Comentário sobre Arachin 2:11

אין בערכין פחות מסלע (there is no [amount of money] in Valuations less than a Sela)- even if a poor person who made a valuation (i.e., dedicated the value of a person or of an animal unfit for the altar) and he doesn’t have the means/he cannot afford, he is not judged for less than a Sela, as it is written (Leviticus 27:25): “All assessments shall be by the sanctuary weight, [the shekel being twenty gerahs],” all the valuations that you dedicate shall not be less than a shekel.

Introduction Our mishnah begins by discussing upper and lower limits for evaluations. Afterwards, the remainder of the mishnah and the remainder of the chapter continues to discuss various issues unconnected to evaluations, but whose halakhot have the same literary format as the first sentence of the mishnah.

ולא יותר על חמשים – that this is the largest of the valuations that are written in the [Torah] portion [of Arakhin].

There is no evaluation less than one sela, nor more than fifty selas. Leviticus 27:8 states, “But if one cannot afford the equivalent, he shall be presented before the priest, and the priest shall assess him; the priest shall assess him according to what the vower can afford.” Thus if a poor person vows to pay the value of an adult male (whose value is 50 shekel/sela) and he can’t afford to pay the whole amount, he can pay less. Our mishnah teaches that this payment cannot be less than a sela. The maximum amount is 50 selas, as is stated explicitly in Leviticus 27:3.

נתן סלע והעשיר – someone twenty-years old whose valuation is fifty [Sela] but he was poor and gave a Selah for his valuation, for a poor person is judged by his financial means, and if he became rich, he is exempt.

How so? If one paid a sela and became rich, he need not give any [more]. But if he gave less than a sela and became rich, he must pay fifty selas. The mishnah now explains what happens if after the poor person gave a sela he then becomes rich. If he gave a sela, then he has fulfilled his obligation and even if he becomes rich, he need not give the full amount of fifty selas. But if he gave less than a sela, and then he became rich, he must give the full amount, because by giving less than a sela, he did not fulfill his obligation.

פחות מסלע – he gave less than a Sela.

If he had five selas in his possession: Rabbi Meir says: he need not give more than one; The sages say he must give them all. The sages now debate what happens if a person has more than a sela, but does not have the full amount that he vowed. Let’s say he vowed to give the value of an adult male (50 selas) and all he has in 5 selas. According to Rabbi Meir, since he can’t give the full amount, he needs to pay only a sela, the lowest amount. The other rabbis hold that he must give whatever he can, even if he can’t pay the full amount.

והעשיר he gives fifty [Sela]. For the first giving did not fulfill his obligation of his valuation, and his valuation was still upon him [to fulfill].

There is no evaluation less than one sela, nor more than fifty selas. This is a repeat of section one. It is repeated here because the mishnah now begins a long list of halakhot taught with the literary format of “there is not in X less than A nor more than B.”

היה בידיו חמש סלעים – a poor person twenty-years of age who valuated himself, and he had five Selas.

If a woman makes a mistake in her reckoning there is no re-opening for her [of the niddah count] earlier than seven, nor later than after seventeen days. This somewhat complicated halakhah has to do with counting a woman’s menstrual cycle, in order to know the difference between menstrual blood (which causes a woman to be impure for 7 days, even if she continued to bleed all the way through the seventh day) and non-menstrual blood (which causes a woman to be impure for one day, unless she sees blood for three straight days, in which case she is impure for 7 full days after she stops seeing blood). The rabbis instituted an 18 day cycle to calculate when blood was menstrual and when it is non-menstrual. When a woman first sees blood she considers it to be menstrual blood and she is impure for seven days, from the time she saw the first blood. After these seven days, any blood seen over the next 11 days is considered to be zivah (non-menstrual blood). After these eleven days are over, she returns to counting seven days, during which any blood is considered to be menstrual blood. Our mishnah deals with a situation where a woman made a mistake in counting these days (i.e. she didn’t know whether she was in the seven days or in the eleven) and she saw blood. She doesn’t know whether the blood she saw is to be considered menstrual, in which case she is impure for seven days, or zivah, in which case she is impure for only one day, or a full seven days if she sees zivah for three straight days. Our mishnah teaches that the beginning of her days of menstrual blood cannot be less then seven days after she doesn’t see any more blood, nor more than seventeen days, all counted from the time she first saw blood. How this works out is a bit complicated, but I shall try to explain very briefly. Let’s say she saw blood for one day, if these were “days of niddah” she could begin to count her next days of niddah after seventeen days, which is the maximum amount. This would mirror the normal situation. However, if she sees blood for several straight days, it may be possible that she only has to wait seven more days after not seeing blood to begin counting her menstrual blood days. Let’s say she sees blood for three straight days, she can then begin counting her menstrual days after seven days without seeing blood, because it doesn’t matter if the blood she saw was menstrual or not, seven days are sufficient to begin counting again. I realize that this is all very complicated, and indeed entire books exist dedicated to these complicated calculations. We will learn much more about this subject when we learn Tractate Niddah.

