Yoma 25 a, b

Using logic, the rabbis attempt to better understand the workings of the lottery system.  Continuing with questions about clothing, they wonder whether only sacred or non-sacred clothing might be worn (as we are told that the priests are wearing trousers - and what else?).  They wonder about the structure of the group, perhaps in the shape of a bracelet and perhaps in a spiral shape to ensure that noone would know where the count would end.  We learn that an outside person removes the scepter of one priest, demonstrating that he will be the first in the count.  Removing non-sacred clothing proves that non-sacred clothing was allowed! Thus the priests might have been wearing their non-sacred garb.  Also the rabbis surmise the location of the room where this happens, and that there must be door on either side of the room.  One of those doors leads to a sacred space and the other to a non-sacred space.

The rabbis are brilliant a deducing how, what, when and why.  They can piece together a reality that is believable and yet fantastical.  At the same time, they are locked in the black/white thinking of their context.  Why must sacred and non-sacred be perfectly separate?  These distinctions between things is a marker of ancient Jewish thought - but our brilliant Sages might have seen past that construction.

A new Mishna speaks of a second lottery, which invites many new questions from our rabbis.  What was determined in each lottery - was there a new lottery for each role?  What did the priests do about tasks where no specific person was chosen?  Clearly some tasks were more prestigious, more coveted, more fun.  The rabbis are concerned that people might shortcut the processes in order to avoid or prolong their work.  They are desperate to understand the precise workings of the Temple.

The rabbis determine that the person who collects the blood is the same person who sprinkles the blood.  This is confirmed when the rabbis remember that a non-priest can take part in the slaughter.  The slaughterer cannot always perform the sprinkling, while the collector of blood can - if he is also the sprinkler.

The daf ends with graphic and challenging descriptions of the preparation of animals for slaughter.  They are cut into pieces, skinned, and carried in a specific sequence to the alter, where they are burned in a particular order.  The business-like, callous descriptions of something so tremendously bloody is off-putting.  Clearly I am too far removed from the world of the rabbis to appreciate this description.