<big><strong>מתני׳</strong></big> בכל יום תורמין את המזבח בקריאת הגבר או סמוך לו בין לפניו בין לאחריו וביוה"כ מחצות וברגלים מאשמורה הראשונה ולא היתה קריאת הגבר מגעת עד שהיתה עזרה מלאה מישראל
in numerical value is three hundred and sixty-four, that means: on three hundred and sixty-four days he has permission to act as accuser, but on the Day of Atonement he has no permission to act as accuser. <big><b>MISHNAH: </b></big>EVERY DAY ONE WOULD REMOVE<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lev. VI, 3: And the priest . . shall take up the ashes whereto the fire hath consumed the burnt-offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. In reality one did not remove all the ashes, but a handful. The rest was swept together on top of the altar and formed gradually a cone or 'apple', (tapuah ha-mizbeah) which was considered an ornament. It was removed only when it occupied too much room: And he . . shall carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place (ibid. 4) .');"><sup>3</sup></span> [THE ASHES FROM] THE ALTAR AT KERI'ATH HA-GEBER OR ABOUT THAT TIME, EITHER BEFORE OR AFTER'BUT ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT AT MIDNIGHT,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To keep the high priest busy. This part of the work need not have been done by him, as Tosaf. Zeb. ');"><sup>4</sup></span>
Sefer HaChinukh
And when would they lift the ashes every day? From the rising of the dawn. And on the festivals, from the (last) [middle] third of the night (see Yoma 20); and on Yom Kippur, from midnight. And how would they lift it? Whoever would win the lottery to remove it would immerse and wear the garments of lifting and sanctify (wash) his hands and feet. And his brothers, the priests, would say to him, "Be careful, lest you touch a (sanctified) vessel before you sanctify your hands and your feet." And afterwards he would take the censer – and it was of silver, placed in the corners between the ramp and the altar, to the East of the ramp – pick up the censer, go up to the top of the altar, remove the coals hither and thither, collect the coals that have been consumed at the heart of the fire, go down to the ground, turn his head to the North, walk on the ground to the East of the ramp about ten ells towards the North and gather the coals that he collected on the floor three handbreadths away from the altar in the place of the crop of the birds and the ashes of the inner altar and the menorah. And this sweeping that he sweeps with the censer and brings down to the ground is the daily commandment. And after the one that lifted comes down, his brothers, the priests, run and quickly sanctify their hands and feet, take rakes and pitchforks, go up to the top of the altar, rake the ashes from all the sides of the altar and make from it a pile on top of the mound (tapuach) – and that is a place on the altar that is called like this. And when this mound was big, they would bring some [of the ashes] down from it into a large vessel holding a letech, called a psachther. And it would stay there until they would take it all out of the camp. And the rest of its details are in Tractate Tamid and Yoma.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy