1of gold. Although the lamb was examined and deemed unblemished earlier in the evening, the priests examine it now by the light of the torches.
2MISHNA 3:5 The priests who won the privilege of the removal of ash from the inner altar and of the removal of ash from the Candelabrum would precede the other priests and would hold four vessels in their hands: The basket, and the jug, and the two keys. The basket is similar to a large gold vessel with a capacity of three kav [ letarkav ], but it holds only two and a half kav . And the jug is similar to a large flask [ lekitton ] of gold. And as for the two keys, with one of them the priest would lower his arm to his armpit through a small opening in the door and open the lock that was at the bottom of the door on the inside, and he would pass through that door into a compartment. And the other one is the key with which the priest opened the lock on the inner door of the compartment, through which he entered the Sanctuary, and that lock he opened directly.
3MISHNA 3:6 The priest came to the northern wicket. There were two wickets for the large gate, one in the northern part of the gate and one in the southern part. Through the wicket that was in the southern part, no person entered. In its regard, the wicket’s status is clarified by the prophet Ezekiel, as it is stated: “Then he brought me back the way of the outer gate of the Sanctuary, which looks toward the east; and it was shut. And the Lord said unto me: This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered in by it; and it shall be shut” (Ezekiel 44:1–2).
4The priest took the key, opened the wicket north of the gate, and entered the compartment. He went from the compartment to the Sanctuary and continued until he would reach the large gate. Once he reached the large gate, which was locked from the inside, he moved the bolt and the locks fixing the bolt in place and opened the gate. The priest who slaughters the daily offering would not slaughter the animal until he would hear that the large gate had been opened.
5MISHNA 3:7 From Jericho the people would hear the sound indicating that the large gate had been opened. From Jericho the people would hear the sound produced in the Temple by the instrument that had the form of a shovel. From Jericho the people would hear the sound of the song of the Levites in the Temple. From Jericho the people would hear the sound of ben Arza clashing the cymbals in the Temple. From Jericho the people would hear the sound of the flute that was played in the Temple twelve days each year.
6From Jericho the people would hear the voice of Gevini the Temple crier, who would proclaim in the Temple each day: Arise, priests, to your service, and Levites to your platform, and Israelites to your non-priestly watch. From Jericho the people would hear the sound of the wood that ben Katin crafted into a mechanism of pulleys for the Basin. From Jericho the people would hear the sound of the song of the Levites in the Temple. From Jericho the people would hear the sound of the shofar that was sounded several times each day in the Temple. And some say that in Jericho the people would hear even the voice of the High Priest at the moment that he mentioned the ineffable name of God on Yom Kippur.
7From Jericho the people would smell the fragrance emanating from the preparation of the incense in the Temple. Rabbi Elazar ben Diglai said: There were goats belonging to my father that grazed in the cities of Mikhvar, located at a distance from Jerusalem, and they would sneeze from the fragrance of the preparation of the incense that they smelled.
8MISHNA 3:8 The priest who won the lottery to slaughter the daily offering pulled the lamb, and he would go to the slaughterhouse to slaughter it as the daily offering. And the priests who won the right to take the limbs up to the ramp would go with him. The slaughterhouse was to the north of the altar. Adjacent to it there were eight low stone pillars. And cedarwood squares were affixed upon them, and iron hooks were fixed in the wooden squares. And there were three rows of hooks on each and every one of those wooden squares, upon which the priests would suspend the animal after it was slaughtered. And they would flay the animal’s hide onto marble tables that were positioned between the pillars.
9MISHNA 3:9 The priest who won the right of the removal of ash from the inner altar entered through the Sanctuary gate, and he took the basket with him and placed it before him on the floor between him and the altar. And he would take handfuls of ashes from upon the altar and place them in the basket. Ultimately, when only a small amount of ashes remained on the altar, the priest swept the rest into the basket, and placed the basket back on the Sanctuary floor, and emerged from the Sanctuary.
10The priest who won the right of the removal of ash from the Candelabrum entered the Sanctuary. And if he found in the Candelabrum the two easternmost lamps , the second of which is called the western lamp, still burning, he would first remove the ashes and the burned wicks from the rest of the lamps and place them in the jug, and place new wicks and oil in those lamps. And he would leave these two lamps burning in their own place. If he found that the two easternmost lamps were extinguished, he would remove the ashes and the burned wicks from them and kindle them from the lamps that were still burning. If none were still burning, he would kindle them from the fire on the outer altar. And afterward, the priest would remove the ashes and the wicks from the rest of the lamps.
11And there was a stone in front of the Candelabrum and in it there were three stairs upon which the priest would stand and prepare the lamps for kindling. Since the Candelabrum was eighteen handbreadths high, it was necessary for the priest to stand on an elevated surface to reach the lamps. And after he placed the ashes and the wicks from the five westernmost lamps in the jug, he would place the jug on the second stair of that stone, and then he emerged from the Sanctuary. When the priest later returned to prepare the two easternmost lamps for kindling, he would remove the jug with the ashes from the Candelabrum, and together with the priest removing the basket with the ashes from the inner altar would pour the ashes from the jug and the basket at the side of the altar.
12MISHNA: In preparing the lamb of the daily offering for sacrifice, the priests would not tie the lamb by fastening all four of its legs together; rather, they would bind it by fastening each hind leg to the corresponding foreleg. The priests who won the right to take the limbs up to the ramp would hold the lamb in place while it was being slaughtered. And this was the manner of its binding: The animal would be stood in the northern part of the courtyard while its head would be directed to the south, toward the altar, and its face would be turned to the west, toward the Sanctuary. And the slaughterer would stand to the east of the animal, and his face would be to the west.
13Twenty-four rings were affixed to the courtyard floor north of the altar, designated for placement of the animal’s neck during its slaughter. The daily offering of the morning was slaughtered at the northwest corner of the altar, at the second ring. The daily offering of the afternoon was slaughtered at the northeast corner of the altar, at the second ring.
14After the slaughterer has slaughtered the lamb and the receiver has received its blood in a vessel to sprinkle on the altar, the priest comes to the northeast corner of the altar and places the first sprinkling in such a manner that the blood will reach the eastern and northern sides of the altar. Next, the priest comes to the southwest corner of the altar and places a second sprinkling in a manner such that the blood will reach the western and southern sides of the altar. With regard to the remainder of the blood, the priest would pour it at the southern base of the altar, at its southwest corner.