Yoma

yet through the scent of water it will bud, and put forth boughs like a plant. 1 AND A FESTIVE DAY HE WOULD ARRANGE FOR HIS FRIENDS: Our Rabbis taught: It happened with a high priest that as he came forth from the Sanctuary, all the people2 followed him, but when they saw Shemayah3 and Abtalion, they forsook him and went after Shemayah and Abtalion. Eventually Shemayah and Abtalion visited him, to take their leave of the high priest. He said to them: May the descendants of the heathen come in peace!4 — They answered him: May the descendants of the heathen, who do the work of Aaron, arrive in peace, but the descendant of Aaron, who does not do the work of Aaron, he shall not come in peace!5 MISHNAH. THE HIGH PRIEST PERFORMS THE SERVICE IN EIGHT PIECES OF GARMENTS, AND THE COMMON PRIEST IN FOUR: IN TUNIC, DRAWERS, MITRE, AND GIRDLE. THE HIGH PRIEST ADDS THERETO THE BREASTPLATE, THE APRON, THE ROBE AND THE FRONTLET. IN THESE WERE THE URIM AND THUMMIM6 INQUIRED OF. BUT THEY WERE NOT INQUIRED OF EXCEPT FOR THE KING, FOR THE AB BETH DIN7 OR FOR ONE WHOM THE COMMUNITY NEEDS.8 GEMARA. Our Rabbis taught: [All] things, in connection with which the word shesh [‘fine linen’] is said, had their threads sixfold: ‘twined’ [denotes] eightfold [threads]; the robe [had its threads] twelvefold; the curtain,9 twenty-four-fold; the breastplate and apron twenty-eight-fold. Whence do we know that they had their threads sixfold? — Scripture said: And they made the tunics of fine linen, the mitre of fine linen and the goodly headtires of fine linen, and the linen breeches of fine twined linen.10 Here are five Scriptural references: One is necessary for the subject itself, that they must be made of flax; one, that their thread shall be sixfold; one to indicate that they must be twisted; one, that this applies also to other garments in connection with which the term ‘shesh’ is not used, and once, that it is indispensable. What indicates that the word ‘shesh’ means flax? — R. Jose b. Hanina said: Scripture says: Bad [linen] i.e., whatever comes out of the soil singly.11 But say, perhaps, it is wool? — Wool splits off.12 But flax also splits? Flax splits into branches through beating.13 Rabina said: [I infer it] from this. They shall have linen tires upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins.14 Said R. Ashi to him: But whence did they know that before Ezekiel came? — But, according to your argument, what of R. Hisda's statement: This matter15 we have learnt not from the Torah of Moses, but from the words of Ezekiel b. Buzi: No alien, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into My sanctuary?16 Who taught this before Ezekiel came? Rather must you say that it was traditionally handed down and when Ezekiel came he strengthened it by attaching it to Scripture; in our case [here] too it was a traditional teaching and Ezekiel strengthened it by attaching it to Scripture. Whence do we know that ‘twined’ [denotes] eightfold [threads]? — Scripture says: And they made upon the skirts of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, twined.17 One may infer from the analogy of ‘twined’ used in connection with the curtain: just as there [each twined thread] was twenty-four-fold,18 so also here was it twenty-four-fold, the thread of each kind of material being eightfold.19 - But one should infer from breast-plate and apron: just as there it was twenty-eightfold, so also here twenty-eight-fold?20 — One may infer a thing in connection with which gold is not mentioned from another thing, in connection with which gold is not mentioned;21 that excludes the breast-plate and apron in connection with which gold is mentioned. On the contrary! One should, rather, infer concerning one garment from another garment, which would exclude the curtain, because that [in a sense] is a tent! — Rather, if it is inferred from the girdle,22 thus inferring concerning a garment, in connection with which gold is not mentioned from another garment, in connection with which gold is not mentioned; but not inferring concerning anything, in connection with which gold is mentioned from something in connection with which gold is mentioned. R. Mari said: Scripture said: Thou shalt make it,23 i.e., only, nothing else.24 R. Ashi said: And thou shalt make,25 i.e., all the work in connection therewith must be the same. Now how is that possible? If he were to make the three kinds tenfold each, there would be thirty [threads]. And if one made two ninefold and one tenfold, but Scripture said: ‘And thou shalt make’, i.e., all the work in connection therewith must be alike. Whence do we know that the robe [had its threads] twelvefold? Because Scripture said: And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod bring with them into the new home. according to one tradition (Git. 57b), scions of Sennacherib's. upon these masters of the Law. world, but this high priest, whose arrogance caused strife, was not a worthy descendant of Aaron. Similarly, shesh means both ‘fine linen’ and ‘six’, whence support for the teaching that it must be sixfold. Flax has no branches, but leaves, the flax coming from the middle stem. render him also uncircumcised in heart, whose actions ‘alienate’ him from the Lord, or because his brethren had died as the result of circumcision, which circumstances would free him from the obligation of the circumcised) may not enter the Sanctuary. connection therewith, v. Ex. XXVI, 31. Thus each twined thread which consisted of the four materials was twenty-fourfold]. make each twined thread of all the material twenty-eightfold]. XXXIX, 29]. been made alike. Hence it is impossible for the twined thread in the robe to be of a twenty-eightfold, as he goes on to explain.