רבי מאיר אומר אינו נותן אלא אחת – for Rabbi Meir held that he should give all of the fifty [Sela] that is upon him or he doesn’t give anything but a Shekel.

No signs of leprosy are shut up for less than one week and none more than two weeks. This calculation deals with isolating a person or house that might have shown signs of “negaim” which we should understand as some sort of skin affliction or house fungus. The minimum time of such an isolation is seven days, which is how long the isolation is for a person (see Leviticus 13:21, 26). The maximum time is three weeks, which is only for a house. We shall learn more about this in Tractate Negaim (I bet you can’t wait!).

וחכמים אומרים נותן כל מהש שבידו – for the Biblical verse as it is written (Leviticus 27:25): “All assessments shall be made by the sanctuary weight,” to the least of the valuations he comes, for even if he is the poorest of the poor, he doesn’t give less. However, where he has more, he gives, as it is written (Leviticus 27:8): “according to what [the vower] can afford.” And the Halakha is according to the Sages.

אין פתח בטועה פחות משבעה (there is no [re] opening for a woman who misses count [of her period] less than seven days) – since it (i.e., our Mishnah) speaks that there is nothing less in valuation and nothing more, it also teaches in the Mishnah for all things that have no less and no more.

פתח – the beginning of menstruant women/Niddot. That the law of the menstruant woman is from the Torah, if she began and saw it (i.e., menstrual blood) today, she counts six [days] and that day. If she saw it (i.e., menstrual blood) two days, she counts five [days] and those [two days]. If she saw it (i.e., menstrual blood) three [days], she counts four [days] and those [three days]. [And even] if she saw it (i.e., menstrual blood] all seven [days] and it stopped by the evening, she immerses [in a Mikveh] and she has conjugal relations. But from the seventh day and further they are the days of protracted menstruation/vaginal bleeding/Y’mei Zivah [which are] eleven days, for if she saw it (i.e., menstrual blood) on them one day or two days, she observes a day for day [without blood flow before she immerses in the ritual bath to regain ritual purity], and if she saw it (i.e., vaginal bleeding) for three consecutive days, she is a woman who experienced a flow of menstrual-type blood that requires seven clean days and a sacrificial offering. But if the days of her seeing a flow of menstrual-type blood over a month or [even] a year, she does not return to the beginning of the menstruant women until she sits seven clean days. But when she has sat seven clean [days] and saw it, that is the beginning of her menstrual period and she counts six [days] and it (i.e., that day), and returns to her matters as everything has been explained. But if she did not see on those eleven days three consecutive days [of menstrual-type blood], she is not a Zavah/a woman who experiences a flow of menstrual-type blood on three consecutive days during a time of the month when she is not due to experience menstrual bleeding. But if she sees it (i.e., menstrual blood) after them, whether she sees it whether adjacent to or whether she has been distanced from it, it is the beginning of the menstrual cycle of a menstruant woman. Even if she sees it (i.e., blood) for three consecutive [days], she does not count other than four [days] and those [three days], for the days of Zivah/days of protracted vaginal bleeding are not other than those eleven days that are between the end of this menstrual period to the beginning of the next menstrual cycle.

