Hiding the Ark: Yoma 52b

Moses put the second set of tablets from Mt. Sinai in the Holy Ark, which was at the center of the Tabernacle and its successor the Temple in Jerusalem. It was hidden away, and has yet to be found. The Talmud discusses its concealment in this passage.

When the Ark was hidden away, hidden with it were the bottle of Manna (which Moses put aside as a reminder of G-d's gift of sustenance during the Jew's wanderings in the desert), a flask of the anointing oil (which was used in the dedication of the Tabernacle), Aaron's staff with its almonds and blossoms (the staff miraculously grew almond blossoms as a sign of divine favor for Aaron's priestly line), and the chest of gold which the Philistines dedicated to the L-rd of Israel (the Philistines took the Ark captive during a war. They found that whatever village kept the ark was afflicted with hemorrhoids, and then decided to return it along with gifts to the Jews.)

Who hid the Ark? King Josiah hid it. Why? He saw it was written (Deuteronomy 28:36 JPS Translation) 'The L-rd will drive you and the king you have sent over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers, where you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone," and was aroused to hide the ark.

I find the second passage fascinating. King Josiah was a great leader in Judaism. Before his time, people had even stopped observing the Passover sacrifice. He restored it and many other important rituals. I'm amazed at how he was able to restore the people's connection to tradition in the shadow of such awful portents.

Spit and Modesty: Yoma 47a

Rabbi Ishmael the son of Kimchit, a high priest during the Second Temple period, was famous for his enormous hands. He also is featured in this very strange story:

Once Rabbi Ishmael the son of Kimchit was speaking with an Arab in the marketplace. Some spittle flew out of the Arab's mouth and landed on the Rabbi's clothes [rendering him unfit for service in the Temple that day.] Y'shevav, Rabbi Ishmael's brother, performed the ritual duties in Rabbi Ishmael's place. Thus, their mother saw two of her sons serve as High Priest on a single day. It is also told that once Rabbi Ishmael the son of Kimchit was speaking with a foreign king in the marketplace, and some spittle flew out of the king's mouth and landed on Rabbi Ishmael's clothing [again rendering him unfit for service in the Temple for a day.] Rabbi Ishmael's brother Joseph served in the Temple in his place, and thus their mother again saw two of her sons serve as High Priest on a single day.

Our Rabbis teach that Kimchit [Rabbi Ishmael's mother] had seven sons, and all of them served as High Priest. The Sages asked Kimchit, 'What have you done to merit such an honor?' She replied, 'The roof of my house never saw my braids.' [That is, she was extremely careful about keeping her hair covered at all times.] The Sages replied to Kimchit, 'Many others have done this, but without the same result.'

We Love Fat Priests: Yoma 47b

As part of many ritual sacrifices in the Temple, a priest would take a handful of flour and sacrifice it on the altar. The Talmud, being the Talmud, wants to know exactly what a 'handful' is. A problematic question is whether any flour left between the fingers after a priest scoops up the flour with his hands is actually part of the handful or something extra. Our sages were unable to determine the status of such flour. Therefore they mandated that, whenever possible, fat priests, whose fingers are chubby enough that no flour gets caught between them, should perform this sacrifice.

The Secret of the Incense: Yoma 38a

Our Rabbis taught that the Avtinos family was very skilled in making incense [for the Temple in Jerusalem] and did not want to teach anyone else how to do it. The sages imported skilled tradesmen from Alexandria, Egypt, who knew how to mix the spices for incense, but these tradesmen were unable to make the incense smoke like when the Avtinos family manufactured it. When the Avtinos family would make it, the smoke would rise up like a date tree, while the Egyptians' incense would spread out everywhere.

When the sages heard of the situation, they said, "Anything that the Holy One Praised be G-d created was created for G-d's glory, as it is written (Proverbs 16:4) 'G-d did everything for G-ds own sake.'" [I would translate this more loosely as, "Dudes, what can we do, we are stuck! Let's go with the flow."]

The sages summoned [the Avtinos family back to their work with the incense], but the family refused to come. The sages doubled [the Avtinos'] wages, and the family agreed to come back to work...

The sages asked the family, "Why do you refuse to to teach [others how to make the incense]? The Avtinos family replied, "We have a tradition from our fathers that this house [the Temple] will be destroyed in the future. Our fathers worried that an unworthy person would learn how to make the incense, and go perform idolatry with it."

