On all the days of the year other than Yom Kippur, the High Priest does not do the regular daily Temple duties – unless he wants to. In that case, he has the right to say, “I will offer this burnt offering,” or “I will offer this flour offering,” or “I will eat this sin-offering,” and so on.
For more special offerings, he is entitled to a portion of it. For example, he can have one lamb of the two brought on Shavuot. The special “Bread of Vision,” which induced mystical visions, was distributed among the Kohanim on every Shabbat. Of these twelve loaves of bread, he takes four or five. Now, this division is not logical. In the first case, he was entitled to exactly half, and in the second – to less than half. Also, what does “four or five” mean?
However, in this rule, we have a mixture of different opinions. First, one says that the High Priest can have up to half of the total - based on the Torah's phrase, “To Aaron and his sons,” which is understood as “half to Aaron and half to his sons.” Another opinion is that he takes less than half – that is the “four or five” out of twelve. However, it could also be that all agree that he takes less than half; as far as one loaf on Shavuot – it would not be polite to break it. There is also an opinion that two of the twelve loaves of bread of vision are given as a reward for the closing of the gates, and the remaining ten are divided between the rest – this explains the “four” as less than half of ten.
Art: The Pet Lamb by J. Hardwicke Lewis
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