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אלו הן הממונים – fifteen kinds of officers and appointment to authority that are considered in our Mishnah were the daily offering in the Temple. However, these men that are considered were not at the same time, but the pious and the worthy in each generation he would appoint. But my teachers explained on account that the first appointees were appointed for this – thus this was their names. Therefore, the ones who came after them were called by their name

These were the officers in the Temple:
Yohanan the son of Pinchas was over the seals.
Ahiyah over the libations.
Mattityah the son of Shmuel over the lots.
Petahiah over the bird-offering. (Petahiah was Mordecai. Why was his name called Petahiah? Because he ‘opened’ matters and expounded them, and he understood the seventy.
The son of Ahijah over the sickness of the bowels.
Nehuniah, the digger of ditches.
Gevini, the crier.
The son of Gever over the locking of the gates.
The son of Bevai over the strips [for lighting the menorah].
The son of Arza over the cymbal.
Hugras the son of Levi over the song.
The house of Garmu over the making of the showbread.
The house of Avtinas over the preparing of the frankincense.
Elazar over the curtains.
And Pinchas over the priestly vestments.
This mishnah lists and names fifteen officers who performed various services in the Temple. There are various interpretations as to the names. Albeck explains that in every generation the officers who filled these functions were called by these names. Another explanation is that this is the list of the names of those who served in the Temple at the time when this mishnah was composed.
1) Yohanan the son of Pinchas was over the seals: This will be explained below in mishnayot 3-5.
2) Ahiyah over the libations: This too will be explained in mishnayot 3-5.
3) Mattityah the son of Shmuel over the lots: Lots were cast between the priests in order to determine who got to offer which sacrifice.
4) Petahiah over the bird-offering. (Petahiah was Mordecai. Why was his name called Petahiah? Because he ‘opened’ matters and expounded them, and he understood the seventy tongues): Petahiah sold bird-offerings to those who needed to bring them. The section in parentheses is a late addition to the mishnah that is missing from most manuscripts. Petahiah comes from the word “petach” which means to open and can refer to the opening of a midrashic sermon.
5) The son of Ahiyah over the sickness of the bowels: Many priests had gastrointestinal ailments. This is probably due to their frequent contact with raw meat and infected water. The son of Ahiyah was responsible for the medicines and other cures for these illnesses.
6) Nehuniah, the digger of ditches: Nehuniah oversaw the digging of wells, cisterns and irrigation channels.
7) Gevini, the announcer: Gevini would cry out each morning, “Rise up priests to your worship (avodah), Levites to your stands and Israelites to your stations (maamadot).”
8) The son of Gever over the locking of the gates: He would close the gates in the evening.
9) The son of Bevai over the strips: these were the wicks used in lighting the menorah.
10) The son of Arza over the cymbal: The cymbal was used to signal to the Levites to begin to sing.
11) Hugras the son of Levi over the song: he conducted the Levites in their daily songs.
12) The house of Garmu over the making of the showbread: this house of priests was responsible for baking the twelve loaves that were on the table throughout the week.
13) The house of Avtinas over the preparing of the frankincense: they crushed the herbs and prepared the mixture.
14) Elazar over the curtains: he sewed the curtains and then maintained them.
15) And Pinchas over the priestly vestments: he made the vestments, put them on the priests and then took them off when their service was completed.

על החותמות ועל הסלתות – it will be explained further in our Mishnah.

על הפייסות – to teach the order of the lottery, who will merit with this service, and whom with that, as is explained in the Tractate Yoma (see Chapter 2, Mishnayot 1-4).

על הקינים – those lacking atonement such as the man and/or a woman with a flux and a woman who just gave birth bring obligatory bird-offerings which are doves and pigeons – they put their monies in the shofar-shaped [chests] that are in the Temple. But those who are appointed over the shofar-shaped [chests] take the money and bring through them the bird-offerings, and someone who was wise, great in knowledge and a specialist had to be appointed, as we state in Tractate Avot (Chapter 3, Mishnah 18).

