דף 21

And some say: The sound of Ridya as well. Ridya is the angel tasked with irrigating the earth, who calls to the heavens and to the aquifers to provide their water. The Gemara comments: And the Sages asked for mercy so that the sound of the soul at the moment that it leaves the body would no longer be heard to that extent, and God eliminated it. In any event, clearly this baraita understands keriat hagever as the proclamation of the Temple crier, in support of the opinion of Rav.

A baraita was taught in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Sheila: With regard to one who sets out on the path at night before keriat hagever and is killed by demons, his blood is on his own head, i.e., he is at fault. Rabbi Yoshiya says: The prohibition of traveling at night is in effect until the rooster crows twice. And some say: Until he crows three times. And with regard to what rooster did these Sages state this advisory? It is with regard to a rooster of medium size. Clearly, this baraita understands keriat hagever as the crow of the rooster.

§ Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: When the Jewish people ascend to Jerusalem for the pilgrimage Festivals they stand crowded, but when they bow during confession they are spaced so that no one hears the confession of another. And due to the large crowd they extend eleven cubits behind the Hall of the Ark Cover, the Holy of Holies. The Gemara asks: What is he saying in the reference to eleven cubits behind the Holy of Holies? The Gemara explains that this is what he is saying: Even though the crowd is so large that the people extend eleven cubits behind the Hall of the Ark Cover and people stand crowded, still, when they bow, they bow spaced. And that is one of the ten miracles that were performed in the Temple.

As we learned in a mishna: Ten miracles were performed in the Temple. No woman miscarried from the aroma of the sacrificial meat, as a pregnant woman craves various foods and occasionally that craving leads to miscarriage. And the sacrificial meat never putrefied. And no fly was seen in the slaughterhouse, although flies are generally attracted to a place where there is flesh and blood. And a seminal emission did not befall the High Priest on Yom Kippur. And no disqualification was found in the omer or the two loaves, which are communal offerings, or in the shewbread. And the Jewish people stand crowded but bow spaced. And neither a snake nor a scorpion ever harmed anyone in Jerusalem. And a person never said to another: There is no room for me to stay overnight in Jerusalem.

The Gemara notes: This list opened with miracles that occurred in the Temple, and closed with miracles that occurred in Jerusalem. Apparently there were not actually ten miracles performed in the Temple. The Gemara answers: There are two other miracles in the Temple, as it was taught in a baraita: Rain never extinguished the fire of the arrangement of wood on the altar, despite the fact that the altar stood in the courtyard, exposed to the elements. And with regard to the smoke of the arrangement, even if all the winds in the world come and blow it, they do not move it from its place and it rises directly heavenward.

The Gemara asks: And are there no more miracles in the Temple? But didn’t Rav Shemaya teach in a baraita in the city of Kalnevo: Shards of earthenware vessels were swallowed in the earth in their places, and there was no need to dispose of them. The vessels used for cooking the meat of the offerings of the most sacred order absorbed some of the meat. The meat that was absorbed became notar when the period during which the offering may be eaten concludes. One was required to break those vessels in which the meat was absorbed. The shards of those vessels were miraculously swallowed in the earth where they were smashed. And similarly, Abaye said: The crop and feathers of sacrificial birds, and the ashes of the inner altar, and the ashes of the candelabrum, which were not removed to the place of ashes outside the Temple like the ashes of the outer altar, were also swallowed in the earth in their places. Apparently, there were more than ten miracles in the Temple.

The Gemara answers: The disqualifications mentioned that never occurred in the Temple, in the omer, the two loaves, or the shewbread, were three; consider them as one miracle. Eliminate two from the total and introduce these two to complete the list of ten miracles. The Gemara asks: If similar miracles are combined and considered as one, the swallowing of the earthenware, crops, feathers, and ashes are also two similar miracles that should be considered as one, the result being that they are lacking one miracle to complete the total of ten. The Gemara responds: There is also another miracle, as Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: A great miracle was performed with regard to the shewbread in the Temple, that the bread was as hot at its removal on Shabbat, after a week on the table, as it was at its arrangement, as it is stated: “To put out hot bread on the day it was taken away” (I Samuel 21:7).

The Gemara asks: And were there no more miracles in the Temple? But didn’t Rabbi Levi say that this matter is a tradition that we received from our ancestors: The place of the Ark of the Covenant is not included in the measurement of the Holy of Holies. Based on that measurement, the Ark should not have fit inside the hall. The Holy of Holies measured twenty cubits by twenty cubits (see I Kings 6), and a baraita states that there were ten cubits of space on either side of the Ark. Therefore, it was only through a miracle that the Ark fit in the Holy of Holies. And Rabbenai said that Shmuel said: It was through a miracle that the cherubs that Solomon placed in the Holy of Holies would stand. Their wingspan was twenty cubits, and since the length of the chamber was the same, there was no room for the bodies of the cherubs. There were additional miracles performed in the Temple.

The Gemara responds: The tanna counts miracles that were performed outside the Sanctuary and were visible to all, but he does not count miracles that were performed inside the Sanctuary and were not visible to all. The Gemara asks: If so, the shewbread is also a miracle performed on the table inside the Sanctuary and is not visible to all, yet the miracle that the bread’s heat did not dissipate was listed among the miracles. The Gemara answers: The shewbread was a miracle performed outside, as Reish Lakish said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Place them on the pure table before the Lord in two rows, six to a row” (Leviticus 24:6)? From the emphasis that the Torah places on the fact that the table was ritually pure, it can be learned by inference that it indicates that it could become impure as well.