2,711 pages of Talmud. A gem a day.

Zevachim 24

Today’s gem: the holiness of grounding yourself.

The mishna teaches that one who is standing upon vessels, or upon an animal, or upon the feet of another, is unfit to perform rites. The Gemara elaborates: From where do we derive this? This is derived as the Sage from the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: Since the floor of the Temple courtyard sanctifies the priest to perform the service, and service vessels, i.e., priestly vestments, also sanctify him, one may draw a comparison between the two: Just as with regard to service vessels, nothing may interpose between the priest and the service vessel, so too with regard to the floor, nothing may interpose between the priest and the floor.

When we are trying to connect with God, when we are trying to serve something greater, it’s important to ground ourselves.

Grounding is a practice I was first exposed to in yoga practice, but grounding, also known as earthing, had become pretty popular. Grounding is when you stand on the earth or have contact with a product that’s grounded into the earth. The sanctuary floor was certainly that. In fact, our daf teaches us, “King David sanctified the site of the Temple to the depths of the earth.” Standing on this holy ground does something sacred. According to Web.md, “This is thought to connect your body to the natural electric charge of the earth and transfer electrons into your body. Though there’s not a lot of solid research into the practice, a few studies have found that soaking up electrons might help lower inflammation, ease stress, and improve sleep, to name a few.”

I think of Moses removing his shoes as he realizes he is standing on holy ground. I think of bare feet on the beach, of running in the grass in Indiana, of how it’s easier to keep balance when barefooted.

Today, take a moment to stand barefoot on the earth. Just breathe. Maybe it will help ground you to something sacred.

Zevachim 23

I did a funeral on Sunday and a Kohein was in attendance, but would not get out of the car. Someone of the priestly class, would not traditionally attend a funeral at the graveside. In fact, if they were to accidentally find they stepped in an area where a body had been buried and they did not know, they would become impure. This is one of the issues dealt with on our daf today. On the daf,

If it became known after the offering was brought that he had contracted ritual impurity imparted in the depths, i.e., a source of impurity that had been unknown at the time, the frontplate effects acceptance for the offering. This clause cannot be reconciled with the suggested interpretation of the mishna, since Rabbi Ḥiyya teaches: They stated this halakha of impurity imparted in the depths only with regard to impurity due to a corpse.

What is the scenario? Someone offers a sacrifice but then learns that he had walked over the burial plot of a dead person without realizing it.

I have been in Miami now for 18 High Holidays. The first time I did a funeral, I did not know any of the dead. Now, when I walk around, I know so many. The funeral I did Sunday was in a plot next to a colleagues father-in-law. That plot was next to a congregants who died two years ago who had shared with me stories of coming back from serving in Vietnam and being yelled at and attacked by peace activists. . . . when I first came, I simply walked to the plot. Now, I say hello to those I knew as I walk past.

Zavachim 22

On our daf today, we learn that in rare circumstances, a priest may serve even if he is not circumcised of the foreskin, as long as he is still circumcised of the heart.

The mishna teaches that a priest who is uncircumcised disqualifies sacrificial rites he performs. The Gemara elaborates: From where do we derive this? Rav Ḥisda says: We did not learn this matter from the Torah of Moses, our teacher; rather, we learned it from the words of the prophet Ezekiel, son of Buzi: “No stranger, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into My Sanctuary to serve Me” (Ezekiel 44:9).

And from where do we derive that he desecrates the service after the fact? As it is written: “In that you have brought in strangers, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My Sanctuary, to profane My house” (Ezekiel 44:7).

The Sages taught: The verse states “stranger”; one might have thought that this is referring to an actual stranger, i.e., a gentile. Therefore, the verse states: “Uncircumcised in heart,” to indicate that it is referring to a priest rather than a gentile. If so, what is the meaning when the verse states: “Stranger”? It is referring to one whose actions are considered estranged from his Father in Heaven, i.e., an apostate, who sins regularly. And I have derived only that one uncircumcised in heart is unfit to serve; from where is it derived that one uncircumcised in flesh is unfit as well? The verse states: “Or uncircumcised in flesh.”

The Gemara notes: And both phrases in the verse are necessary. As, had the Merciful One written only: “Uncircumcised in flesh,” one might think that only he is unfit because he is disgusting in that he possesses a foreskin, but concerning one uncircumcised in heart, who is not disgusting, I will say that he is not unfit. And had the verse taught us only that one uncircumcised in heart is unfit, one might think that only he is unfit, because his heart is not directed toward Heaven, but one uncircumcised in flesh, whose heart is directed toward Heaven, I will say that he is not unfit. Therefore, both phrases are necessary.

There are some situations where a priest might not be circumcised without it being and act of rebellion. For instance, if one son died after a circumcision then the other sons would not be. That’s because hemophilia runs in families and wasn’t diagnosed in the ancient world like it is today. But it is completely unacceptable to not be circumcised in the heart.

A good goal for us all, to not have a wall around our hearts. When we build up those walls, we are no longer able to serve God.

Zevachim 21

Yesterday we learned that the High Priest ben Katin engineered a special contraption to sink the water basin that the priests would use to purify their hands and feet so the water would not be wasted and would remain kosher. Today, we learn that the contraption was very loud . . . and that might teach us something spiritual.

The priest would deliberately sink it by its wheel so that its sound would be audible, and the other priests would hear and come to begin the service. The Gemara asks: But wasn’t there Gevini the crier, who would notify the priests of the beginning of the service? The Gemara responds: They would make two conspicuous markers for the beginning of the service: The sound of the wheel and the crier. Anyone who heard from this marker would come, and anyone who heard from that marker would come.

