Yerushalmi Sukkah 5:8 ירושלמי סוכה ה׳:ח׳

MISHNAH: On three occasions in a year were all watches equal in the parts¹³⁶Greek αι‘ μοῑραι [του̅ θεου̅], the fat which is forbidden for human consumption, including the entire animals of elevation offerings. All Cohanim of all watches equally participate in the service on the altar. of the holiday and in the distribution of the shew-bread¹³⁷While the removal of the shew-bread from the table in the Sanctuary is reserved for the watch serving in the week preceding the Sabbath and the bringing of the new bread for the following week is reserved for the watch serving normally in the following week, the removed bread is distributed among all Cohanim present for the holiday.; on Pentecost one says to him, here you have maṣsah, here you have leavened¹⁰Mishnah 1:10.. The watch whose time is fixed¹³⁸Who serves in the regular sequence of watches as given in Chr. They perform the service and receive the remainders of all sacrifices not explicitly prescribed for the holiday. This means that if one of the public comes to the Temple, his obligatory elevation offering on the occasion of his pilgrimage and the family ḥagigah offering are serviced by all watches, but additional sacrifices vowed during the year and brought on the occasion of his pilgrimage are serviced only by the watch on regular service. brings daily sacrifices, vows and voluntary gifts, and all sacrifices of the public, and sacrifices everything¹³⁹Anything not explicitly connected to the holiday by biblical decree.. If the holiday is next to the Sabbath either before or after¹⁴⁰If Friday or Sunday are holidays, the Cohanim coming for the holiday are forced to be at the Temple on the Sabbath and participate in the distribution of the shew bread, but not in any service on that day., all watches were equal in the distribution of the shew-bread.
If one day fell between them¹⁴¹The holiday is Thursday or Monday. In this case only the Cohanim living in walking distance from Jerusalem would not have to be in Jerusalem for the Sabbath., the watch whose time is fixed takes ten loaves and the one remaining takes two¹⁴²This really means that the watch whose office terminates on the Sabbath (the outgoing) takes 5 breads, the one whose service starts on the Sabbath (the incoming) takes 5, and the remaining 22 watches together take two.. On all other days of the year the incoming one takes six¹⁴³And therefore the outgoing also takes six.; Rebbi Jehudah says that the incoming takes seven and the outgoing takes five. The incoming ones¹⁴⁴The plural refers to the members of the watch; the singular in the preceding sentence refers to the watch as collective. distribute in the North and the outgoing in the South. Bilgah¹⁴⁵No. 15 in the list of Chronicles. always distributes in the South; its ring was fixed and its window closed.

HALAKHAH: It is written¹⁴⁶Deut. 18:8. The verse stipulates that all priestly prebends have to be equally available to all priests but then permits interpriestly trade offs. This is interpreted to mean that on holidays all are equal but for the remainder of the year by general agreement (or, as stated later in the Halakhah, by institution of Samuel and David) all income of one week is reserved for the week’s watch. Babli 56a; Sifry Deut. 169., equal portions they shall eat. I could think also on the remaining days of the year it should be so, the verse says, except what was sold by the fathers, except what fathers sold for the sons; you on your week and I on my week.

On Pentecost one says to him, here you have maṣsah, here you have leavened.¹⁰Mishnah 1:10. There are Tannaim who state, here you have leavened, [here you have maṣsah.]¹¹Corrector’s addition, unnecessary since the question is which of the breads, the azyme shew-bread or the leavened two extra loaves of Pentecost (Lev. 23:17) are distributed first. He who said, here you have maṣsah, because it is beloved; he who said, here you have leavened, because it is frequent¹²Even though this text is repeated in Halakhah 5:8, it seems that text should read that maṣsah is frequent, and therefore leavened bread better liked. In fact the two breads of Pentecost are the only leavened breads permitted in the Temple area during the entire year and it is a general principle that in the Temple service the more frequent must have precedence over the less frequent..

