{"id":10127,"date":"2006-07-05T22:54:01","date_gmt":"2006-07-05T22:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/life\/other\/masechet_yoma_30a36b\/"},"modified":"2015-10-21T14:11:35","modified_gmt":"2015-10-21T19:11:35","slug":"masechet_yoma_30a36b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_yoma_30a36b\/","title":{"rendered":"Masechet Yoma 30a-36b"},"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 30a-b<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Mishnah<\/a> on our daf <\/em>teaches that no one was permitted to enter the azarah<\/em> (courtyard) to participate in the Temple service unless he first performed tevilah<\/em> – immersed in a mikvah<\/a>,<\/em> a ritual bath. On Yom Kippur<\/a><\/em>, the kohen gadol<\/a><\/em> performed this tevilah<\/em> five times, as he walked back and forth between different parts of the mikdash<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Rashi<\/a> explains the Mishnah (the Jerusalem Talmud<\/a> makes this point, as well) as referring not only to someone who entered the precincts of the Temple to perform avodah<\/em>, but to anyone who had reason to enter the sanctuary, even if he was not planning to participate in the Temple service. Some explain that this is necessary only because a kohen<\/a><\/em> who is found on the premises may be invited to participate in some aspect of the avodah<\/em>, and therefore must be prepared to do so.<\/p>\n

The discussion of tevilah<\/em> as preparation to enter the mikdash <\/em>leads the Gemara<\/a> to teach of another person who needs to go to the mikvah<\/em> in order to take care of his business in the Temple: a metzora<\/em> – a person who has recovered from a case of Biblical leprosy<\/a>. As is taught in Vayikra<\/a> 14<\/a>, and elucidated upon in Masechet<\/a> Nega’im<\/a><\/em>, a person who shows the signs of leprosy to a kohen<\/em> is declared a metzora<\/em>. Such a person will be obligated to sit outside the community encampment until he recovers from his illness.<\/p>\n

When he sees signs of recovery, he again approaches the kohen<\/em>, and if he is found to have healed, he waits a week (during which time he remains ritually defiled, but to a lesser extent than during the previous week), at which point he will do tevilah<\/em>. On the following day he will go to the Temple to bring the appropriate sacrifices<\/a> and will have blood<\/a> from the sacrifice placed on his thumb and big toe, at which point he is considered, once again, to have fully recovered and to be ritually pure.<\/p>\n

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Yoma 31a-b<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Mishnah<\/a> (30a<\/a>) teaches that the kohen gadol<\/a><\/em> immersed in the mikvah<\/a><\/em> five times during the course of the Yom Kippur<\/a><\/em> Temple<\/a> service. All of these tevilot<\/em> (immersions) took place in an office called the bet ha-parveh<\/em>, except for the first one, which took place on top of the water gate, which was near the office of the kohen gadol<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Abayye<\/a> comments on this that the water source for these mikva’ot<\/em>, a spring called Ein Eitam, had to be 23 cubits<\/a> higher than the ground level of the Temple itself, since we know (based on a Mishnah in Masechet<\/a> Middot<\/a><\/em> 2:3) that the gates in the Temple were 20 amot<\/em> high, and the mikveh<\/em> that stood above the water gate needed to be at least three cubits deep in order to hold the correct amount of water. There is a difference of opinion involving Tosafot<\/a> and the Geonim<\/a> about the three cubits needed for the mikvah<\/em>. The Geonim understand that the extra three cubits are needed to accommodate an average person, and generally speaking people are about three cubits tall. According to Tosafot three cubits is the normal height of a person, not counting his head. The logic here is that when a person enters the water, his body mass displaces enough water to cover his head, as well.<\/p>\n

The Ein Eitam spring is identified as the third of Solomon’s Pools<\/a>, which are located about three kilometers south-east of Bet Lechem<\/a>, not far from the present-day community of Tekoa<\/a> (where the Yeshivat Hesder<\/a> under the direction of Rav Steinsaltz is located). From this spring, as well as others in the vicinity, there is a lengthy channel \u2013 more than 20 kilometers – that winds between the Judean Mountains<\/a> and through underground tunnels, carrying water to the Temple Mount<\/a>. The Ein Eitam spring today stands 760 meters above sea level, which is about 25 meters above the height of the Temple Mount.<\/p>\n

With the destruction of the Second Temple<\/a>, this channel was destroyed, as well. It was later rebuilt and was part of the water system that brought water to Jerusalem<\/a> for generations.<\/p>\n

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Yoma 32a-b<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

In presenting the source for the five tevilot <\/em>that the kohen gadol<\/a> <\/em>performed as part of the Yom Kippur<\/a> avodah<\/em>, Rav Chisda<\/a> uses the expression gemiri<\/em>, which usually indicates that the issue under discussion is a halakha<\/a> le-Moshe<\/a> mi-Sinai<\/em> – an oral tradition handed down from Mount Sinai<\/a> by Moshe Rabbeinu and thus has the authority of a Biblical law. Immediately following this statement, the Gemara<\/a> quotes a series of sages who look through the pesukim <\/em>of the parsha <\/em>about the avodah<\/em> of the kohen gadol<\/em> on Yom Kippur<\/em> (see Vayikra<\/a> 16<\/a>) for indications that these five tevilot<\/em> are mandated by the Torah<\/a>. Tosafot<\/a> ask why it is necessary to find a textual source for this halakha<\/em>, if we have already been told that it is a halakha le-Moshe mi-Sinai<\/em>? They answer that the halakha le-Moshe mi-Sinai <\/em>only indicated that there was a need for five tevilot<\/em>, but did not specify when they were to be done – perhaps they could have been done one after the other. The search in the pesukim<\/em> is an attempt to see where they belong in the course of the avodah<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Several other answers are given, as well:<\/p>\n