YOMA - 039a – אמר להם הממונה – פרק שלישי - יומא, לט ע”א

If one comes to measure naphtha, he tells him: Measure it yourself.

בא - if the buyer comes to measure naphtha, which smells bad, the seller tells him: Measure it yourself:

If one comes to measure balsam, he tells him: Wait for me, so that I may measure with you, and we will both be perfumed.^[1]

The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: Sin dulls a person's heart.

מטמטמת - it seals and closes it off from all wisdom:

As it is said (Vayikra 11:43): Do not make yourselves impure with them, lest you become impure through them.

ונטמתם - it is written without an aleph:

Do not read ונטמאתם ("you will become impure"), but ונטמטם ("you will become dulled").

The Rabbis taught: Do not make yourselves impure with them, lest you become impure through them — if a person makes himself a little impure, he is made very impure; if from below, he is made impure from above; if in this world, he is made impure for the World to Come.

מטמאין אותו הרבה - he is allowed to become very impure. This is what the verse says: Do not become impure through them, for if you do, in the end you will become impure:

The Rabbis taught (Vayikra 11:44): Sanctify yourselves, and you will be holy — if a person sanctifies himself a little, he is made very holy; if from below, he is made holy from above; if in this world, he is made holy for the World to Come.

והתקדשתם - a little, and you will be holy — very much; one who comes to purify himself is helped:

Chapter Four: Taraf BaKalpi

Mishnah

He shook the urn,

טרף בקלפי - we learned in the previous perek (Yoma 37a): And an urn was there:

טרף - suddenly, with a snatch and a grab:

and drew up two lots,

והעלה שני גורלות - one in his right hand and one in his left; the goats stand one on the right and one on the left, and he gives the lot drawn in the right hand to the goat on the right:

on one was written "For Hashem," and on the other was written "For Azazel."^[2]

The segan was at his right, and the head of the family at his left.^[3]

If the lot for Hashem came up in his right hand, the segan says to him: My master, Kohen Gadol, raise your right hand.

And if the lot for Hashem came up in his left hand, the head of the family says to him: My master, Kohen Gadol, raise your left hand.

He placed them on the two goats and said: To Hashem, a chatas.

Rabbi Yishmael says: He did not need to say "a chatas," only "To Hashem."

And they respond after him: Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.

והן עונין אחריו - when he mentions the Name:

Gemara

Why do I need he shook the urn?

So that he will not aim for one and take it.

דלא ניכוין - so that he should not feel about to tell which is the lot for Hashem and take it in his right hand, since it is a good sign when it comes up in the right:

Rava said: The urn was of wood, and it was unconsecrated, and it held no more than two hands.

ושל חול היתה - it was not consecrated:

Ravina objected: It makes sense that it held no more than two hands, so that he would not aim and take; but why unconsecrated? Let it be consecrated!

If so, it would be a service vessel of wood, and we do not make service vessels of wood.^[4]

Then let it be made of silver! Let it be made of gold!

The Torah is sparing with the money of Israel.

התורה חסה כו' - as it is said (Vayikra 14:36): The kohen shall command that they empty the house, etc. What did the Torah spare? Earthenware jugs, which cannot be purified in a mikveh. If it spared cheap property, all the more so valuable property; if it spared the property of the wicked, all the more so the property of the righteous:

Our Mishnah is not in accordance with this Tanna, as it was taught: Rabbi Yehudah says in the name of Rabbi Eliezer: The segan and the Kohen Gadol put their hands into the urn.^[5]

If it comes up in the right hand of the Kohen Gadol, the segan says to him: My master, Kohen Gadol, raise your right hand.

And if it comes up in the right hand of the segan, the head of the family says to the Kohen Gadol: Speak your word.

ואם בימינו של סגן עלה ראש בית אב אומר לו לכהן גדול דבר מילך - say your words: To Hashem, a chatas:

Let the segan say it to him!

Since it did not come up in his own hand, he would feel slighted.

כיון דלא סליק בידיה - the Kohen Gadol's, but it came up in the segan's hand, the Kohen Gadol would feel slighted if the segan said it to him:

What do they disagree about?

One holds: the segan's right hand ranks above the Kohen Gadol's left; and the other holds: they are equal.

And who is the Tanna who disagrees with Rabbi Yehudah?

It is Rabbi Chanina, the segan of the kohanim.

As it was taught: Rabbi Chanina, the segan of the kohanim, says: Why is the segan at his right? So that if a disqualification befalls the Kohen Gadol, the segan enters and serves in his place.

