina said: Our ancestors were never left without the scholars’ council. In Egypt they had the scholars’ council, as it is said: Go and gather the elders of Israel together; in the wilderness they had the scholars’ council, as it is said: Gather unto Me seventy men of the elders of Israel; our father Abraham was an elder and a member of the scholars’ council, as it is said: And Abraham was [zaken] an elder well stricken in age; our father Isaac was an elder and a member of the scholars’ council, as it is said: And it came to pass when Isaac was an elder [zaken]; our father Jacob was an elder and a member of the scholars’ council, as it is said: Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age [zoken]; [even] Eliezer, the servant of Abraham was an elder and a member of the scholars’ council, as it is said: And Abraham said unto his servant, the elder of his house, that ruled over all he had, which R. Eleazar explained to mean that he ruled over [knew, controlled] the Torah of his master. Eliezer of Damascus’: R. Eleazar said, He was so called because he drew and gave drink to others of his master's teachings. Rab said: Our father Abraham kept the whole Torah, as it is said: Because that Abraham hearkened to My voice [kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws]. R. Shimi b. Hiyya said to Rab: Say, perhaps, that this refers to the seven laws? — Surely there was also that of circumcision! Then say that it refers to the seven laws and circumcision [and not to the whole Torah]? — If that were so, why does Scripture say: ‘My commandments and My laws’? Raba or R. Ashi said: Abraham, our father, kept even the law concerning the ‘erub of the dishes,’ as it is said: ‘My Torahs’: one being the written Torah, the other the oral Torah. MATHIA B. SAMUEL SAID etc. . . . AND HE ANSWERED ‘YES’. Who was it that said ‘yes’? the man standing on the roof! Is he the dreamer and the interpreter? Should it, then, be he who is standing on the ground, whence would he know? — If you like say it is he who stands on the roof, and if you like say it is he who stands on the ground. If you want to say it is he who stands on the roof; he says: THE WHOLE EAST IS ALIGHT, the one standing on the ground answering: EVEN UNTO HEBRON? whereupon the former says: ‘YES’. If you like say that it is he who stands on the ground: He says: THE WHOLE EAST IS ALIGHT? whereupon the other responds: EVEN UNTO HEBRON? and the former answers: ‘YES’. AND WHY WAS THAT CONSIDERED NECESSARY etc. But can it be confused? Has it not been taught: Rabbi says: The rising column of the moon is different from that of the sun. The light column of the moon rises straight like a stick, the light column of the sun [the dawn] irradiates in all directions? — The school of Ishmael taught: It was a cloudy day and the light was scattered in all directions. R. Papa said: We can infer therefrom that on a cloudy day the sun is felt all over. What is the practical difference? — In the spreading of skins, or, as Raba expounded: A woman should not knead either in the sun or in the heat of the sun. R. Nahman said: The sultry air of the sun is more intense than that of direct sunlight, your analogy being: a jar of vinegar; the dazzling sun-light is worse than the uncovered sun, your analogy being drippings [from the roof].40^ᵗ^ᵘ^ᵛ^ʷ^ˣ^ʸ^ᶻ^ᵃᵃ^ᵃᵇ^ᵃᶜ^ᵃᵈ^ᵃᵉ^ᵃᶠ^ᵃᵍ^ᵃʰ^ᵃⁱ^ᵃʲ^ᵃᵏ^ᵃˡ^ᵃᵐ^ᵃⁿ^ᵃᵒ^ᵃᵖ^ᵃᵠ^ᵃʳ^ᵃˢ^ᵃᵗ^ᵃᵘ^ᵃᵛ^ᵃʷ^ᵃˣ^ᵃʸ^ᵃᶻ^ᵇᵃ^ᵇᵇ^ᵇᶜ^ᵇᵈ^ᵇᵉ^ᵇᶠ^ᵇᵍ

^ᵗnote:A later time.
^ᵘnote:All the people have gone forth, each to his work, refers not to the workingmen who leave for work at a later hour, but to the contractors, who early in the morning hire their men for the day's work.
^ᵛnote:The afternoon prayer is by tradition ascribed to Isaac, but since he learned it from his father, Abraham receives here the credit for it. Or, as Tosaf. Ber. 26b s.v. ejmh has it, after Isaac had instituted the prayer, Abraham fixed the time for it.
^ʷnote:Are no longer shone upon by the sun, that is after the middle of the day.