שהיה פותח דברים וכו' – This is Mordecai Bilshan that came up [to the land of Israel] from the Diaspora, and he is called this because he mixed up many languages.

על חולי מעים – because the Kohanim walk barefoot on the floor and eat a lot of meat and drink water, their intestines were ruined and they always needed a doctor to tell them: this is the good medication for the intestines.

חופר שיחין – he was appointed to dig cisterns, pits and caves, in order that water would be found to drink for those who come up [to Jerusalem] on the Pilgrimage Festivals.

גביני כרוז – that was his name of the man who would announce each morning in the Temple: “Arise, O Priests, to your Divine Service” and they would hear his voice from Jericho.

על נעילת שערים – to lock the gates in the evening and to open them in the morning.

על הפקיע – to whip the Kohanim and Levites that were found to be sleeping during their watches when they would guard the Temple at night, as we say in Tractate [Middot] (see Chapter 1, Mishnah 2, where it states that would use a stick – and not necessarily a strip of leather/strap used as a whip), whomever they would find sleeping they would beat him and burn his clothing. But in the Jerusalem Talmud, they would explain that he stripped the wicks of the Menorah and of the House of Water Drawing as we state in [Tractate Sukkah], the chapter “The flute-playing” (chapter 5) [Talmud Sukkah 51b -see Mishnah 3] – “from the warn-out pants and girdles of the Kohanim, they made wicks [and would kindle them].

צלצל – a musical instrument that has a large sound, from the language תצילנה אזניו/it will be a loud shriek in his ears, “cymbal” in the foreign language.

בית גרמו – the name of a family.

על לחם הפנים – that would be made something like a breached chest and they were artisans in his action and in his baking to detach it from the oven so that it would not break and to make it so that it would not grow moldy.

בית אבטינס – the name of a family that were experts in mixing the incense and they recognized a certain grass whose name was a smoke-raiser (name of a plant) and when they would mix it with the spices of the incense, the smoke of the incense would rise straight up like a stick.

על הפרכות – to make new hangings when they were needed.

המלביש – he was appointed to dress the Kohanim at the time of the Divine Service and to undress them after their service, and to preserve the priestly garments in the compartments that were designed for this.

גזברים – they are those under whose control are the sacred property of the Temple, and they redeem the valuation/assessment due of a person or animal dedicated to the Temple and the property set apart for the Temple’s usage and that which is sacred property of the Temple and all of the holy tasks that are performed through them.

Introduction This mishnah deals with two other offices in the Temple. The difference between today’s mishnah and yesterday’s is that since the offices described have responsibility to deal with money they were filled by more than one person to prevent dishonesty.

אמרכלין – they are higher than the treasurers and (Numbers 3:32): “The head chieftain of the Levites [was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, in charge of those attending to the duties of the sanctuary],” which we translate [in Aramaic] as "ואמרכלין דממנא" and the language "אמרכל" - “he stated over everything,” and in Arabic we call him “Amir.” What did the seven officers/אמרכלין do? Seven keys of the courtyard were in their hands. If one of them wanted to open it up, he could not until all of them entered in together and the treasurers coming after them would open it and remove whatever they needed. And another level above that of the אמרכלין/officer/trustees (superintending the cashiers) was there, which was not mentioned in the Mishnah and it is brought in the Tosefta (Chapter 2, Halakha 15 – Lieberman edition), and they are two financial officers/controllers ("קתילוקין" ) and there were found five levels there: The High Priest, his assistant, the financial controllers, the trustees, treasurers.

They did not have less than three treasurers. The treasures were responsible for the Temple’s finances. One of their important functions was to redeem sanctified property so that they could use the money for necessary projects. (Sort of like selling Temple stock!)

ואין עושין שררה פחות משנים – as it is written (Exodus 28:5): “they, therefore shall receive the gold, [the blue, purple, and crimson yarns and the fine linen]”; the least of many is two.

