Yerushalmi Yoma 3:8 ירושלמי יומא ג׳:ח׳

MISHNAH: Ben Qatin made twelve spouts to the basin¹⁹¹From which the Cohanim sanctify hands and legs., which had only two. He also made a mechanical device for the basin that its water should not become disqualified overnight¹⁹²That the basin is lowered into a cistern containing 40 seˋah of water which is enough to purify and therefore never becomes disqualified. Otherwise the sunrise of a new day disqualifies all remainders of the service of the previous day.. King Monobaz¹⁹³King of Adiabene in NE Mesopotamia, who converted to Judaism together with his mother. made all handles of the vessels for the Day of Atonement of gold. His mother Helene made a golden chandelier at the door of the Temple. She also made a golden table with the Chapter about the deviant wife written on it. Miracles happened to Nicanor’s doors; one remembers him for praise.

HALAKHAH: ¹⁹⁴Discussion of the second part of Mishnah 7 (Mishnah 9 in most Mishnah mss.) What is “North of the altar” which is qualified for the slaughter of most holy sacrifices¹⁵⁴For the elevation sacrifice this is required in Lev. 1:11 ; for all other most holy sacrifices it is prescribed that they be slaughtered “at the place of the elevation sacrifice.”.? From the Northern wall of the altar; one repeats this from the preceding Halakhah up to “from the Northern rim of the altar to the Eastern wall of the courtyard.”

For five things did the executive officer serve. The executive officer says to him, Sir High Priest, lift your right hand¹⁹⁵Mishnah 4:1.. The executive officer¹⁴⁹The person overseeing the daily routine in the Temple. to his right and the head of the serving family¹⁵⁰The Cohanim were divided into 24 watches; each watch came to the Temple for one week to serve there (except for a few permanent offices, enumerated in Tractate Šeqalim.) Each watch was divided into 6 families; each family serving for one day, except for the Sabbath when the entire watch were serving together. The head of the family serving on the day of Atonement accompanies the High Priest. to his left¹⁹⁶Anywhere the High Priest goes on the Day of Atonement.. The executive officer swings scarves¹⁹⁷Every day to signal to the Levites to start singing. Mishnah Tamid 7:3.. The executive officer grabs his hand and brings him up¹⁹⁸Everyday, if the High Priest wants to sacrifice, the executive officer has to help him after he climbed half of the ramp. Tamid 7:3.. Nobody was appointed High Priest if he had not first been appointed executive officer.

“And an urn¹⁵²Greek κάλπη. was there with two lots in it. They were of boxwood. What is “of boxwood”? Πύξινον¹⁹⁹Cf. Ketubot 7:11 (Note 177), Gen. r.15(2).. Rebbi Samuel, Rav’s brother, asked: If they were lost, must the replacement be made from gold²⁰⁰After ben Gamla made the lots of gold, may the replacement be made of boxwood as it was originally or must any future replacement be made of gold?
No R. Samuel, Rav’s brother, is otherwise known in talmudic literature. One may conjecture that the name is a scribal error for R. Samuel, R. Berekhiah’s brother.? It shall come following “one increases in holiness but does not decrease²⁰¹Mishnah Šeqalim 6:6..”

Could they make spouts one on top of the other²⁰²Here starts the discussion of Mishnah 10. It is understood that Ben Qatina made 12 spouts level around the basin. Why was he restricted to 12?? Rebbi Jonah said, for the maximum day of the daily sacrifice²⁰³By Mishnah 2:5, this is the maximum number of Cohanim needed for any morning daily sacrifice. Babli 37a.. The top because of a vessel reduced in its majority. But is the lower not in the category of volume inside a vessel²⁰⁴How could there be a biblical requirement that the Cohanim sanctify themselves with water drawn from a basin? It is one of the general principles of the rules of purity that water only purifies if either it is flowing (in any amount) or is collected in a cistern (of at least 40 seah); water drawn in a container and poured into a cistern renders the latter disqualified. One has to prove that the basin does not qualify as a container. According to the Babli, the original two spouts were one on top of the other (37a).
As was noted in Eruvin (Chapter 1, Notes 199–206) the Solomon’s basin was a cylinder put on top of a rectangular solid. The upper part, being totally open to the bottom, is not a container. But the bottom seems to be a container.? Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said, a water canal was drawing from Etam²⁰⁵En Etam, “the pools of Salomon”, source of the water for the Temple., and the feet to the South were reduced in the size of pomegranates²⁰⁶The basin was not a container since the water in it was not at rest. It was filled from the water canal and the water flowed out of holes in the hooves of the three Southern bronze cattle on which the basin was resting (IK. 7:25). A hole in the size of a pomegranate makes any vessel pure since it cannot be a container even for solid food (Mishnah Kelim 17:1). (In Q, there is no mention of “Southern”.). Rebbi Simeon ben Carsana in the name of Rebbi Aḥa: The Sea was a place of immersion of the Cohanim, and the Sea for the Cohanim to wash in it²⁰⁷This entire paragraph is copied in Q.. But was it not a vessel? A water canal was drawing from Etam, and the feet to the South were reduced in the size of pomegranates.

