Yerushalmi Sotah 7:6 ירושלמי סוטה ז׳:ו׳

MISHNAH: How is the priestly blessing? In the countryside they recited it as three blessings¹⁷⁸Each one of the verses Num. 6:24–26 to be answered by “Amen”., but in the Temple as one blessing¹⁷⁹To be answered by the people at the end by “praised be the Name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever”.. In the Temple one says the Name as it is written, but in the countryside by its circumlocution¹⁸⁰“The Lord” אֲדוֹנָי or κύριος.. In the countryside the Cohanim lift their hands to the height of their shoulders but in the Temple over their heads except for the High Priest who does not lift his hands over the diadem. Rebbi Jehudah says, the High Priest also lifts his hands over his head, as it is said¹⁸¹Lev. 9:22; since the ritual of blessing with raised hands is derived from this verse, it would be unreasonable to have the Cohanim not conform to Aaron’s, the High Priest’s, example.: “Aaron lifted his hands towards the people and blessed them.” How are the blessings of the High Priest¹⁸²On the Day of Atonement; cf. Mishnah Yoma 7:1.? The organizer of the synagogue¹⁸³On the Temple Mount. This is a non-scriptural ceremony, purely Pharisaic, but followed, at least since Hasmonean times, even by Sadducee High Priests. takes a Torah scroll and gives it to the president of the synagogue; the president of the synagogue gives it to the Second¹⁸⁴The second in command in the Temple after the High Priest; in effect his executive officer.; the Second gives it to the High Priest. The High priest receives it standing, he stands and reads “after the death¹⁸⁵Lev. 16:1–34, the description of the Atonement service.” and “but on the tenth¹⁸⁶Lev. 23:26–32. Winding from Chap. 17 to 23 does not take much time.”; he rolls the Torah tight, puts it in his bosom and says: More than what I read before you is written here. “And on the tenth” in Numbers¹⁸⁷Num. 29:7–11. he recites by heart, and recites eight benedictions¹⁸⁸These are detailed in Halakhah 7.: For the Torah, for the Temple service, for thanksgiving, for forgiveness of sins, for the Temple, for Israel, for the Cohanim, and the remainder of the prayer.

HALAKHAH: Rav Ḥisda said, they¹⁸⁹The scholars in his academy. had great difficulty; ¹⁹⁰From here to the end of the Halakhah, the text is also in Yoma 7:1. elsewhere you say that one goes to the Torah, and here you say, one brings the Torah to him? But because they are important personalities, the Torah is honored by them¹⁹¹In the Babli, Yoma 69a, the ceremony is for the glory of the High Priest.. Does one not bring the Torah to the Head of the Diaspora over there¹⁹²At solemn occasions in Babylonia.? Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun said, since the seed of David is immersed there¹⁹³The family of the Heads of the Diaspora claimed descent from king Yekhoniah (Yoyakhin); the Head of the Diaspora is treated as King (Mishnah 7). one treats him in the ancestral way.

There¹⁹⁵Mishnah Megillah 4:5., we have stated: “One winds in Prophets¹⁹⁶In the public reading from Prophets after the Sabbath reading from the Torah, it is permissible to piece the reading together from different chapters of one prophet. but one does not wind in the Pentateuch.” One winds in one prophet, but not from one prophet to another, but among prophets of the Twelve it is permitted¹⁹⁷Since all 12 minor prophets are written together in one scroll, moving from one to the next is like winding in one of the major prophets, each of which is written in his own scroll.. But one does not wind in the Pentateuch; Rebbi Jeremiah in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: Because one does not wind the Torah in public. Rebbi Yose asked, think of it, if it was a small portion¹⁹⁸In the Palestinian 3½ year cycle, it might be that the portion was too small to be read by seven different persons; may some readers read from another place after the allotted portion was already recited?? But that Israel should hear it in its order¹⁹⁹Even if one reads more than the allotted portion on one Sabbath, it must be a continuous text.. But did we not state²⁰⁰The Mishnah here.: “He reads ‘after the death¹⁸⁵Lev. 16:1–34, the description of the Atonement service.’ and ‘but on the tenth¹⁸⁶Lev. 23:26–32. Winding from Chap. 17 to 23 does not take much time.’ ”? It is different here, because that is the order of the day²⁰¹This is a holiday reading, not a Sabbath reading; it has to concentrate on the texts dealing exclusively with that holiday.. Know that it is so since Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, one does not recite by heart, and here he recites by heart²⁰²From the text too far removed to be wound without inconveniencing the public.. Rebbi Yose commanded Bar Ulla, the organizer of the congregation of Babylonians: When the Torah has been brought back, wind it behind the curtain²⁰³In Yoma, the text reads: כַּד דְּהִיא חָדָא אוֹרִיָּא תְּהֵא גַייֵל לָהּ לְהָדֵי פָרוֹכְתָא. “When you have only one Torah, wind it by the curtain.” The text here is preferable since a good organizer will wind the Torah well before it is used the next time. The editors who mishandled the text, replacing the text here by that from Yoma in modern editions, probably never were Torah readers themselves.. If there are two, return one and bring the other²⁰⁴This is not the common usage where one takes out both scrolls and reads from them one after the other. This shows that in Babylonia already in Talmudic times one read from two different scrolls at special occasions (in particular, holidays). One has to correct the statement by Elbogen (cf. Note 205, p. 127) that this practice is not recorded before Rav Yehudai Gaon..

He recites eight benedictions: For the Torah, “He who chooses the Torah²⁰⁵In the Babli, 41a: “The benediction for the Torah in the formulation one recites in the Synagogue.” In the opinion of Ismar Elbogen (התפילה בישׂראל בהתפתחוּתה ההיסטוֹרית, תרגם יהוֹשע עמיר, תל־אביב 1972 p. 129), the text given here is the original synagogal text; cf. also Soferim13:8; י. היינמן, התפילה בתקופת התנאים והאמוראים - טיבה ודפוסיה; ירושלים ת̇ש̇כ̇ו̇, ע׳ 105)..” For the Temple service, “For You alone in fear we worship.²⁰⁶The Palestinian version of the 16th benediction of the Amidah. It is to be assumed that in this and the following benedictions the entire text was recited, not only the final doxology.” For thanksgiving, “the Good One, You one must thank.²⁰⁷The 17th benediction of the Amidah.” For forgiveness of sins, “He Who forgives the sins of His people Israel in mercy.²⁰⁸The final paragraph of the middle benediction of the Amidah of the Day of Atonement.” For the Temple, “He Who chooses the Temple”; and Rebbi Idi said, “He Who dwells in Zion.”²⁰⁹The full text of this benediction is unknown. Since the statement of R. Idi is quoted as a commentary, not a disagreement, one has to assume that it refers to a prayer text of which R. Idi quotes the beginning. For Israel, “He Who chooses Israel.”²¹⁰In the opinion of Elbogen (loc. cit. p.16), this is the benediction preceding the recitation of the Šema‘. For the Cohanim, “He Who chooses the Cohanim.” And the remainder of the prayer, “entreaty and begging, for Your people Israel need to be helped before You; Praise to You, Eternal, Who hears prayer”²¹¹ It seems that this is the only prayer text of the eight benedictions which applies only to the reading of the High Priest..