^ˣnote:For Abraham lived before the Torah was given and Israelites should follow the conduct of the prophets, who knew and practised the Torah rather than that of Abraham who, whilst living in its spirit, could not have known all the laws thereof. There are, of course, also views according to which Abraham practised the oral and the written law, v. below. v. Tosaf. Moed Katon, 20a, s.v. dj vn.
^ʸnote:Lev. XII, 3.
^ᶻnote:Gen. XXII, 3, the reference may also be ibid. XIX, 27, v. Meg. 20a.
^ᵃᵃnote:The day was divided into twelve hours of varying duration, in winter an hour may be as short as forty minutes, in summer as long as ninety.
^ᵃᵇnote:Pes. 58a.
^ᵃᶜnote:I.e., after the beginning of the seventh hour-after midday.
^ᵃᵈnote:It was narrower above than below and thus did not cast a shadow till later in the afternoon.
^ᵃᵉnote:And could hence foretell the exact hour; V. B.B., Sonc. ed., p. 83, n. II.
^ᵃᶠnote:Ex. III, 16.
^ᵃᵍnote:Num. XI, 16.
^ᵃʰnote:Gen. XXIV, I. E.V. ‘was old’.
^ᵃⁱnote:Ibid. XXVII, 1.
^ᵃʲnote:Ibid. XLVIII, 10.
^ᵃᵏnote:Ibid. XXIV, 2.
^ᵃˡnote:Ibid. XV, 2. In all these cases the word zaken (elder) is interpreted in accord with Sifra, Kedoshim. III, 7: (vnfj) vbea vz ize a zaken is he who has acquired wisdom (through study).
^ᵃᵐnote:This is a play on eans, as if it were a compositum of vkus (one who draws) and vean, (one who gives drink).
^ᵃⁿnote:Gen. XXVI, 5.
^ᵃᵒnote:Obligatory upon ‘The sons of Noah’, i.e., upon all civilized nations and individuals. They include the commandment to promote justice, and the prohibitions of idolatry, immorality, blasphemy, murder, cruelty to animals, and theft.
^ᵃᵖnote:Which Abraham observed.
^ᵃᵠnote:Lit., ‘mixing of dishes’. One may not prepare food on a holy day, which falls on Friday, for the Sabbath immediately following it. But one may start on the eve of the holy day to prepare such food for the Sabbath, the cooking on the holy day being but a continuation of this weekday work. This provision is not Biblical.
^ᵃʳnote:Taking the word Torah in its sense as the sum-total of Jewish Law.
^ᵃˢnote:The written Law, i.e., the Five Books of Moses; the Oral Law, which Moses received on Sinai, handing it down to Joshua, the latter handing it down to the elders, the latter to the prophets, these to the Men of the Great Synod (Aboth I, 1).
^ᵃᵗnote:It seems strange that one man should both ask the question and answer it.
^ᵃᵘnote:He could not observe it from where he stood.
^ᵃᵛnote:[‘Is this what you want to know’.]
^ᵃʷnote:[‘Indeed this is just what I ask’. The mention of Hebron is to recall the memory of the patriarchs who lie buried there. T. J. Yoma III, 1. V. Rashi. Var. lec.: He (who stands on the roof) says THE WHOLE EAST IS ALIGHT AS EAR AS HEBRON, and the other (who stands on the ground) says ‘YES?’ i.e., ‘Indeed? are you sure it is so?’ V. R. Hananel and D.S. a.l.]
^ᵃˣnote:Can the light of the moon be confused with that of the sun?
^ᵃʸnote:On a cloudy day the rising column of the sun is invisible because of the heavy clouds and it is only where the clouds are somewhat scattered that it is visible, hence the confusion is possible.
^ᵃᶻnote:That this inference is mentioned here.
^ᵇᵃnote:To be dried.
^ᵇᵇnote:The dough on the Passover to prepare unleavened cakes. R. Papa's maxim would make the rule more stringent.
^ᵇᶜnote:Produced by the passage of the sun-rays through a cloudy atmosphere.
^ᵇᵈnote:Lit., ‘your sign’.
^ᵇᵉnote:Which emits a stronger smell through a small opening than when quite open.
^ᵇᶠnote:Coming through cracks or breaks in the clouds.
^ᵇᵍnote:It is more agreeable to enter completely (a bath or rainy place) than to get continual drippings on one's body.