אין פתח בטועה פחות משבעה – an [errant] woman [who misses count] [that she saw it (i.e., blood)] today and does not know if it she is standing in the days of her menstrual period or , or in those eleven days of the days of vaginal blood flow, she does not return to the opening of her menstrual cycle with less than seven clean days and not more than seventeen clean [days]. How so? If she was errant when she said one day: “I saw ritual impurity today,” and she doesn’t know if it is the period of her menstrual cycle and she needs to count six [days] and it (i.e., that day), [or] if in those eleven days, and she doesn’t need to observe a day for a day (i.e., wait until only one day has passed, a day for a day, without blood flow before she immerses herself in a ritual bath to regain ritual purity), if is less than seventeen, that if she didn’t see it (i.e., blood) until after the seventh day other than this day, she returns to the opening of her menstrual cycle. For if this day that she first saw it (i.e., blood) were the days of vaginal flow, because he eleven days were finished, the days of vaginal flow were completed and her observation of it (i.e., blood) was distanced that she did not see it until after seventeen days, and it is the beginning of her menstrual period. But even if she would say that this day is the beginning of her menstrual period, nevertheless, she left from the days of her vaginal flow at the end of seventeen days except for this day. But if she saw it (i.e., blood) on the seventeenth day, she did not leave from doubt if this is the day of her menstrual period or the day of her vaginal flow, for one could say that perhaps this day that she saw it (i.e., blood) first were the days of her menstrual period, and the seventeenth day that she saw it (i.e., blood) was the end of the eleven days between one menstrual period to another menstrual period, or perhaps the first day of the days of vaginal flow, and when the eleven days are completed, she has left from the days of flux , and the seventh day on which she saw it was the beginning of her menstrual period. And all the more so, if she saw it (i.e., blood) prior to the seventeenth day, that she did not depart from doubt. And all the while that she is in this doubt, she is disgraced, for always we will be strict upon her [status] from doubt. For when she sees it (i.e., blood) one day, it will be said that it is the beginning of her menstrual period and requires six [days] and it. And if she sees it (i.e., blood) on three consecutive days, it will be said that they are the days of vaginal flow and that she requires seven clean [days] and a sacrificial offering, but after seventeen days, one cannot be stringent, for it is certainly the beginning of her menstrual period and even if she should see [blood] on three consecutive days, she should count four [days] and those [three] and she immerses in a ritual bath and is ritually pure.

אין בנגעים פחות משבוע אחד – for there are in the plagues that afflict a human that are made evident for one week if to [declare] ritually pure or to declare a person a leper.

ולא יותר על שלשה שבועות – the plagues that afflict houses, as is taught in a Baraita in Torat Kohanim (i.e., the Sifra – also see Tractate Negaim, Chapter 3, Mishnah 8): from where do we know that if he stood unaltered during the first week, and during the second week, that he tears out [the leprous stone] and scrape [the wall] and plaster and he gives him the third week, as the inference teaches us (Leviticus 14:44,48): “The priest shall come to examine….if however, the priest comes [and sees that the plague has not spread in the house after the house was replastered].”

אין פוחתין מארבעה חדשים מעוברות – of thirty days for the year. For we don’t make more than eight months as defective/deficient (i.e., that they have only 29 days). But eight deficient ones we make [in the calendar].

There are never less than four full months in the year, nor did it seem right to have more than eight. Every month in the Jewish calendar has 29 or 30 days, depending on when witnesses come to testify that they saw the new moon. The rabbis realized that there had to be about six “missing” months and six “full” months a year, in order to keep the schedule correct (an actual lunar cycle is between 29 and 30 days long). Therefore, they instituted a minimum of four full months and a maximum of eight to keep the calculations as close to correct as possible. Today, the Jewish calendar is fixed, and generally, there are six full and six missing months.