One would hear the grinding to the wheel and know it’s time to prepare for our sacred work. If we didn’t heed the wheel, a crier would call to wake us up to our task. What a beautiful image, especially as we have just left the High Holy Days where we hear the cry of the shofar trying to wake us up to our sacred tasks. The daf reminds us that it’s time! It’s time for us to do the holy work God has called us to do. So, wash up and lets get to it!

Zevachim 20

We have an engineer on the daf! This makes me so happy. I studied to be an engineer. I was tracked that was as a child. I always loved math and science and loved to fix things and see how things worked. On our daf, not just a priest, but the High Priest, creates a feat of engineering to solve some problems.

Come and hear a proof from a mishna (Yoma 37a): The High Priest ben Katin made twelve spigots for the Basin so that several priests could sanctify their hands and feet at once. He also made a mechanism [mukhani] for sinking the Basin into water during the night so that its water would not be disqualified by being left overnight.

Genius! This High Priest ben Katin (son of small?) creates a wash basin that 12 priests are able to use at once (this is a big deal, yesterday we learned that the priest needed to wash his feet and hands 10 times a service!), a huge time saver. Likewise, much of the daf today discusses left over water and if it can be used the next day. You can imagine how wasteful and difficult it would be to have to dump out water that was not used and collect even more as the water had to be from a spring. This contraption seems to be a pulley system using levers and wheels so they could lower and lift the water basin.

People are often surprised that I was an engineer. Now, I can share that there was a High Priest who was also an engineer, and a pretty fabulous one at that!

Zevachim 19

Today’s gems are the daf giving us such vivid images. Here are just a few:

Rav Ashi says: Huna bar Natan said to me: Once, I was standing before Izgadar, king of Persia, and my belt was raised above its appropriate height, and he lowered it into place and said to me: “A kingdom of priests, and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6), is written about you; therefore, you should always look dignified.

Which made me think:

A priest who was injured on his finger on Shabbat may temporarily wrap it with a reed so that his wound is not visible while he is serving in the Temple. This leniency applies in the Temple, but not in the rest of the country, as the reed also heals the wound, and medical treatment is prohibited on Shabbat by rabbinic decree. But if his intention is to draw blood from the wound, it is prohibited both here and there.

Rava raises a dilemma: If a gust of wind entered the priest’s vestment, raising it slightly off his body, what is the halakha? Do we require that the vestment be: “Upon his body” (Leviticus 6:3), in a literal sense, and this is not the case when the wind raises his vestment?

How is the mitzva of sanctification of the hands and feet performed? The priest lays his right hand on top of his right foot, and his left hand on top of his left foot

Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Yehuda, says: He lays both his hands one on top of the other, and lays them together on top of both his feet, themselves laid one on top of the other, and sanctifies them.

Okay, I could find no images like this. This was the closest:

Oh daf, you paint such funny pictures.

Zevachim 18

Today’s is Yom Kippur, so what better than an entire daf that discusses what the Kohanim (Priests) wear! We learn that if the Priest is not dressed appropriately, the offerings do not count. The robe can’t be too short or too long and you have to make sure it tis the appropriate length when it’s belted.

As I put on my robe to lead the Yom Kippur service, I love the focus on fashion. It is the LEAST important thing, and yet, if you’re wearing something distracting, it’s the only thing the congregation will remember and talk about.

A meaningful fast for you all.

Zevachim 17

It’s yom Kippur tonight! Our time to do the work of teshuvah before judgement is closing. So, a good gem for us:

Rabba said: Why do I need that which the Merciful One wrote, i.e., that an impure priest, and one who immersed that day, and one who has not yet brought an atonement offering all disqualify the rites they perform?

The question points to a difference between a person who has sinned and apologized (compare to one who immersed) and a person who is showing their contrition through action (one who brings a sacrifice). It’s not enough to just say things, we can’t just talk the talk – we need to walk the walk as well!

May we all do better in the year to come.

Zevachim 16

There is a joke that there are prayer aerobics, because we ask the congregation to stand up and sit down so many times, you get your squats in. But why do we have to stand for certain prayers while for others we sit? At first glance, our daf seems very disconnected from our lives today, until we remember that with the destruction of the second Temple and the birth of Rabbinic Judaism, the sacrificial rites were replaced by prayer. Our daf talks to us about when we can sit, and when we must stand in sacrifice:

A priest who was sitting may partake of the meat of offerings, if he performed sacrificial rites he has desecrated the service. . .

When it’s about awe, about standing before God, we stand; when it’s about sustenance, about meat, we can sit. Awe: rise. Love: sit. Amidah: stand. Ahavat Olam: sit.

Get those squats in.

Zevachim 15

When I was 15 I went to Israel for the first time on a 6 week program with other teens. For one week of the program, we got to choose where we wanted to volunteer, I chose the army with a program called Gadna. While I was there, I was put on kitchen detail where I was chopping carrots. One of the cooks said I was going too slow and showed me how fast he wanted me to chop. That leads me to our daf today.

This is as Rabbi Yirmeya asked Rabbi Zeira: If the priest was sprinkling the blood, and the hand of the one sprinkling was severed before the blood reached the airspace of the altar, what is the halakha? And Rabbi Zeira said to him: It is not valid.

As Maimonides puts it, “If [a priest] was sprinkling [the blood of a sacrifice on the altar] and his hand was cut off before the blood reached the space above the altar, the sprinkling of the blood is not acceptable.”

Back to the army, the cook was chopping those carrots and . . . cut off the top of his finger.

I did not speed up my chopping.

Just a reminder that these holy priests were also butchers working with knives, and that it wasn’t always so safe for them.