| 22a. מתני׳ big strongבראשונה /strong /big כל מי שרוצה לתרום את המזבח תורם ובזמן שהן מרובין רצין ועולין בכבש כל הקודם את חבירו בארבע אמות זכה ואם היו שניהן שוין הממונה אומר להן הצביעו,ומה הן מוציאין אחת או שתים ואין מוציאין אגודל במקדש,מעשה שהיו שניהם שוין ורצין ועולין בכבש ודחף אחד מהן את חבירו ונפל ונשברה רגלו וכיון שראו בית דין שבאין לידי סכנה התקינו שלא יהו תורמין את המזבח אלא בפייס ארבע פייסות היו שם וזה הפייס הראשון, big strongגמ׳ /strong /big והא מעיקרא מאי טעמא לא תקינו לה רבנן פייסא מעיקרא סבור כיון דעבודת לילה היא לא חשיבא להו ולא אתו כיון דחזו דקאתו ואתו לידי סכנה תקינו לה פייסא,והרי איברים ופדרים דעבודת לילה היא ותקינו לה רבנן פייסא סוף עבודה דיממא היא,האי נמי תחלת עבודה דיממא היא דאמר ר' יוחנן קידש ידיו לתרומת הדשן למחר אין צריך לקדש שכבר קידש מתחילת עבודה,אימא שכבר קידש מתחילה לעבודה,איכא דאמרי מעיקרא סבור כיון דאיכא אונס שינה לא אתו כיון דחזו דאתו וקאתו נמי לידי סכנה תקינו לה רבנן פייסא והרי איברים ופדרים דאיכא אונס שינה ותקינו לה רבנן פייסא שאני מיגנא ממיקם,ותקנתא להך גיסא הואי תקנתא להאי גיסא הואי דתניא מי שזכה בתרומת הדשן (יזכה) בסידור מערכה ובשני גזירי עצים,אמר רב אשי שתי תקנות הוו מעיקרא סבור לא אתו כיון דחזו דקאתו ואתו נמי לידי סכנה תקינו לה פייסא כיון דתקינו לה פייסא לא אתו אמרי מי יימר דמתרמי לן הדר תקינו להו מי שזכה בתרומת הדשן יזכה בסידור מערכה ובשני גזירי עצים כי היכי דניתו וניפייסו,ובזמן שהן מרובין וכו' אמר רב פפא פשיטא לי ארבע אמות דארעא לא רצין ועולין בכבש תנן קמייתא נמי לא רצין ועולין בכבש תנן והדר כל הקודם את חבירו,דביני ביני נמי לא דלא מסיימא מילתא פשיטא לי דגבי מזבח תנן,בעי רב פפא ארבע אמות שאמרו בהדיה אמה יסוד ואמה סובב | 22a. strongMISHNA: /strong bInitially,the practice among the priests was that bwhoever wishes to removethe ashes from bthe altar removes them. And when there are manypriests who wish to perform that task, the privilege to do so is determined by a race: The priests brun and ascend on the rampleading to the top of the altar. bAnypriest bwho precedes anotherand reaches within bfour cubitsof the top of the altar first bis privilegedto remove the ashes. bAnd if both of them were equaland neither preceded the other, bthe appointedpriest says to all the priests: bExtendyour bfingers,and a lottery was performed, as will be explained., bAnd whatfingers bdo they extendfor the lottery? They may extend bone or twofingers, bandthe priests bdo not extend a thumb in the Temple.The reason is that the lottery was conducted by the appointee choosing a number and counting the extended fingers of the priests standing in a circle. As the count progressed, a priest could calculate and manipulate the result in his favor by surreptitiously extending his thumb and an additional finger. Since there is separation between the thumb and the forefinger it could appear as though they belonged to two different priests, skewing the results of the lottery.,Initially, that was the procedure; however, ban incidentoccurred bwhere both of them were equalas they were brunning and ascending on the ramp, and one of them shoved another and he fell and his leg was broken. And once the court saw thatpeople bwere coming topotential bdanger, they instituted thatpriests bwould removeashes from bthe altar onlyby means bof a lottery. There were four lotteries there,in the Temple, on a daily basis to determine the priests privileged to perform the various services, band this,determining which priest would remove the ashes, was bthe first lottery. /b, strongGEMARA: /strong The Gemara questions the original practice of holding a race to determine which priest would remove the ashes: bAnd what is the reason that the Sages did not initially institute a lottery forthe removal of the ashes as they did for other parts of the service? The Gemara answers: bInitiallythey bthought:Since it is ba serviceperformed bat night it would not be important tothe priests, and bnotmany of them would bcometo perform it, so a lottery would be unnecessary. Then, bwhen they saw thatmany priests bdidindeed bcome andthat bthey were coming to dangerby racing up the altar’s ramp, bthey instituted a lottery. /b,The Gemara poses a question against the assertion that nighttime Temple services did not normally require a lottery: bBut there isthe burning of the blimbsof burnt-offerings band the fatsof other offerings, bwhich is a servicethat is performed at bnight, andnevertheless bthe Sages instituted a lotteryfor that from the outset. The Gemara answers: The burning of those parts is not considered a nighttime service but bthe end of a daytime service,as the main part of the sacrificial service, the slaughtering and the sprinkling of blood, took place during the day.,The Gemara asks: If so, it could be argued that bthisservice of removing the ashes is balsonot a nighttime service but bthe start of a daytime service, as Rabbi Yoḥa said:If a priest has bsanctified his handsat night by washing them bfor the removal of the ashes, the next day,i.e., after daybreak, if he remained in the confines of the Temple, bhe