ולא נראה יותר על שמונה – meaning to say, and it doesn’t appear to the Sages to complement a month by assigning to it an additional day for more than eight months. For the “renewal” of the moon (i.e., the time that the moon takes to go around the planet earth between each beginning of the moon’s first quarter) is twenty-nine and one-half days and two-thirds of an hour and seventy-three parts (i.e., 793/1080 parts). For every two months has fifty-nine days, one month from twenty-nine days and one month from thirty days. The month of twenty-nine [days] is defective/deficient, and the month of thirty [days] is called full or “pregnant.” And according to law, it was that all of the months of the year, one would be “full,” and the other would be “deficient,” but because of the difference of the two-thirds by an hour and seventy-three parts, that there are in each and every month, sometimes, it is necessary to make eight months from the year as full and four deficient, and sometimes eight months are deficient and four are full/complete.

Two loaves were eaten, never earlier than the second day, nor later than the third day. The “two loaves” refers to the two loaves eaten on Shavuot. Generally, they were eaten the day after they were baked. They would be baked on erev Shavuot, and eaten on Shavuot. This is “the second day.” However, if Shabbat fell before Shavuot, they would be baked on Thursday and eaten on Sunday, the third day. For more information see Menahot 11:9.

אין פחות משנים – to the second day of their being baked.

The shewbread was eaten never earlier than the ninth day, nor later than the eleventh day. The showbread was the bread baked in the Temple on a weekly basis. Generally, it would have been baked on Friday and eaten the following Shabbat, on the ninth day. However, if there were holidays on Thursday and Friday, it might have been eaten on only the eleventh day. For more info see Menahot 11:9.

ולא יותר על שלשה – and on the third day of their being baked, they are consumed, but not beyond that. How so? If the Festival of Atzeret/Shavuot occurs on Sunday, they are baked on Friday, for their baking does not supersede neither the Sabbath nor the Festival, and they are consumed after they are waved, that is, on the third day. But when Atzeret/Shavuot occurs on the rest of the days of the week, they are baked on the eve of the Festival and consumed on the Festival which is the second [day] from their being baked.

An infant may never be circumcised earlier than the eighth nor later than the twelfth day. Normally, a boy is circumcised on the eighth day. However, if he is born at dusk, at a time when it might be already the next day, he would have to be circumcised on the ninth day (which might be the eighth day). If he is born at dusk on erev Shabbat, he is circumcised on the following Sunday, the tenth day, because he can only be circumcised on Shabbat if it is certain that it is the eighth day. If he is born on erev Rosh Hashanah, when it falls on Thursday-Friday, he will be circumcised on the twelfth day, which is the following Sunday, because he couldn’t be circumcised on Thursday, Friday or Saturday . Unless the baby is unhealthy, the circumcision cannot be delayed any longer.

לחם פנים נאכל אין פחות מתשעה – which is baked on the Eve of the Sabbath (i.e., Friday) and eaten on the next Sabbath which is nine days from their being baked. If the two Festival days of Rosh Hashanah occur on Thursday and Friday of that week, they bake the shewbread on the Wednesday of that week, and arrange it on the table on Shabbat, but it is eaten on the second Shabbat which is the eleventh day from their having been baked.

ולא יותר על שנים עשר – How so? If a male child is born at twilight of the Eve of the Sabbath (i.e., late afternoon on Friday just prior to the onset of the Sabbath), he is not circumcised on the Sabbath (of the next week), for perhaps it might be the ninth day (instead of the eighth day). For the twilight period is doubtfully day and doubtfully night. But if it is day, it would mean that the Sabbath is the ninth day, but circumcision that is not at its appropriate time does not supersede either the Sabbath or the Festival Dy. But if the two Festival Days of Rosh Hashanah occurred after that Sabbath, he is not circumcised until Tuesday, which is twelve days from his birth.

אין פוחתין מעשרים ואחת תקיעות במקדש (see parallel Mishnah with this information in Tractate Sukkah, Chapter 5, Mishnah 5) - in the Tractate Sukkah, Chapter “HeKhalil”/The Flute [53b] they are explained. But it is taught in the Mishnah: “But they do not sound more than forty-eight,” not exactly, for sometimes, they add up until seventy-five blasts of the Shofar when the eve of Passover falls/occurs on Shabbat, and because it is not all that frequent, it is not considered.

