Kommentar zu Kelim 1:9

בין אולם ולמזבח מקודש ממנו שאין פרועי ראש ובעלי מומין נכנסים לשם – In the Gemara (Tractate Menahot, Chapter 3, 27b proves that all of these gradations that are taught here, as for example, a person who enters the Priest’s Courtyard without need and similarly, those [Kohanim] with physical defects/בעלי מומין and those [Kohanim] with overgrown hair/פרועי ראש that entered between the entrance hall/אולם and the altar. All of them are the gradations of the Rabbis. And such is what I received from my Rabbis/teaches. But Maimonides holds that all of them are from the Torah, those [Kohanim]with physical defects/deformities, as it is written (Leviticus 21:21): “No man among the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a defect [he shall not be qualified to offer the food of his God],” (but the way that the Bartenura commentary quotes this verse: "כי כל איש אשר בו מום לא יקרב" – the last two words – “that he shall not offer it” are NOT found in this verse – though the words, "לא יקרב" are found in verse 16). And [priests] with overgrown hair, as the All-Merciful states to Aaron and his sons who were in the Tabernacle (Leviticus 10:8): “[And Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar:] ‘Do not bare your heads/dishevel your hair’ [and do not rend your clothes, lest you die and anger strike the whole community].” But even though the language of the Tosefta (Tractate Kelim Bava Kamma, Chapter 1, Halakha 11) supports the words of Maimonides, the tradition of my Rabbis appears to me to be essential, and that the first Tanna/teacher [of the Mishnah] does not consider those [Kohanim] who are intoxicated with wine and who had not washed their hands and feet together with those with physical defects and those [Kohanim] whose hair is overgrown as Rabbi Yossi considers them in the concluding clause [of the Mishnah] because those [Kohanim] with physical defects and overgrown hair, their invalidation is in their bodies, therefore, their exile is severe, but those [Kohanim] who are intoxicated with wine and those who have not washed their hands and their feet , their invalidation is on account of another matter, therefore, he was not strict regarding their exile so much.

The area between the porch ( and the altar is holier, for [priests] who have blemishes or unkempt hair may not enter it. There were 22 cubits between the porch and the altar (see Middot 3:6, 5:1). This section is off-limits to a priest who is blemished (Leviticus 21:17), or one who grew his hair too long (Leviticus 10:6).

אלא כהן גדול ביום הכפורים – as it is written (Leviticus 16:2-3): “[Tell your brother Aaron] that he is ot to come at will into the Shrine behind the curtain [in front of the cover that is upon the ark, lest he die; for I appear in the cloud over the cover.] Thus only shall Aaron enter the Shrine.”

The Hekhal is holier, for no one whose hands or feet are unwashed may enter it. Priests who had not washed their hands and feet could not enter the Hekhal, the Sanctuary. However, according to the first opinion they could enter the area between the porch and the altar without washing their hands.

בשעת עבודה – for times, he (i.e., the High Priest) enters there, 1): to offer up incense; 2) to sprinkle from the blood of the bullock; 3) to sprinkle from the blood of the goat; 4) to remove the spoon and the coal-pan, but if he enters into it five times, he is liable for death (see Tosefta Kelim Bava Kamma, Chapter 1, Halakha 7).

The Holy of Holies is holier, for only the high priest, on Yom Kippur, at the time of the service, may enter it. The highest degree of sanctity is accorded to the Holy of Holies, for the high priest could only enter there once a year, on Yom Kippur.

ופורשים בין האולם ולמזבח בשעת הקטרה (and they keep distant [from the area] between the porch and the altar at the time of [offering up] the incense – whether at the time that they offer up the incense on the Golden Altar that is in the Sanctuary, or at the time that the High Priest offers up incense In the innermost part of the Temple precincts (i.e., the Holy of Holies) , all of the people keep distant from between the porch and the altar and one does not need to mention, from the Sanctuary. But the first Tanna/teacher disputes on that of Rabbi Yossi and holds that at the time that they offer up incense in the Sanctuary is only when they keep distant and not been the porch and the Altar. And the Halakha is according to the first Tanna/teacher. And the ten Holy [locations] that are taught in our Mishnah, these are [actually] eleven, the Gaonim that the Land of Israel is not from the number of Holy Places, because in the remainder of the Holy Places, there is within them honor to the place that prevents from them some of the defilements or prevents from some of the people from entering to it. And this holiness is not found merely within the Land of Israel. But the bringing of First Fruits, and the Omer and the two loaves and the shewbread are not like these Holy Things. But there are those who explain that the first Tanna/teacher that considers ten Holy Things is Rabbi Yossi, and he holds that between the porch and the Altar is equivalent to the Sanctuary in five matters, and for him, they are there weren’t any other than ten.

Rabbi Yose said: in five respects the area between the porch and the altar is equal to the Hekhal, for those afflicted with blemishes or with a wild growth of hair, or who have drunk wine or whose hands or feet are unwashed may not enter there, and the people must keep away from the area between the porch and the altar when the incense is being burned. According to Rabbi Yose the prohibitions that the first opinion says begin at the Sanctuary, begin between the porch and the altar. He also holds that priests who had drunk wine (or other alcohol) cannot go into this area (see Leviticus 10:9). If you go back and count, Rabbi Yose holds that there are ten levels of holiness whereas the first opinion holds that there are eleven. In addition, when the incense is being burned on a daily basis, the people must leave both the Sanctuary and the area between the porch and the altar. On Yom Kippur they need not withdraw all the way to the porch, but rather just leave the Sanctuary itself.