Or less than seven superintendents. The seven superintendents held the seven keys to the Temple courtyard. They each needed to be there before the Temple courtyard could be opened. When the doors were opened the treasurers could gain entrance.

Nor create positions of authority over the public in matters of money [with] less than two [officers], except [in the case] of the son of Ahiyah who was over the sickness of the bowels and Elazar who was over the veil, for these had been accepted by the majority of the public. In all positions of monetary authority it was necessary to appoint at least two officers. This seems to be a way of limiting the possibilities of dishonesty and fraud. The only exceptions are the two single officers in the Temple, the son of Ahiyah and Elazar, who had monetary authority over the public (to buy spices and materials for the curtains). This was acceptable because the public had trusted and allowed them to fill these positions as individuals.

ד' חותמות היו במקדש – three seals for three libations [connected with animal sacrifices] that are divided with the cattle . The first seal was for libations for cattle and they are three-tenths of an Ephah of fine flour mingled with one-half a Hin of oil and one-half a Hin of wine for libation and their seal was an עגל/calf. And the second was a ram for libations of a ram – as the Aramaic translation of איל/ram isדכרא /ram and its libation is two-tenths of a fine flour mingled in one-third a Hin of oil and one-third a Hin of wine for libation. And the third was a kid for libations of a sheep one-year old and they were one Issaron (i.e., one-tenth of an Ephah) of fine flour mingled with one-quarter of a Hin of oil and one-quarter of a Hin of wine for libation. And the fourth was “sinner,” and they were libations of the rich leper that would bring three cattle and it requires ten Log of pure oil for the three sheep and to place on the earlobe and the thumbs, and they call it "חוטא" /”sinner” because we state in Tractate Arakhin (16a): “For seven things plagues come: [gossip, murder, false oaths, illicit sexual behavior; haughtiness, theft, and selfishness].”

Introduction Above in mishnah one we learned that Yohanan the son of Pinchas was responsible for the seals and that Ahiyah was responsible for the libations. In today’s mishnah and in tomorrow’s we will learn what their responsibilities are. The libations refers to grain offerings which include flour mixed with oil and a libation of wine. These grain offerings accompany certain animal sacrifices: an offering of well-being, a burnt offering and the sin and guilt offerings of a leper. The amount of grain, oil and wine would vary depending upon the animal used in the sacrifice. The following chart should be helpful: Flour Oil Wine Sheep or goat (one year old) 1/10 of a measure 1/4 hin 1/4 hin Ram (two years old) 2/10 1/3 hin 1/3 hin Cow or calf 3/10 1/2 hin 1/2 hin Someone who needed to bring a libation (a grain offering) with his/her sacrifice could buy the exact amount of flour, oil and wine directly from the Temple. This would ensure that the offering was pure. He would pay the money to Yochanan ben Pinchas who would give him a note with a stamp on it. He would then take the note to Ahiyah who would give him the correct amount of flour, oil and wine.

חמשה היו – to seals were for the leper.

There were four seals in the Temple, and on them was inscribed [respectively]: ‘calf’, ‘ram’, ‘kid’, ‘sinner’. According to the first opinion there were four seals, one for each of the three types of animals described above in the chart and one inscribed with the word “sinner”, for the leper who brings three offerings, a guilt offering, a sin offering and a burnt offering, each of which come from various types of sheep (see Leviticus 14). Since the leper brings three sheep he therefore brings three times the amount of flour, oil and water that is brought for one sheep (see the chart). In addition he brings one extra log (a small measure=1/12 of a hin) of oil which was placed on his right earlobe, right thumb and right big toe (Leviticus 14:15-18). Each seal would signify that he has paid for that amount of libation flour, oil and wine.

חוטא דל וחוטא עשיר – because a poor leper is unable to bring other than one cow, and if there was only one seal for a leper, they would give to the poor leper three-tenths, but the first Tanna/teacher held that the for the poor leper, they would give him the seal of the “kid,”/"גדי" and the Halakha is according to the first Tanna.