There are never less than twenty-one blasts in the Temple and never more than forty-eight. There was a minimum of 21 daily trumpet blasts in the Temple and a maximum of 48. The explanation of this section can be found in Sukkah 5:5. The maximum number of blasts was sounded on erev Shabbat during Sukkot.

אין פוחתין משני נבלים – for two Levites [when they sing over the sacrifice].

There are never less than two harps, nor more than six. The harps were played to accompany the singing of the Levites.

ולא מוסיפין על ששה – but the reason is not given.

There are never less than two flutes, nor more than twelve. The flutes were played on special occasions, namely holidays, as the rest of the mishnah explains.

חלילין – a kind of musical instrument whose sound can be heard from afar, TZALAMILISH in the foreign tongue and MIZMORI in Arabic.

On twelve days in the year the flute was played before the altar: At the slaughtering of the first pesah, At the killing of the second pesah, On the first festival day of Pesah, On the festival day of Atzeret (, And on the eight days of Sukkot. The flute was played on the first day of each holiday, and also on any day that a pesah sacrifice was slaughtered (the fourteenth of Nissan, and the fourteenth of Iyyar). During Sukkot it was played every day.

ולא מוסיפין על שנים עשר – corresponding to the twelve days in the year when the flute strikes them (figuratively – it means, “plays”) before the Altar. But the language of "מכה"/strikes – is a play on the word חליל/flute which is made with holes and one strikes the holes with one’s finger to make a pleasing sound.

And they did not play on a pipe [abuv] of bronze but on a pipe of reed, because its tune is sweeter. The flute that they played was a pipe made of reed, for its sound is sweeter (according to rabbinic tastes) than the bronze pipe.

בשחיטת הפסח – on the fourteenth day of Nisan when they would recite the Hallel (i.e., Psalms 113-118) at the time of the slaughter of the Passover [offering], as is stated in the chapter, “The Daily Offering is slaughtered” (Chapter 5 of Tractate Pesahim) [84b].

Nor was anything but a single pipe used for closing a tune, because it makes a pleasant finale. At the conclusion of the song, they would end with a single pipe (flute) which is more pleasant than completing with two (or more) at the same time.

אבוב (brass flute) – the thin reed that is at the head/top of the flute, and in the Gemara (Tractate Arakhin 10b) it proves that the flute itself is called an אבוב /thin reed.

שקולו ערב (its sound is sweet) – when it is of a reed, more so than that of copper/bronze. And specifically a flute that one strikes before the Altar on a sacrifice that supersedes the Sabbath, and all the more so, the Festival. But the flute of the ceremony of the drawing of water did not supersede neither the Sabbath nor the Festival, as is proven in [Tractate] Sukkah in the chapter "החליל"/The Flute (see Tractate Sukkah, Chapter 5, Mishnah 1/50a).

לא היה מחליק אלא באבוב יחידי (none but flute solo was used for closing a tune, because it makes a pleasant finale – see Talmud Arakhin 10a) – when he would reach the conclusion of the tune, one of the flutes would lengthen his playing after the others had completed, and this is a pleasant closing more than if both of them would conclude as one (see Talmud Arakhin 10b). And חילוק/closing a tune softly is the conclusion of producing the sound of a melody/tune, and at the time of the offering [of the sacrifice] there was this song, and the Levites would sing with their mouth the Hallel (Psalms 113-118) in those twelve days, and the flutes would be playing. But on the rest of the days, they would praise [God] with cymbals and harps. But the song that the Levites would recite in the Temple on the first day [of the week] (Psalm 24): The earth is the LORD’s and its fullness,” and all of the Psalm, on the second day [of the week] (Psalm 48): “Great is the LORD and highly to be praised,” and similarly all of them (see also Tractate Tamid, Chapter 7, Mishnah 4).

