Mesorat Hashas for Pirkei Avot 5:5

עֲשָׂרָה נִסִּים נַעֲשׂוּ לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ בְּבֵית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ. לֹא הִפִּילָה אִשָּׁה מֵרֵיחַ בְּשַׂר הַקֹּדֶשׁ, וְלֹא הִסְרִיחַ בְּשַׂר הַקֹּדֶשׁ מֵעוֹלָם, וְלֹא נִרְאָה זְבוּב בְּבֵית הַמִּטְבָּחַיִם, וְלֹא אֵרַע קֶרִי לְכֹהֵן גָּדוֹל בְּיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים, וְלֹא כִבּוּ גְשָׁמִים אֵשׁ שֶׁל עֲצֵי הַמַּעֲרָכָה, וְלֹא נָצְחָה הָרוּחַ אֶת עַמּוּד הֶעָשָׁן, וְלֹא נִמְצָא פְסוּל בָּעֹמֶר וּבִשְׁתֵּי הַלֶּחֶם וּבְלֶחֶם הַפָּנִים, עוֹמְדִים צְפוּפִים וּמִשְׁתַּחֲוִים רְוָחִים, וְלֹא הִזִּיק נָחָשׁ וְעַקְרָב בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם מֵעוֹלָם, וְלֹא אָמַר אָדָם לַחֲבֵרוֹ צַר לִי הַמָּקוֹם שֶׁאָלִין בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם:

Ten miracles were performed for our fathers in the Temple: No woman ever miscarried because of the smell of the sacrifices; the flesh of the offerings never putrefied; a fly was never seen in the slaughterhouse; the high-priest never had a seminal emission on Yom Kippur. [Because it is a tumah that issues from his body, it is more repugnant than other types]; a rain never put out the fire on the wood pile, [even though the altar was exposed], the wind never stirred the smoke column from its place [that it not rise in a column]; a psul [a disqualifying defect] was never found in the Omer [offering], the two loaves, or the show-bread. [For if a psul were found before the (prescribed time of) their mitzvah, it was not possible to offer others in their stead. For the omer was harvested at night, and they did not harvest much; and the two loaves were baked on the eve of yom tov, and their baking does not override yom tov. And, similarly, the show-bread was baked on the eve of Sabbath]; they stood in constriction (tzfufuim) [as in "tzaf (floating) on the face of the waters." There were so many of them that they were pressed against each other to the point that their feet left the ground and they "floated" in the air] and they bowed in expansion. [When they bowed a miracle was performed for them and they bowed in (ample) room, each one four ells removed from his neighbor, so that one not hear the other when he confessed his sins]; and a snake or a scorpion never harmed anyone in Jerusalem, and no one ever said to his neighbor "Jerusalem is 'too tight' for me to live in." [because the place afforded them a livelihood, and there was no need for anyone to leave and say "Things are 'too tight' for me and I cannot live in Jerusalem." Some editions have "to sleep over" (instead of "to live in"), the reference being to the festival pilgrims, none of them finding it too difficult to sleep over in Jerusalem because of lack of space (see Yoma 21b)].

Avot DeRabbi Natan

Ten miracles were performed for our ancestors in the Holy Temple: [The sanctified meat never spoiled;] no woman ever miscarried after smelling the sanctified meat; [(Ten miracles were performed for our ancestors in Jerusalem:) no one was ever injured in Jerusalem;] no one stumbled and fell in Jerusalem; the fires of the altar were never extinguished in Jerusalem; no building ever collapsed in Jerusalem; no one in Jerusalem ever said: I cannot find an oven to cook the Passover offering; no one in Jerusalem ever said: I cannot find [an affordable] bed to sleep in; no one in Jerusalem ever said: This place is too cramped for me to stay in.
Ask a RabbiBookmarkShareCopy

Avot DeRabbi Natan

Ten miracles were performed for our ancestors in the Holy Temple: 1. Flies were never seen in the slaughterhouse. 2. No high priest ever had an emission on Yom Kippur – except for Rabbi Yishmael ben Kimkhit, who went out to speak with a certain official, and some saliva came out of [the official’s] mouth and fell on the clothes [of Rabbi Yishmael], and so his brother went in to serve as the high priest in his place. So his mother was able to see two of her sons serve as the high priest on the same day. The sages saw her and asked her, “How did you merit this honor?” She replied, “Because the walls of my house never saw my hair uncovered.” (3. No one in Jerusalem was ever hurt, and no one was ever injured, or stumbled and fell, in the Holy Temple.) 4. No woman ever miscarried after smelling the sanctified meat. 5. The priests never disqualified the holy offerings. And when they ate the holy meat, they would drink from the waters of the Shiloach and it would digest in their stomachs like regular food.
Ask a RabbiBookmarkShareCopy