Ben Azzai says: there were five and on them was inscribed in Aramaic [respectively]” ‘calf’, ‘ram’, ‘kid’, ‘poor sinner’, and ‘rich sinner’. Ben Azzai has two disagreements with the previous opinion. First of all, he holds that the inscriptions were in Aramaic and not in Hebrew, since Aramaic was the language with which most people were more familiar. Secondly, he says that there were two types of inscriptions for the leper, one for the poor sinner who only brings one sheep and its libations (Lev. 14:21-31), and the one extra log of oil described above. The other for the rich sinner who brings three sheep, as described above. The opinion in section one according to which there was only one inscription for the leper holds that the poor leper, who brings one sheep, buys the libations of a sheep and brings the extra log of oil from his home.

וארמית כתוב עליהן – for most of their speech was in the Aramaic language.

[The seal inscribed] ‘calf’ served for the libations of cattle, both large and small, male and female. The mishnah now explains what each seal is for. “Calf” is for all cattle, meaning cows and bulls, whether they are male which are used as whole burnt offerings or females used as offerings of wellbeing.

זכרים ונקבות – whether for libations of burnt offerings that don’t come other than from males or whether from libations of peace-offerings that come from males or females, for the burnt offerings and and peace offerings are those that require libations, as it is written (Numbers 15:3): “[and would present an offering by fire to the LORD from the herd or from the flock,] be it burnt offering or sacrifice, [in fulfillment of a vow explicitly uttered, or as a freewill offering, or at your fixed occasions, producing an odor pleasing to the LORD].”

[The seal inscribed] ‘kid’ served for the libations of flock animals, both large and small, male and female, with the exception of rams. The seal of the kid was used to buy libations for all flock offerings (sheep and goats) as long as they were a year or less old. From thirteen months and older the sheep is considered to be a ram.

[The one inscribed] ‘ram’ served for the libations of rams alone. The seal of the ram was used to buy libations for the ram only.

[The one inscribed] ‘sinner’ served for the libations of the three animals [offered] by lepers. The seal upon which was inscribed the word “sinner” was used to buy the libations for the three animals that a leper brings, plus the additional log as we described in section one.

נותן לו מעות – according to the libations that he needs.

Introduction This mishnah explains how a person would buy libation offerings, meaning the flour, oil and wine which we described in yesterday’s mishnah.

בא לו אצל אחיה שהיה ממונה – to purchase libations of the wines, oils, and sifted fine flours, in order that everyone who brings a sacrifice would not have to go back after the libations that are used for the purification of that which has been dedicated to the Temple.

If one required libations he would go to Yohanan who was the officer over the seals, and give him money and receive from him a seal. Then he would go to Ahiyah who was the officer over the libations, and give him the seal, and receive from him the libations. This is the process through which a person could buy his libation offerings.

ואם הותירו הותירו להקדש – and we don’t say lest these monies were Yohanan’s that were mingled with the monies of the libations.

And in the evening these two [officers] would come together, and Ahiyah would bring out the seals and receive money for their value. And if there was more [than their value] the surplus belonged to the sanctuary, but if there was less [than their value] Yohanan would pay [the loss] out of his own pocket; for the Temple has the upper hand. Here we get an early description of Jewish accounting! In the evening, after the day’s work at the Temple was done, the two officers would get together to check the accounts. Ahiyah would take out the seals which he had received and collect the money from Yohanan. If there was extra money then that money belonged to the Temple. However, if there was not enough money to cover the seals, then Yohanan would have to make up the difference from his own pocket. The mishnah notes that the Temple’s treasury has the upper hand it can gain from someone’s mistake but not lose. As they say it’s good to be the Temple.

ממתינים לו עד הערב – Yohanan and Ahiyah join together, if they found excess monies in the hand on Yohanan corresponding to the seal that [if] one states that he lost it, and they give it to him.

Introduction This mishnah describes what happens if someone loses his seal, meaning he claims that he gave the money to Yohanan but by the time he got to Ahiyah to buy his libations the seal was lost.

