Yoma 21 – Miracles

Since the previous page mentioned Festivals, the Talmud continues with the details. When the Jews would come to the Temple on pilgrimage, they were crowded together so that each person stood straight as a beam, and at times his feet were occasionally lilted off the ground. However, when they had to prostrate themselves and confess their mistakes, miraculously, the space between them increased. There were four steps between each other – and this was one of the ten miracles that regularly occurred in the Temple.

The Talmud discusses the other miracles with their particulars, excluding some and adding others to the list. For example, the Bread of Vision remained piping hot after it was left on the Temple table for a week: since the verse literally said, “to put bread, warm, on the day, it (the old one) is taken off,” we move the comma and understand that it was “warm on the day it was taken off.”

Another miracle was that king Solomon planted all types of fine fruit trees made of gold, and they produced fruit at the right times. This is mentioned in the phrase “May its fruit rustle like that of Lebanon,” and “Lebanon” always means the Temple. When the wind blew on them, the fruit would fall off, the priests gathered them and made their living from the profits. When the soldiers entered to destroy the Temple, the trees withered, but in the future, God will restore them since it says, “It will blossom abundantly... the glory of Lebanon will be given to it.”

Art: Fruit Tree in Blossom By Carl Fredrik Hill

Yoma 20 – Chasing away sleep

If during the night of Yom Kippur, the High Priest started to doze off, the young priests would snap fingers loudly in front of him and say, “Our Master High Priest, please stand up and do an exercise on the floor,” and thus they kept him awake all night. Prominent people of Jerusalem would not sleep and would make their voices heard to support the High Priest.

Abba Shaul said, “They adopted this practice also in the provinces, except that they used the time for frivolities.” Elijah the Prophet met Rav Yehudah and told him, “You ask why the Messiah is not here yet? It is Yom Kippur, yet how many virgins lost their virginity this night in Nehardea!” Rav Yehudah asked, “And what does God say about it?” Elijah answered, “Sin waits at the door (that is, I, God, created the desire for illicit relations.).” Rav Yehudah asked again, “And what does the Accuser say? Elijah told him, “Accuser has no say on Yom Kippur.” The Gematria of Accuser (Satan) is 364, and on Yom Kippur, which is the day 365, he has no power.”

Normally, they would start the Temple service by taking away some ashes from the Altar at the rooster's call. On Yom Kippur, when more had to be done, they started at midnight. There was more to do at the festivals, and then they started the service after the first third of the night had passed.

Art: The Rooster By Edwin John Alexander

Yoma 19 - The oath of the High Priest

Just before the Yom Kippur, the Sages of the Sanhedrin would turn the High Priest over to the Sages from among the priests. They would administer an oath, “Our Master High Priest, we adjure you, by the Name of He who makes His Presence dwell in this Temple, that you will not change a thing from the proper service.” After that, he would turn away and cry - because they suspected him of being a deviant. They would also turn away and cry. Why? - because anyone who suspects a righteous one will be punished. 

Throughout the night of Yom Kippur, he would not sleep. Rather, if he was a Sage, he gave a lecture, and if not, scholars lectured him. If not, he would read from the Scriptures, or they would read to him. What did they read? - even action-filled “Chronicles” to keep his attention. Often he did not even know Hebrew, and they read the book of Daniel, which was in the vernacular (Aramaic).

Art: La Leçon de Lecture (The Reading Lesson) by Léon-Augustin L'hermitte

Yoma 18 - Wife for a day

In the seven days before Yom Kippur, the Sages would read the Torah portion of Yom Kippur in front of the High Priest. Then they would say, “Master High Priest, please read it back to us, for perhaps you forgot or never learned." How could it be that he never learned? – In the times of the Second Temple, the position was bought for money. 

On the last day, they would show him all the animals to be used for sacrifices, except for the goat brought as a sin offering for all Jews – lest he becomes despondent thinking of it.

On the last day, they also did not give him much food, for food leads to sleep, and too much of it might cause him to becomes ritually impure through seminal emission. They also did not feed such foods as etrog, eggs, fat meat, and wine – for the same reason.

In general, a guest should take precautions not to soil the linen he sleeps on, or the host's garments, if he wears them – lest they see it and think less of him. The Sages were very careful to maintain this sort of purity, and for this, they would announce, “Who will be a wife for a day for me?” when they were visiting a remote location.

This, however, leads to many questions. How could they marry wives in many places – what if their children, not knowing each other, will intermarry? – Those Sages were famous, and their progeny would know where they came from. Another problem: a prospective wife needs to go to a mikveh seven days in advance, so how can they choose anybody on the spot? – The answer is that they would send a messenger to announce their intent a week in advance. Alternatively, we can say that they only secluded with the woman of their choice but did not have relations, thus obviating all of the above questions. But if that is so, how did it help? – One who potentially has a wife (“a bread in his basket”) cannot be compared to one who does not.

Art: A Footman Sleeping by Charles Bargue

Yoma 17 – The right-of-way for the High Priest

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

Yoma 16 - Where exactly was the Altar placed?

When the deputy Kohen would burn the Red Heifer, he had to do it on the Olive Mount, right across the entrance to the Temple building. This is required by the Torah, and we understand from here that he had to actually see the entrance. This was only possible if the eastern wall of the Temple was somewhat lower than the other walls. The Talmud is interested in whose opinion this is. It answers that it could only be Rabbi Elazar ben Yakov since only according to him, that wall’s foundation was high enough for the problem of visibility to arise.

But perhaps this is the opinion of Rabbi Yehudah, since, according to him, the gates' geometry would allow this direct view? - No, it could not be him, because according to Rabbi Yehudah, the Altar was exactly in the middle of the Courtyard and would obstruct the view. Thus, by combining the limitations imposed by the rules of burning the Red Heifer and the Altar position, the Talmud finds who was the author of the rulings we are learning here in Yoma and in the Tractate Midot, which concerns the exact sizes of everything in the Temple.

Art: Jerusalem From The Mount Of Olives by Frederic Edwin Church

Yoma 15 - Attention to detail

Earlier, in describing the order of the day of the High Priest in preparation for Yom Kippur, we mentioned that he would “burn the incense and prepare the Menorah.” We can assume that every day the service follows this order. If so, we have a problem: the order of the Tractate “Tamid” service, which is specifically dedicated to Temple procedure, is listed differently: first the Menorah and then the incense.

Rabbi Yochanan explains that the two are written by different authors and that Rabbi Shimon HaMitzpah is the author of Yoma. Every teacher of the earlier times (before 200 C.E) is entitled to his opinion on the basic facts, and if they differ - we have two aspects of truth, only we don’t know how to reconcile them.

But even within one Tractate, Yoma, we also have a contradiction! We will later learn that the lots by which it was decided which Kohen gets which service also go in the order of menorah - then incense. Abaye explains that too: cleaning the seven branches of the Menorah was done in two steps: first the five branches, and then the remaining two. The incense was brought in between these two steps. Thus we see that the order could indeed be described differently, and depending on which part of the services you are talking about, the cleaning of the Menorah could occur before the incense or after it. The key Torah phrase here is “when he prepares the lamps, he shall bring the incense.” This phrase is explained differently by Abba Shaul and the Sages. The Talmud continues to point out and reconcile contradictions in the order of the service.

Art: Cleaning The Swords by Hermanus Koekkoek