ועבדי כהנים היו – those who would play the flute, for Rabbi Meir felt that they do not promote one from the Dukhan (i.e., the platform upon which the Levites stood during the singing of Psalms) to noble families (i.e., free from any taint of illegitimacy) and not to the enjoyment of tithes (i.e., if they are Levites they are not only privileged to marry into Israel’s noble families, but also, a more practical benefit, to obtain the tithe which a member of that tribe is entitled to receive from the average Jew). Therefore, it is does not matter to us if they were slaves.

Introduction This mishnah is a continuation of yesterday’s, which discussed the blowing of the flutes on holiday occasions.

בית הפגרים בית צפריא – names of noble families.

They were slaves of the priests, the words of Rabbi Meir. According to Rabbi Meir, it was slaves owned by priests who would play the flute.

ומאמאום – name of a place.

Rabbi Yose said: they were of families from Bet Hapegarim, Bet-Zipparya and from Emmaus, places from which priests would marry [women]. Rabbi Yose seems to think that it would not have been appropriate for slaves to fulfill such a function. Rather, people from important families, families whose daughters were able to marry priests (see Kiddushin 4:5), would play the flute. These three locations are in the region of Judea. In face, Emmaus is on my regular bike-riding route (near Latrun). Next time I’m out, I’ll try to listen for some flutists!

ומשיאין לכהונה – Kohanim would marry their daughters, that were from noble families of Israel. But Rabbi Yossi held that they promote one from the platform to noble families, therefore, if they were not noble families, he would not let them continue to play on the Dukhan.

Rabbi Hanina ben Antigonos said: they were Levites. Rabbi Hanina ben Antigonus says that just as Levites would sing, so too they were the ones to play the flute.

רבי חנניא בן אנטינוס אומר לוים היו – Rabbi Hananiah ben Antigonos holds that they promote one from the platform to the enjoyment of tithes, therefore, they were Levites. But they don’t dispute other than regarding those who play the musical instruments, but regarding singing by mouth, everyone agrees that only the Levites sing songs by mouth over the offering of sacrifices, as it is written (Deuteronomy 18:7): “He may serve in the name of the LORD his God [like all his fellow Levites who are there in attendance before the LORD],” what is service which is in the name of the LORD? He would say, this is the song. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yossi.

אין פוחתין מששה טלאים המבוקרים (there are no less than six inspected lambs) – this Tanna/teacher holds that lambs of the daily burnt-offering require examination from blemish four days prior to their slaughter, similar to the Passover offering of Egypt, that was taken from the tenth [of Nisan] and its slaughter was on the fourteenth, for we derive (Numbers 28:2): "מועדו"/”at stated times,” that is stated in the daily offerings: “Be punctilious in presenting to Me at stated times [the offerings of food due Me],” from [the word] "מועדו"/at its set time, that is stated (Numbers 9:2): “[Let the Israelite people offer] the Passover sacrifice at its set time.” Therefore, prior to the day of inauguration [as a common priest] is four days of examination of eight lambs and we place them in the chamber of lambs, and on the day of inauguration, we take two for daily burnt-offerings and here remains there six inspected lambs, and after that, prior to the night, we examine two and place them there. And because that those are not yet at the time of the taking up of the two, they are not considered. And always, we take two and give two, an those two that we give, we take them on the fifth day of their being given.

There were never less than six inspected lambs in the chamber of lambs, enough for Shabbat and the [two] festival days of Rosh Hashanah, and their number could be increased infinitely. Every day there were at least two lambs that were used as the daily tamid offering, one in the morning and one at night. These lambs needed to be examined four days before being used, a halakhah found in the Torah in connection with the passover sacrifice offered in Egypt (see Exodus 12:3, 6). There was a special chamber where these lambs were kept (see Tamid 3:3). Generally, there were eight lambs in the chamber, enough for four days. Every morning they would take out two for that day, and then in the evening they would examine two new lambs to make sure that they were unblemished. There always had to be at least six checked lambs in the chamber, in case Rosh Hashanah fell immediately before or after Shabbat. If this happened they would need six lambs for the tamid, two for each day. There is no upper limit as to how many lambs they could put into the chamber. Of course, space, noise and stench might have become an issue at a certain point, but theoretically, they could keep adding as many as they wanted.