ושם היום כתוב – on the seal, a certain day and a certain month.

If one lost his seal his case they wait [to deal] with him until the evening. If he lost his seal, then they tell him to wait until evening when they reckon the accounts.

מפני הרמאין – lest some found a seal that fell from his fell, either from Ahiyah or from Yohanan, and he comes now to take it. Ut on the day that he finds it, he is not permitted to take it out, as the person who lost it searches after it. And furthermore, one must suspect that lest he purchased the seal at the lowest market price and hid it until the market price became more expensive.

If they found [money left over] to the value of his lost seal, they give [it] to him and if not he gets nothing. If they find extra money equivalent to the amount his seal is worth, then they give him back the money or give him the flour, oil and wine for the libations he needs to bring. But if there is no extra money then he gets nothing, since it is possible that he is lying.

On the seals was inscribed the name of the day because of the defrauders. They would put dates on the seals to stop fraud, or at least make it more difficult. The dates would prevent a person from claiming that he lost his seal and waiting until the end of the day in the hopes that Yohanan would have extra money. In such a case the person could get his money back and then take out the seal and get the libations from Ahiyah. By putting on dates this particular form of fraud became impossible.

לשכת חשאים – on account that those who give money into it do so in secrecy and those who are supported from it take it in secrecy.

There were two chambers in the Temple, one the chamber of secret gifts and the other the chamber of the vessels.
The chamber of secret gifts: sin-fearing persons used to put their gifts there in secret, and the poor who were descended of the virtuous were secretly supported from them.
The chamber of the vessels: whoever offered a vessel as a gift would throw it in, and once in thirty days the treasurers opened it; and any vessel they found in it that was of use for the repair of the temple they left there, but the others were sold and their price went to the chamber of the repair of the temple.
This mishnah discusses how people could give charity in secret either to the Temple or to the poor. We should note that in the Rambam’s discussion of charity he states that the second best form in which to give tzedakah is neither for the giver to know the receiver nor for the receiver to know the giver. The only way which is preferred over secrecy is to help a person earn his own living.
The mishnah is clear and doesn’t seem to need any explanation. However, I will offer some historical commentary.
The Temple in Jerusalem was clearly a repository of wealth, as were most Temples in the ancient world. When Josephus describes how Antiochus came to pillage Jerusalem (the events that preceded the Hasmonean revolution) he writes (Antiquities of the Jews XII, chapter 5, section four:
“The king came up to Jerusalem, and, pretending peace, he got possession of the city by treachery; at which time he spared not so much as those that admitted him into it, on account of the riches that lay in the temple; but, led by his covetous inclination, (for he saw there was in it a great deal of gold, and many ornaments that had been dedicated to it of very great value,) and in order to plunder its wealth, he ventured to break the league he had made. So he left the temple bare, and took away the golden candlesticks, and the golden altar [of incense], and table [of shew-bread], and the altar [of burnt-offering]; and did not abstain from even the veils, which were made of fine linen and scarlet. He also emptied it of its secret treasures, and left nothing at all remaining.”
The secret treasures referred to here may be similar to that which Josephus describes. What interests me, beyond the sheer parallel between the Mishnah and Josephus, is that the rabbis assume that some of these treasures must have gone to tzedakah. According to the rabbis, the Temple must have at least partially functioned as a repository where people could give money secretly. In the rabbinic mind, the Temple’s treasures could not just have been designated to make its leaders wealthier or to pay for more ornament decorations. The money must have gone to the poor as well. I do not know if this is historically accurate but to me it makes no difference. What the Mishnah is telling us is that our religious centers, be it the Temple or the synagogue, must also be points of tzedakah, and not just tzedakah for the organization itself, but tzedakah for the poor. The Temple/synagogue is the exchange center by which Jews can give charity secretly.

ללשכת בדק הבית – to the chamber where they place in it all the holy [things] for Temple repairs.