SHEYIBANEH BEIT HAMIKDASH...
A series of articles on Beit HaMikdash-related topics by Catriel Sugarman intended to increase the knowledge, interest, and anticipation of the reader, thereby hastening the realization of our hopes and prayers for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash.

"How Many Olei Regel Actually Came to Jerusalem on Pesach?"
The Gemara reads, "Our rabbis taught: King Agrippa once wanted to cast his eyes on the populations of Israel (i.e. take a census). He said to the Kohein Gadol, 'Cast your eyes on the Korbanot Pesach (brought by the Olei Regel). He (the Kohein Gadol) thereupon took a kidney from each KP and 600,000 pairs of kidneys (ZugeiKelayot) were found there, twice as many as those who departed from Egypt excluding those who were ritually impure, and those who were on a distant journey. There was not a single Korban Pesach for which more than ten people had not registered (600,000 X 2 = 1,200,000 X 10 = 12,000,000!); and they called it, 'The Passover of the dense crowds'" (Pesachim 64b). Josephus has a different version. "So these high priests, upon the coming of that feast which is called the Passover…. when they slay their sacrifices (i.e. the Korban Pesach)… a company (a Chavura) of not less than ten belong to every sacrifice… and many of us are twenty in a company. (The high priests) found the number of sacrifices 256,500; which, upon the allowance of no more than ten that feast together, amounts to (at the very least) 2,700,200 that were pure and holy." This enormous number did not count "those that have leprosy or gonorrhea or women that have their monthly courses, or such as are otherwise polluted… nor foreigners who come here to worship" (Wars Bk 6 Ch.9:6).

IMHO, neither of these accounts can be taken literally. The Aggadata, the non- Halachic component of Torah She'be'al Peh (the Oral Tradition), to which the Gemara's account belongs, does not consist of simple-minded fairy tales that are meant to be taken literally; they represent ideas written down in "coded form: the obscure form of parable and hint." The Aggadata must be understood on many levels. Even the most cursory glance at the celebrated introduction of the Rambam to the tenth Perek of Mishnat Sanhedrin will reveal his negative opinion of those "fools" who do take the Aggadata literally. "As the Lord lives, this group ruins the glory of the Torah, darkens its splendor, and turns G-d's Torah into exactly the opposite of what it means… This group expounds the words of the Sages in such a way that if the nations could hear them (and today they do!), they would say, '…this foolish, vile and insignificant people!" Aggadata, "primarily deals with the principles of faith, the philosophy, and the ethical ideas of Judaism …it includes all those interpretations of Biblical verses and stories which are unrelated to Halacha; expositions of the importance of the mitzvot and the rewards and punishments which they entail…" (The Juggler and the King, Rav Aaron Feldman, pg xxi, xxii). The somewhat more modest numbers that Josephus provides are still vastly exaggerated. Were there really, "2,700,200 who were pure and holy"?

Classics scholar, and author of many books on the period, Professor Paul Maire, comments, "Like most ancient historians, Josephus had trouble with numbers, uncritically accepting and transmitting augmented statistics as to population and distance sizes, the number of battle casualties, and even mountain heights. Mt. Tabor, for example, tops 'thirty stadia' or 18,200 feet in Josephus, when in fact, it is only 1,920 [feet tall!]" (The New Complete Works of Josephus, pg. 14). That the real number of OleiRegel was considerably smaller may be surmised from the very realistic descriptions of the Olei Regel in the Mikdash in the fifth Perek of Mishnat Pesachim. All the Zovchim - those offering the Korban Pesach in any given year in the Mikdash - could be fitted into the limited space of the Azara in three Kitot (groups) and the people in the third Kat "were but few." Professor D. Chwolson (Das letzte Passamahl Christi, 1892, as noted by Professor Shmuel Safrai in his HaAliyah LeRegel Be'mei HaBayit HaSheini pg. 73) measured the area of the Azara as noted in the sources. (Excluding the area of the Bayit and the Mizbei'ach as well as the space needed to slaughter the multitude of Korbanot Pesach, he also had to take into account the space required to dismember and flay the sacrificial animals, not to mention the long lines of Kohanim that stretched from the areas of slaughter to the Mizbei'ach. After slaughter, Kohanim received the blood in Mikdash vessels and passed them from hand to hand in the direction of the Mizbei'ach.

The last Kohein in line poured the blood on the wall of the Mizbei'ach.) Chwolson then calculated how many people could fit into the available space and multiplied the number of Zovchim by ten because both in the rabbinical literature, and in Josephus, it is reported that at least ten people "were registered" in every Chavura. He calculated that 100,000 people ate Korbanot Pesach. Another scholar, by calculating that two Olei Regel with their sacrificial animals could fit into a square meter, concluded that the first and second Kitot consisted of 6400 Olei Regel and the third "being but few" had less. He then multiplied the Zovchim by ten reaching a figure of approximately 180,000.

The Torah excuses those "on a distant journey" from the Mitzva of bringing and eating the Korban Pesach (Bamidbar 9:10). An undeservedly little known Mishna reads, "What counts as a 'distant journey'? Beyond Modi'im or a like distance in any direction. So says R. Akiva. R. Eliezer says, 'Beyond the threshold of the Temple Court (Iskupat Ha'azara).' R. Yosi said: Therefore there is a dot over the (Hebrew letter) HEI (in the Hebrew word Rechokah, distant), as if to say, not because it is indeed far off, (but only far off as) the threshold of the Temple Court and beyond" (Pesachim 9:2). Though their rulings were not accepted as normative Halacha,it is interesting to note how prominent these two dissenting sages actually were. R. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, the only Tanna in the Mishna to have Hagadol (the "Great") added to his name, was a favorite student of R. Yochanan ben Zakkai, the leader of the Jewish people in the turbulent period before the Destruction of Jerusalem and the period immediately afterward. The founder of the great Yeshiva of Yavne, R. Yochanan ben Zakkai compared R. Eliezer to a "sealed cistern which does not lose a drop." He added, "If all the Sages of Israel were in one scale of the balance and Eliezer ben Hyrcanus in the second scale, he would outweigh them all" (Avot2:12) and, in fact, he was one of the two students who carried R. Yochanan's "coffin" out of besieged Jerusalem (Gittin 56b). R. Yochanan called his other student R. Yosi (Hakohein), a Chasid, a saint (Avot 2:12). Avot D'Rabbi Natan, a homiletical exposition of Perkei Avot, crowned R. Yosi the "Chassid of the generation". Both of these sages saw the Mikdash in its glory and certainly were thoroughly familiar with "Mikdash logistics". Nevertheless, the later Halacha is based on the contrary ruling of R. Akiva, the disciple of R. Yochanan and the spiritual leader of the next (i.e. the post - Mikdash) generation. Rambam summarizes, "Someone who was at a distance of 15 mil or more from Jerusalem at sun rise on the 14th of Nisan is considered 'on a distant journey' (and is exempt from bringing the Korban Pesach). If he was at a distance of less (than 15 mil from Jerusalem), he is not considered on a distant journey because he is able to arrive in Jerusalem by Chatzot, midday" (Hil. Korban Pesach 1:1).

Catriel's book in progress: The Temple of Jerusalem, A Pilgrim’s Perspective; A Guided Tour through the Temple and the Divine Service