Rebbi Levi said, all watches were given in the South. Rebbi Yose said, the Mishnah says so, “if one day fell between them.¹⁴⁷Since the remaining watches together get two loaves, they must stand together at one place. North of the altar is the preferred place since it is the place prescribed for the slaughter of most holy sacrifices. Since the remaining watches are not better than is the outgoing watch, their place is South of the altar.” Rebbi Judah ben Titus in the name of Rebbi Aḥa, the verse supports this Tanna: and now what do you have ready, give in my hands five breads or what is available¹⁴⁸1S. 21:4.. But was Aḥimelekh from the outgoing watch¹⁴⁹In verse 7 it is noted that the bread given was the shew-bread (which is most holy and forbidden for all except pure Cohanim.) But in v. 4 David had asked for any bread, preferably profane. At the same time by emphasizing five breads he intimated that he was dangerously hungry, in danger of his life, and therefore even shew bread was permitted to him (as understood in Luke 6:4). The number 5 refers either to Aḥimelekh being High Priest and taking 5 of the 12 loaves (Yoma 1:2, Note 167) or, since his name does not appear on any list of High Priests, he was head of the outgoing watch, having 5 loaves to distribute following R. Jehudah. The argument then is rejected since there is no support for the statement that Aḥimelekh belonged to the outgoing watch; it rather seems that he was the organizer of the service at the Tabernacle. (S. Abramson, Sinai63, 5768, 193–197.) {The medieval commentators of Samuel reject any reference to shew-breads and refer to bread accompanying thanksgiving sacrifices permitted to any pure person.}?

“The incoming ones¹⁴⁴The plural refers to the members of the watch; the singular in the preceding sentence refers to the watch as collective. distribute in the North and the outgoing in the South.” Rebbi Ḥanania the son of Rebbi Hillel said, to honor the incoming ones. Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun said, not for this reason but because we have stated: “All who enter the Temple Mount enter to the right, and turn, and leave to the left.¹⁵⁰Mishnah Middot2:2. One enters the priest’s courtyard from the East. If then one turns to the right one is on the North side of the altar. The incoming watch divide the bread at their place of entry. Correspondingly, the outgoing ones divide in the South; afterwards they may leave turning to the left, through the gate in the East.”

¹⁶⁰Babli 56b, Tosephta 4:28.“Bilgah¹⁴⁵No. 15 in the list of Chronicles. always distributes in the South. Because of Miriam from Bilgah who apostasied and went to marry a general¹⁶¹Greek στρατιώτης. of the Greek government. She came and patted on the top of the altar and said to it, Λύκος¹⁶²“Wolf”., you destroyed Israel’s property¹⁶³Her objection was to the excessive cost of Israelite worship. (While in Deut. the worship is restricted to “the place which the Eternal will choose,” it never is said that there can only be one such place. However the cost of the service detailed in Lev. makes it clear that only one such place was there at any given time.) and did not support them at the time of their distress. But some are saying that its time arrived to serve but it did not appear; so Yeshevav¹⁶⁴The preceding watch in the list of Chr. served in its stead in the High¹⁶⁵The word “High” has to be deleted. It simply is stated that Yeshevav served for two consecutive weeks. Priesthood.” Therefore Bilgah always is with the outgoing and Yeshevav withy the incoming. Should it not have been eliminated from its place? You cannot do this, as Rebbi Simon said in the name of Rebbi Joshua ben Levi: It is hard before the Omnipresent to eliminate the chain of descent from its place. Could they not be made twenty-three? You cannot do this, as it is written¹⁶⁶1Chr. 9:22., these are the foundations of David and Samuel the Seer in their faithfulness. In their professionalism. It was a great feat of professionalism that no watch was taking and repeating in inheritance fields before the other could take¹⁶⁷It is prescribed in Lev. 27:21 that real estate dedicated to the Temple by a person whose ancestor received this land in the original distribution under Joshua and which is not redeemed by the next Jubilee becomes property of the Cohanim. This is read to mean that it becomes property of the watch which regularly is on duty on the day of Atonement in the Jubilee year (Lev. 25:9). (Property bought, not inherited, must be redeemed, Lev. 27:23–24.) It now is asserted that no watch repeats serving on the Day of Atonement in a Jubilee year after less than 24 Jubilee periods (or 1200 years.) Since we have no details about the calendar rules of the First Temple period, at the end of which the rules of original distribution became moot, the statement can be neither verified nor falsified. (There is another, most unconvincing, interpretation of this passage by Pene Moshe.). Rebbi Abbahu said, I computed it that no watch was taking and repeating in inheritance fields before the other could take.

“Its ring was fixed.” Rebbi Abba in the name of Rebbi Jehudah: They made the rings wide on top and narrow at the bottom¹⁶⁸In the parallels, Ma`aser Šeni 5:9 (Note 184), Sotah9:11), the reading is: wide below and narrow on the top. The rings were used to immobilize the animals before slaughter. Bilgah’s ring was not usable for the purpose..

“And its window closed.” That they could not use it for their knives, as we have stated there¹⁶⁹Mishnah Middot4:7. The window being closed meant that there was no hollow space in the wall. Just as with the rings, the Cohanim from Bilgah had to use spaces dedicated to other watches to store their knives.: “this was called the place of the sharp knives since there they hid the knives.”