{"id":10118,"date":"2006-06-26T23:24:00","date_gmt":"2006-06-26T23:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/life\/other\/masechet_yoma_23a29b\/"},"modified":"2015-10-21T13:54:46","modified_gmt":"2015-10-21T18:54:46","slug":"masechet_yoma_23a29b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_yoma_23a29b\/","title":{"rendered":"Masechet Yoma 23a-29b"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Coming Week’s Daf Yomi by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz<\/em><\/p>\n

This essay is based upon the insights and chidushim (original ideas) of Talmudic scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, as published in the Hebrew version of the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud.<\/em><\/p>\n

This month’s Steinsaltz Daf Yomi is sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. Alan Harris, The Lewy Family Foundation, and Marilyn and Edward Kaplan<\/em><\/p>\n

Yoma 23<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Mishnah<\/a> (22a<\/a>) described the competition that took place on the ramp of the mizbe’ach <\/em>in order to choose the kohen<\/a><\/em> who would perform the terumat ha-deshen<\/em> \u2013 cleaning ash from the altar \u2013 every morning. According to the Mishnah, the practice was abandoned in favor of a lottery system after one of the kohanim<\/em> was pushed off the kevesh<\/em> and was injured.<\/p>\n

Our Gemara<\/a> tells of an even more frightening story that was related to this competition. A baraita<\/a><\/em> records that once two kohanim<\/em> were racing up the ramp and one drew a knife and stabbed the other. When the father of the kohen<\/em> who was stabbed came to his son, he found that he still had a breath of life in him and proclaimed “at least the knife did not become ritually defiled.” This story indicates the low level to which the priesthood had fallen towards the end of the second Temple<\/a> period, that they were more concerned with the laws of ritual purity than the fact that someone had been murdered.<\/p>\n

The baraita<\/em> further records that a kohen<\/em> named Rabbi Tzadok stood up and lectured the assembled people, comparing the murder that took place to a case of eglah arufah<\/em> (see Devarim<\/a> 21:1-9<\/a>) \u2013 the ceremony that was done in a case where a dead body is found between two cities, and the murderer cannot be found. The leaders of both cities come as representatives of their respective cities to state that their city did all it could to protect this person, and to ask for atonement.<\/p>\n

The Gemara points out that the case in the Temple was not truly analogous. In our case, the identity of the murderer was known, and the murder took place in Jerusalem, a city that is excluded from the regulations of \u00a0eglah arufah<\/em>. The Gemara explains that the purpose of the analogy was to make the people realize the severity of what had happened. As the Ritva<\/a> explains, if in the case of eglah arufah<\/em>, where it is not clear that anyone from the nearby city was responsible for the man’s death, nevertheless the city’s representatives had to accept a level of responsibility, in our case there is certainly a need for soul-searching after such a murder had taken place.<\/p>\n

It appears that the Rabbi Tzadok of this story lived at the very end of the second Temple period, and is the same individual about whom the Gemara in Gittin<\/a> relates that he fasted for 40 years in the hope that the Temple would be saved. The Gemara in Gittin also tells that one of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai’s<\/a> requests from the Emperor Vespasian<\/a> was to send doctors to heal Rabbi Tzadok. Nevertheless, some identify Rabbi Tzadok as someone who lived in a much earlier period.<\/p>\n

\n

Yoma 24<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

What parts of the Temple<\/a> service are limited specifically to kohanim<\/a><\/em> and forbidden to others? The Gemara<\/a> on our daf <\/em>brings a difference of opinion on the matter. According to Rav<\/a>, there are four activities:<\/p>\n