למה סגן מימינו כו' - that he always walks at his right; so they said in the name of Rabbi Yitzchak HaLevi. But I heard from Rabbeinu Yitzchak bar Yehudah: why is a segan appointed? In case a disqualification occurs; but as long as no disqualification occurs, the segan performs no service at all:

The Rabbis taught: For the forty years that Shimon HaTzaddik served,^[6] the lot came up in the right hand; from then on, sometimes in the right, sometimes in the left.

And the tongue of crimson wool would turn white; from then on, sometimes it turned white, sometimes it did not.

לשון של זהורית - combed wool drawn out like a tongue and dyed red, tied to the head of the goat that was sent away. It would turn white by itself, a sign that Hashem had forgiven Israel, as it is said (Yeshayahu 1:18): If your sins are like crimson, they shall become white as snow:

And the western lamp would stay lit; from then on, sometimes it stayed lit, sometimes it went out.

והיה נר מערבי דולק - after all the other lamps had gone out. Although the evening lighting began from it, the morning cleaning of the lamps ended with it. It is testimony that the Shechinah rests upon Israel, as it is written: Outside the curtain of the testimony, and we say in Maseches Shabbos (Shabbos 22b): It is testimony to all who come into the world that the Shechinah rests upon Israel; and we say there: What is the testimony? This is the western lamp, into which he put oil like the measure of its fellows, and from it he would begin and with it he would end. Which is the western lamp? According to the view (Menachos 98b) that the seven lamps were arranged east to west, the western lamp is the second, next to the first in the east, as we learned (Tamid 6:1): One entered and found the two eastern lamps burning, etc. According to the view that they lay north to south, the middle one, whose face was turned toward the west, is called western, and the other lamps had their faces turned toward the middle one, as it is written (Bamidbar 8:3): Toward the face of the Menorah — that is, the middle one — the lamps of the six branches shall shine:

And the fire of the altar pyre would grow strong,

והיה אש המערכה מתגבר - burning by itself without more wood; they did not need to bring wood once they had arranged it in the morning:

and the kohanim did not need to bring wood to the pyre except for the two logs, to fulfill the mitzvah of wood;

חוץ משני גזירין - of the afternoon, which are obligatory, as we said earlier in our perek:

from then on, sometimes it grew strong, sometimes it did not, and the kohanim did not hold back from bringing wood to the pyre all day long.

And blessing was sent into the omer, the two loaves and the lechem hapanim,^[7] and every kohen who received an olive's bulk — some ate it and were satisfied, and some ate it and left some over;

from then on, a curse was sent into the omer, the two loaves and the lechem hapanim,

נשתלחה מאירה - that it did not satisfy him:

and every kohen received a portion the size of a bean; the modest ones withdrew their hands, and the gluttons took and ate.

וכל כהן מגיעו כפול - less than an olive's bulk; once they saw that it did not satisfy, the modest withdrew their hands (and if there was enough left over, they did not withdraw their hands); and in the days of Shimon, those who received a bean's size did not withdraw their hands:

And it happened that one took his portion and his fellow's portion, and they would call him the son of^[8]

Tosafos

מתני' טרף בקלפי וכו'. וקראו אותו חמצן כל ימיו - even though other gluttons also snatched and ate as he did, why was he called a snatcher more than the others? One may say: because he snatched from another snatcher. Alternatively, the others did not mind when they snatched from one another, but when this one snatched from his hand, he minded:

Notes

1. 1. The parable illustrates the teaching at the end of the previous amud: one who comes to become impure is given an opening, and one who comes to purify himself is helped. [יומא לח, ב]
2. 2. The two goats of Yom Kippur: one is offered as a chatas to Hashem, and the other is sent away to Azazel. [ויקרא טז, ח]
3. 3. The segan is the deputy appointed under the Kohen Gadol; the head of the family is the head of the family of kohanim serving that day.
4. 4. The vessels used in the service of the Beis HaMikdash are not made of wood.
5. 5. In our Mishnah the Kohen Gadol draws both lots, one in each hand; according to Rabbi Yehudah, he and the segan each put in their right hand.
6. 6. Shimon HaTzaddik was Kohen Gadol early in the Second Temple period, one of the last members of the Great Assembly.
7. 7. The three communal meal-offerings eaten by the kohanim: the omer on Pesach, the two loaves on Shavuos, and the lechem hapanim every Shabbos.
8. 8. The sentence continues at the head of the next amud [יומא לט, ב].