²⁰⁷This entire paragraph is copied in Q. It is written²⁰⁸2Chr. 4:6. The topic is to find roots for the uncommon words אֲגַרְטְלֵ֨י, מַֽחֲלָפִי֭ם.: And these are their numbers: gold basins30, Rebbi Samuel bar Nahman said, places where the blood of the lamb was collected. Silver basins 1’000, Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, places where the blood of the bull was collected. Knives 29, Rebbi Simon said, these are the knives, as we have stated there²⁰⁹Mishnah Middot 4:7., “it was called the place of knives since there they hid the knives.”

“His mother Helene made a golden chandelier at the door of the Temple..” Two Amoraim. One said, a chandelier. But the other said, a basin²¹⁰This translation is traditional; it is pure speculation. More likely is “a lamp (?) in shell form,” Aramaic diminutive of Greek κόγχη, ἡ “mussel”.. Aquila translated before the chandelier, λαμπάδος²¹¹Genitive of λαμπάς, -άδος, ἡ, “torch”. This is the translation of the Theodotion version of the LXX of Dan. 5:5..

²¹²This paragraph is from Sotah 2:2 (Notes 91–97).“also she made a golden plate with the paragraph of the suspected wife written on it.” When the sun rose, sparks were reflected on it and one knew that the sun had risen. What was written on it? Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said in the name of Rebbi Yannai: Alef-Bet was written on it²¹³Single letters were written on the tablet, each letter being the first of its word. (Cf. P. Kahle, Masoreten des Westens, II, pp. 88–95).. But did we not state: In the script there it was written here, not heavy, not thin, but average²¹⁴The suspected wife’s scroll had to be written in the way the letters were on the queen’s tablet, not ornamental nor in italics. The questioner thought that the entire tablet had to be copied as it was written; then an abbreviated version would be impossible.. Explain “the Alef there” by “from the Alef there”, “the Bet there” by ’’from the Bet there”²¹⁵For each letter one copies the entire word. The first sentence of the scroll would read on the tablet as אם ל ש א א ו ל ש ט ת א ה מ ה ה ה which would be copied as אם לא שכב איש אתך ואם לא שטית טומאה תחת אישך הנקי ממי המרים המאררים האלה where every first letter was copied exactly from the tablet and the rest of the word added in the same style of script. Babli 37b.. Rebbi Hoshaia stated: The entire paragraph of the suspected wife was written there, and from it he was reading and explaining all details of the paragraph²¹⁶While writing, the Cohen explained the text homiletically to the suspected wife, so that she would understand the meaning of the ceremony..

“Miracles happened to Nicanor’s doors; one remembers him for praise.” It was stated²¹⁷Babli 38a, Tosephta 2:4.: “It happened that they were traveling in a ship²¹⁸The parallel sources add: “From Alexandria”. when they ran into a big storm. They took one of the doors and threw it into the sea. When they wanted to throw also the second one he stood up and embraced it. He told them, it you are throwing it into the sea, throw me with it. He was crying and mourning continuously until he arrived at the port²¹⁹Greek λιμήν, -ένες, ὁ. of Jaffa. When he arrived at the port of Jaffa it started bubbling under the ship. As we have stated there²²⁰Mishnah Middot 2:3., ‘ All doors there were changed into golden ones except Nicanor’s doors since a miracle happened to them, but some say because their bronze had a golden shine.’ ” It was stated in the name of Rebbi Eliezer²²¹In the parallel sources: R. Eliezer ben Jacob., “their bronze was (Corinthian)²²²This is the correct scribe’s text. The corrector who did not understand the word changed it to the text in brackets. Corinthian brass was the most expensive kind, used for luxury goods; a copper alloy probably containing some precious metal. Greek Κορίνθιον “Corinthian”, adj., n.. [gold colored and more] beautiful than gold.”