Tuesday 3 December 2013

Yoma 26 a, b

Amud (a), following a gruesome description of a head and fat being presented as offering, focuses on the priestly lotteries.  It is agreed there are four daily lotteries.  Families are chosen for weekly service, and within those families, lotteries determine who completes the most lauded tasks - because they are completely consumed on the altar - burning the incense and sacrificing the burnt offering.  On Shabbat, the families would rotate service after the morning and before the afternoon watches.  This helped the rabbis to determine when the four daily lotteries were performed.

I continue to find this material confusing.  I do not understand the full workings of the lottery itself, nor do I appreciate the scope of the tasks to be done by each individual.  It is not clear to me whether families or individuals are chosen in those lotteries, and when/why each might be chosen.

Amud (b) focuses on a few specific tasks.  The water libation is not Torah-taught but 'from Moses on Sinai', meaning that it was passed down through Oral Law.  It only took place in the morning of Sukkot.  Because it was an Oral Law, of rabbinic origin, and not Torah-derived, the Sadducees did not observe this halacha. We learn about the Hasmonean Priest and King Alexander Yannai who poured the water onto his feet instead of onto the alter, causing a riot to break out where Jews threw their etrogim at the King.  The King let his gentile guards loose on to the crowd, and many were killed.

The wood offering is discussed in some detail as well.  There must have been two pieces of wood, as we learn about "eitzim", which is plural.  The rabbis try to surmize how many priests carried out and placed the wood, as the Torah refers to 'him' in the singular and plural forms at different times.

We end with a new Mishnah.  It is suggested that different animal offerings requrie different numbers of priests.  Not to flay or cut up the animal, but to put its pieces into the fire. This is derived from Torah, as the original relatives of Aaron the Priest are asked to actually burn the offerings.












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