פירוש על סוכה 5:8

חל להיות יום אחד מפסיק בינתיים – such as when the first day of the Festival occurs on Monday, when they could come on Sunday and they advanced their arrival to the previous Friday, or if the last day of the Festival occurs on Thursday, and they are able to go on Friday, but they were detained there on that Shabbat. All the divisions of duty that tarried there do not take other than the two loaves [of shewbread].

Introduction The final mishnah of Sukkah is a continuation of yesterday’s mishnah which dealt with the division of the showbread.

ומשמר שזמנו קבוע נוטל י' – and they divide them up between the division of duty that enters and the division of duty that leaves in the manner of all the weeks of the year.

If one day intervened between them [Shabbat and Yom Tov], the watch whose time of service was fixed [for that week] took ten [of the] loaves, while they that were detained took two. Yesterday we learned that if Shabbat fell next to Yom Tov (the first or last day of the festival) then all of the watches divided the showbread evenly. Today we learn that if there was one day in between Shabbat and Yom Tov, the watch whose week it was would get most of the showbread but not all. Since some of the watches might not be able to begin their way back home because they lived too far away to make it in one day, or might need to get to Jerusalem before Shabbat, they were compensated by getting at least a little bit of the showbread.

הנכנס נוטל ו' – that the divisions of duty are exchanged on Shabbat, this one works in the morning and that one works in the evening.

On all other days of the year the incoming watch took six loaves and the outgoing watch six. Rabbi Judah said, the incoming watch took seven and the outgoing five. At all other times of the year the incoming and outgoing watches would split the showbread evenly. The watches would actually switch their service on Shabbat. The new watch would arrange the new showbread and the two would split the showbread from the previous week. Rabbi Judah says that this division was not completely equal.

הנכנס נוטל שבע – they take an extra two loaves as compensation for the locking of the Temple doors when they lock the doors that were opened by the departing division of duty in the morning. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

The incoming watch divided it in the north, and the outgoing in the watch. In order that the watches should not get confused, the incoming watch would divide the showbread in the northern section of the Temple and the outgoing watch would divide in the south.

הנכנסים חולקים – between them is the bread that arrives for their portion.

[The watch of] Bilgah always divided it in the south; their ring was fixed and their alcove was blocked up. Bilgah is the name of one of the watches (see I Chronicles 24:14). According to the mishnah and other rabbinic sources they were punished for the sins committed by Miriam, the daughter of one of the priests. Miriam committed apostasy and married a Greek soldier, and when the Greeks entered the Temple during the time of the Maccabees she came in with him and acted in a disrespectful manner to the Temple. As a collective punishment for the whole watch they always divided in the south, as if to say that even when they were entering their service, it is as if they are on their way out. Alternatively, the Talmud says that Bilgah may have been punished because they were constantly late in arriving to serve in the Temple. In the Temple there were twenty-four rings, one for each watch. When skinning a sacrifice they could put the animal’s neck through the ring and have it held up while they skinned it. Bilgah’s ring was closed up so that they couldn’t use it. In addition, every watch had its own alcove in which they could store their knives. Bilgah’s was closed up, again as a punishment for their misdeeds.

בצפון – in order that it would appear to all that they are entering, and the north is essential, for it is fixed for the slaughtering of the Holy of Holies.

והיוצאים חולקים בדרום – so that it would appear that they are departing and taking leave, therefore they changed their place towards a direction that is not essential.

בילגה – the name of a family.

לעולם חולקת בדרום – and even when it enters, it is a fine that they (i.e., the Rabbis) placed upon them.

וטעבתה קבועה – twenty four rings were in the Temple courtyard at the place of the slaughtering [in the Temple] for the twenty-four divisions of duty of the Priests, and the rings of each division of duty were open on one side and turned upwards and they would bring in the neck of the animal into it and go back and turn its opening downwards into the floor, and the ring of Bilgah was fixed and never turned, and they needed to use that of others, and it was a disgrace for it (i.e., this family).

וחלונה סתומה – the windows were in the chamber of the slaughtering-knives (see Mishnah Middot, Chapter 4, Mishnah 7), where they would hide their knives. But the window of the division of duty of Bilgah was closed, and the rabbis fined them because of something that happened, that one woman from the Bilgah division of duty , and Miriam the daughter of Bilgah was her name, was guarded and married to one of the captains of the Grecian kings (see Talmud Sukkah 56b), and when the Greeks entered the Temple, she went and struck the altar with her sandal and said: “Lucas, Lucas” {which means, “wolf, wolf,” in the Greek language] (an opprobrious epithet of the altar), “how long will you withhold the money of Israel and you don’t stand up for them at the hour of their need/distress?” And when the Sages heard of this matter, they established her ring and blocked up the window of the entire division of duty, for they said that if not that she had heard from her father that he was despising the Divine service, she would not have said this. But because of her father, they (i.e., the Sages) fined the entire family, for woe it is for the wicked and woe to his neighbor; good for the righteous and good for his neighbor.