כדי לשת ושני ימים טובים של ראש השנה – he took a general sign, for just as that if Shabbat and two Festival days of Rosh Hashanah fall together I was necessary to advance and to examine this lamb for Shabbat on the Eve of the Sabbath, for he was not able prior to that day to go and to request a lamb and to examine it, for that is taking four days prior to slaughter, here also we always require four days prior to slaughter.

There were never less than two trumpets and their number could be increased infinitely. There always had to be at least two trumpets in the Temple. These trumpets were used on various occasions. See for instance Number 10:2, 10. They could have a much greater number. Indeed in II Chronicles 2:5, 12, we hear about 120 priests blowing on trumpets in the Temple.

ומוסיפין עד לעולם – if they wanted to add examined lambs in the chamber of the lambs, they add according to as they will want.

There were never less than nine lyres, and their number could be increased infinitely. But there was only one cymbal. In the Temple they would use at least nine lyres, and they could use many more, but only one set of cymbals.

משתי חצוצרות – when they sounds the trumpets, there are no less than two.

ומוסיפין עד לעולם – But in the Gemara (Tractate Arakhin 13b – quoting Rav Zabdi in the name of Rav Huna) until one-hundred and twenty, as it states (II Chronicles 5:12): “and with them were one-hundred and twenty priests who blew the trumpets.”

והצלצל לבד – one cymbal was there and no more. For it states in Scripture (First Chronicles 16:5): “And Asaph sounding the cymbals” (note: the Hebrew in the verse is slightly different – ואסף במצלתים להשמיע in the Bartenura – than what is found in the Bible: ואסף במצלתים משמיע ). But even though the word מצלתים is written in a plural form, because they are two wide pieces of metal that strike each other, but however, it is one occupation/trade that he is performing (i.e., playing the cymbals, with one set of utensils), for one of them does not work without its partner, and one person plays them.

אין פוחתין משנים עשר לוים – nine [Levites] for the nine lutes/citherns and two [Levites] for the two lyres and one for the cymbals.

There were never less than twelve levites standing on the platform and their number could be increased into infinity. There always needed to be twelve Levites standing on the platform in the Temple singing. This would mean one for every lyre (nine), one for every harp (two) and one for the cymbals. This number is also referred to in I Chronicles 25:9.

דוכן – a kind of balcony/portico that the Levites stand upon it.

No minor could enter the court of the sanctuary to take part in the service except when the Levites stood up to sing. Minor Levites would go into the courtyard while the Levites were singing in order to aid them. However, they could only go in while the Levites were singing.

אין קטן נכנס – no minor Levite enters into the Temple courtyard for any Divine service, as for example, to sweep the Temple courtyard or to close the doors.

Nor did they join in the singing with harp and lyre, but with the mouth alone, to add flavor to the music. The minors only sang. They did not play the harp and lyre.

אלא בשעה שהלוים עומדים – on the Dukhan in song or the minor Levites enter to sing with them.

Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob said: they did not count in the required number, nor did they stand on the platform. Rather they would stand on the ground, so that their heads were between the feet of the levites. And they were called the youth of the Levites. There are two versions of this section. The version I have quoted here is one that Albeck seems to prefer. Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob is referring to the youth mentioned in sections 1-2. The other version, found in the Rambam’s commentary reads, “trouble-makers of the Levites.” The Rambam explains that this refers to the musicians, those playing the instruments, for they would drown out the beautiful voices of the Levites.

ולא היו – those minors sing with a lyre and lute/cithern, but only by mouth.

כדי ליתן תבל – to give spices to the chanting of the Levites, because the voice of the children is thin and clear and spices up the voice of the adults.

לא עולין – those minors. למנין – of the twelve Levites that are need for the Dukhan.

ואין עולין – on the balcony/portico that is prepared for the Dukhan. But rather they stand on the ground.

וצוערי הלוים היו נקראים – that they cause pain to the adult Levites, for they are not able to make fragrant and to sweeten their voices like they can.