need not sanctifyhis hands again, bbecause he already sanctifiedthem bat the start of the service.Apparently, the removal of the ashes, though performed at night, is considered the start of the next day’s service.,The Gemara responds by emending Rabbi Yoḥa’s statement: bSaythe following version of the end of Rabbi Yoḥa’s statement: bBecause he had already sanctifiedthem bat the outset for service.According to this formulation, Rabbi Yoḥa did not say that the removal of the ashes is considered the start of the following day’s service. Rather, he said that although the removal of the ashes is a nighttime service, since the priest sanctified his hands before performing that service, the sanctification remains in effect for the services performed after daybreak as well, since there is no interruption between the two activities., bSome saythat the original practice should be explained as follows: bInitially,the Sages bthoughtthat bsince there isa likelihood of being bovercome by sleepat that time of night, bnotmany priests bwould come. When they saw that they didindeed bcome andthat bthey were also coming to danger, the Sages instituted a lotteryfor this task. The Gemara asks: bBut there isthe burning of the blimbsof burnt-offerings band the fatsof other offerings, a service for bwhich there isthe same likelihood of being bovercome by sleep,and nevertheless bthe Sages instituted a lotteryfor that from the outset. The Gemara answers: bLying downto go to sleep late bis different from risingin the middle of the night. It is not as difficult to stay up late in order to burn limbs on the altar as it is to rise before dawn to remove the ashes from the altar.,The Gemara addresses the substance of the mishna’s claim: bBut was the ordiceto assign the removal of ashes by means of a lottery bdue to that reasoncited in the mishna, the matter of the dangerous incident? bThe ordicewas instituted bdue to this reason:There were other important tasks associated with the removal of the ashes that required a lottery in their own right, bas it was taughtin a ibaraita /i: The priest bwho was privileged toperform bthe removal of the ashes wasalso bprivileged with laying out the arrangement of woodon the altar and with placing bthe two logsthat were placed on the altar each morning. Since these were inherently important tasks, the only way to assign them was through a lottery, which would also determine who removed the ashes.,The Gemara answers: bRav Ashi said: There were twoseparate bordicesinstituted. bInitially,the Sages bthoughtthat priests bwould notcome forward to perform the task of removing the ashes. bOnce they saw thatmany priests bdid come andthat bthey were also coming to danger,the Sages binstituted a lotteryfor this task. bOnce they established a lotteryfor removing the ashes, the priests bdid not comeanymore. bThey said: Who saysthe lottery bwill fall in our favor?Therefore, they did not bother to come. bThenthe Sages binstituted forthe priests that bwhoever was privileged withperforming bthe removal of the ashes wouldalso bbe privileged with laying out the arrangement of woodon the altar and with placing the btwo logs, so thatthe importance of all these tasks combined would ensure that the priests bwould come and participate in the lottery. /b,§ It was taught in the mishna that before the lottery was instituted, bwhen there were manypriests who sought to perform the removal of the ashes, the first priest to reach within four cubits of the top of the altar was privileged with performing the removal of the ashes. bRav Pappa said:It is bobvious to methat the bfour cubitsthe mishna is referring to are not the four cubits adjacent to the ramp bon the ground,because bwe learnedin the mishna that the priests brun and ascend on the ramp,and not adjacent to the ramp. It is balso notreferring to the bfirstfour cubits from the foot of the ramp, because bwe learnedthat the priests brun and ascend on the ramp, and only afterwardit says: bAnypriest bwho precedes anotherand reaches within four cubits of the altar first, indicating that the competition begins only once they have ascended the ramp to some extent.,It is balso notreferring to four cubits somewhere in the bmiddle,between the four on the bottom and the top of the altar, because bthe matter is not definedand there is no clear indication which four cubits on the ramp are the determining cubits. In light of all this, it is bobvious to methat the four cubits bwe learnedin the mishna are referring to the four cubits bthat are adjacent to the altaritself. The priest who reaches those four cubits first is the one privileged to remove the ashes.,Rav Pappa braised a dilemmabased on the above clarification: Are the bfour cubits that they stated,which are the four cubits adjacent to the altar, calculated bincluding the cubit of the baseof the altar band the cubit ofits bledge,as the ramp continues and overlaps these two cubits at the top of the altar |
