Derjenige, der das Recht gewonnen hat, die Asche vom Altar zu entfernen, würde [die Asche] entfernen und sie [die anderen Priester] sagen zu ihm: "Achten Sie darauf, das Utensil [die Schaufel] nicht zu berühren, bis Sie Ihre Hände und geheiligt haben Füße vom Lavendel entfernt. " Und [sie würden weiter sagen]: "Schau, die Schaufel befindet sich in der Ecke zwischen der Rampe [des Altars] und dem Altar im Westen der Rampe." Niemand würde mit ihm [den Bereich zwischen Altar und Vorraum] betreten, und er hatte keine Kerze in der Hand, sondern er würde im Licht des Scheiterhaufens des Altars gehen. Sie [die anderen Priester] würden ihn nicht sehen und nicht hören, bis sie das Geräusch des Holzes hörten, das Ben Kitin zu einem Rad für das Lavendel gemacht hatte, und sie würden sagen: "Die Zeit ist gekommen um deine Hände und Füße vom Lavendel zu heiligen. " Er nahm die silberne Schaufel und stieg auf die Spitze des Altars, rührte die Kohlen von einer Seite zur anderen und schaufelte dann von den inneren verbrauchten [Kohlen]. Dann ging er wieder hinunter. Als er den Boden erreicht, würde sie er sein Gesicht nach Norden [und] zu Fuß entlang der östlichen Seite der Rampe für etwa zehn amot [Ellen]. Er stapelte die Kohlen drei Tefachim [Handbreiten] von der Rampe entfernt auf den Boden , den gleichen Ort, an dem sie die Ernte des Vogels [eines Brandopfers] und die Asche vom [goldenen] Innenaltar und dem Asche der Menora .
Bartenura on Mishnah Tamid
הזהר של תגע בכלי – in the coal-pan which is a sacred vessel, for a person is not permitted to draw close to the Altar nor to any [Divine] Service until he sanctifies his hands and his feet.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tamid
Introduction
Today’s mishnah deals with clearing the ashes from the altar.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tamid
במקצוע (corner) – in the corner-piece.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tamid
The one who had merited to clear the ashes, would get ready to clear the ashes. After getting the griddle-cakes on their way, its now time to clear the ashes from the altar, the first ritual performed each morning. Mishnah two noted that the priest who performed this ritual was not chosen by lottery, but rather by his being the first to get out of bed and immerse.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tamid
בן קטין – this was the name of the High Priest who made the wheel work (a machine for sinking the wash basin (the laver for the Kohanim in the Temple courtyard) into the well (see Tractate Yoma, Chapter 3, Mishnah 10 and Tractate Tamid, Chapter 3, Mishnah 8). It was a revolving wheel that through it the wash basin was sunk into the cistern, so that their waters would not be invalidated/unfit for use by being kept overnight, because anything that was sanctified in a sacred vessel is invalidated/unfit for use by being kept overnight, but when the wash basin was sunk into the cistern, its waters were not invalidated. But Maimonides states, that the wheel work which is a utensil surrounding the wash basin, that was not sanctified in the Temple vessel, and there they would leave the water at night in order that it not become sanctified and would be invalidated overnight.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tamid
They said to him: “Be careful not to touch any vessel until you have washed your hands and feet from the laver. See, the fire-pan is in the corner between the ascent and the altar on the west of the ascent.” Despite the fact that he had immersed, he still can’t touch holy vessels until he washes his feet and hands from the water in the laver. This would include the fire-pan. Therefore, before he begins the process, the other priests would remind him not to touch the fire-pan until he first washes his hands and feet. They would also remind him where the fire-pan was kept. This was helpful because it was dark in the courtyard.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tamid
מהאכלות הפנימיות (the thoroughly lighted coals in the center) – the coals that are in the center of the fire that were well consumed/burned up to be ashes.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tamid
No one entered with him, nor did he carry any light. Rather, he walked by the light of the altar fire. He would not carry a flame in with him rather he would walk along using only the dim light from the remaining fire on the altar.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tamid
צבר את הגחלים על גבי הרצפה (he heaped up the cinders on the pavement) – because it is written (Leviticus 6:3): "ושמו" /”[and he shall take up the ashes to which the ffire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar] and place them beside the altar,” and we expound [Tractate Temurah 34a], “and place them” – all of it, and “place them” – so that it should not scatter.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tamid
No-one saw him or heard a sound from him until they heard the noise of the wooden wheel which Ben Katin made for hauling up the laver, when they said, “The time has come.” The other priests couldn’t see him or hear him until he began to draw water using the water wheel invented by Ben Katin. This water wheel is described in Yoma 3:10. The following is my commentary on that mishnah: Ben Katin is also credited with another improvement in the Temple, this one also connected to issue of water. He made a wheel that went into the water cistern which would cause the water in the laver to be connected to the water in the cistern. The reason for this is that any water left out overnight in a vessel in the Temple is rendered unfit. Without this wheel, the water left over in the laver would need to be emptied out every morning. Once they heard the wheel, they would say, “The time has come” meaning the time to wash his hands and feet.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tamid
He washed his hands and feet from the laver, then took the silver fire-pan and went up to the top of the altar and cleared away the cinders on either side and scooped up the ashes in the centre. The priest would then wash his hands and then clear the ashes and the cinders from the Temple.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tamid
He then descended and when he reached the floor he turned his face to the north and went along the east side of the ascent for about ten cubits, and he then made a heap of the cinders on the pavement three handbreadths away from the ascent, in the place where they used to put the crop of the birds and the ashes from the inner altar and the ash from the menorah. He would then descend from the altar, and deposit the ashes in the place where they would also dump out other waste-products, including the crop from the heads of bird offerings, and the ashes from the inner altar and the menorah.