The sages praised the Avtinos family for this: a bride never left their house for her wedding day perfumed, and when someone from the Avtinos family married a woman from elsewhere the groom stipulated that the bride must not perfume herself, lest people say that the family was misappropriating Temple incense for such a purpose...

It was taught by a Tanna [one of the early sages]: Rabbi Ishmael said that he was once walking on the road, and saw one of the descendants of the Avtinous family, and told him, "Your fathers [the Avtinos family] wanted to increase their own glory and reduce G-d's glory. G-ds glory is still there [on the Temple mount, even though the Temple is destroyed] but your family's honor is reduced [because there is no need for the incense.]

Rabbi Akiva taught, once Rabbi Ishmael Ben Loga told me, "Once I and one of the descendants of the Avtinos family went out to gather herbs. , and I saw [the Avtinos' descendant] laugh and cry. I asked him, 'Why do you cry?' [The descendent of Avtinos responded], 'I am remembering my ancestors' glory.' I asked him, 'Why do you laugh?' [The descendent of Avtinos responded],'Because the Holy One Praised be G-d will return us [to our former glory!]' I asked him, 'What made you think of all of this now?' [The descendent of Avtinos responded],'The herb that make the incense rise up in a column is before me.' Rabbi Ishmael said 'Show me it!' [The descendent of Avtinos responded], 'We have made an oath to never show this herb to anyone.' "

Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri said, "Once I found an old man holding a scroll containing incense recipes. I said to him, 'Where are you from?' The old man replied, 'I am from the house of Avtinos.' I asked him, 'What is that in your hand?' The old man replied, 'Formulas for incense.' I said, 'Show me them!' The old man replied, 'As long as my family continued, we never shared this scroll with anyone. Now, take it, it is yours and safeguard it!' When I came and told my tale to Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Akiva said to me, 'From now on, it is forbidden to criticize the house of Avtinos.':

Premonitions of Death: Yoma 39B

Only on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, could the High Priest enter the most sacred spot in Judaism, the 'Holy of Holies' in Jerusalem's temple. Here is a tale of an eerie moment related to this most sacred of rituals.

Our rabbis taught that on the year that Shimon the Righteous [the High Priest] died, he foretold, "I will die this year." His companions asked Shimon, "How do you know?" Shimon replied to them, "Every Yom Kippur an old man in white garments and a white turban would appear [in a vision] and enter with me [to the Holy of Holies] and come out of [the Holy of Holies] with me. Today instead an old man appeared dressed in black garments with a black turban. The old man entered [the Holy of Holies] with me, but did not come out with me."

After Sukkot [a Jewish festival that immediately follows Yom Kippur] Shimon fell ill for seven days and died.

Sins and Smells: Yoma 29a

This analogy is so Talmudic that it spans the realms of both the weird and the beautiful.

Rav Nachman said... sexual thoughts are more weighty [chomer in Hebrew, probably meaning a more serious offense] than sexual acts, just as the odor of meat is stronger than its taste.

The Limits to Mercy: Yoma 22b

As was read in last week's haftarah, King Saul was punished for, among other things, not killing the King of Amalek as was divinely commanded.

G-d ordered Saul to exterminate the entire nation of Amalek, including women, children, and animals. The Talmud has Saul disputing the command. As part of his argument, Saul refers to the 'Egla Arufa,' a ritual done when a murder victim is found in the wild, Exodus 21:1-9. It is a rather strange ritual where a cow's neck is broken, and the elders of the nearest city wash their hands over the cow, pleading for expiation. Here's the story:

When the Holy One, Praised be G-d, told Saul, "Go attack Amalek ( I Samuel, 14:3), Saul said, "If the Torah commands us to perform the Egla Arufa ritual for just one dead person, how much more so should we be concerned with an entire nation! Even if the people sinned, what did the animals do? Even if the adults sinned, what did the children do?" A Bat Kol [a divine voice, quoting Ecclesiastes 7:16 ] emerged and stated, "Don't be excessively righteous!"

Saul's argument clearly recalls Abraham arguing with G-d over the destruction of Sodom in Genesis 18. To close with a question: Why does Abraham get such a different response than Saul?