Tamid, Chapter 7, Mishnah 3. This chapter has been describing the parts of the service in which the Kohen Gadol himself takes part, and now the mishnah returns to the climax of the Korban Tamid: the burning of the limbs on the Mizbe'ach and the pouring of the wine, accompanied by the song of the Levi'im.
Think back to what the Masechet taught us earlier. After the Tamid animal was cut apart, its pieces were set down halfway along the ramp, the kevesh, and left lying there while the Kohanim withdrew to recite their prayers. When they returned, they took up those pieces and began carrying them toward the summit, at the very time that other Kohanim were occupied inside the Heichal, tending the lamps of the Menorah and offering the Ketoret. In the end, every piece was brought up to the fire.
When the Kohen Gadol was present, however, he enjoyed a privilege: he could simply choose to perform any part of the service he wished. He did not need to enter any lottery to earn that zechut. Our mishnah describes what the procedure looked like when the Kohen Gadol decided to take this avodah for himself.
The Kohen Gadol goes up the ramp
"Bizman sheKohen Gadol rotzeh lehaktir": if the Kohen Gadol wished to place the pieces of the Tamid onto the fire with his own hands, then "hayah oleh bakevesh vehasegan bimino": up the ramp he went, the Segan, his deputy, walking at his right side and accompanying him on the way.
"Higi'a lemachatzit hakevesh", when he arrived at the midpoint of the ramp, the ascent became hard for him, and so, "achaz hasegan bimino vehe'elahu", the Segan Kohen Gadol took hold of his right hand and brought him up the rest of the way.
Receiving the limbs and leaning on them
Normally, whichever Kohen had won a limb in the lottery carried it all the way up and flung it into the fire himself. Once the Kohen Gadol took this avodah for himself, however, the pieces were passed into his hands, and the throwing was his.
"Hoshit lo harishon harosh veharegel": into the hands of the Kohen Gadol the first Kohen extended the head and the right hind leg of the animal. "Vesamach aleihem": he pressed his hands down upon them, leaning on the pieces of the korban.
This is worth noticing. Semichah, leaning on the animal, was not part of the normal procedure for the Korban Tamid, and the Kohanim did not do it. But when the Kohen Gadol performed this avodah, they wanted his participation to be visibly different from the routine, so he did something outside the ordinary pattern and leaned on the limbs.
"Uzrakan", and then he cast them into the flames. He remained where he stood on the ramp and hurled them from that spot. These portions were not laid down carefully upon the wood; they were flung.
One Kohen serves the Kohen Gadol
"Hoshit hasheini larishon shtei hayadayim": next, the two forelegs were passed by the second Kohen into the hands of the first, "notnan laKohen Gadol", who then handed them on. Why this intermediary? Because the dignity of the Kohen Gadol was better served by one single attendant waiting on him throughout than by a parade of different Kohanim, each stepping up to him in turn with another piece.
"Vesamach aleihem uzrakan": these too he leaned upon, and they were thrown into the flames. "Nishmat hasheini vehalach lo": the second Kohen withdrew and made his way back down, whereupon a third stepped forward with his portion, and so the sequence continued.
Each Kohen delivered his piece to that same attendant, who offered it to the Kohen Gadol for throwing. "Vechach hayu moshitin lo", in this fashion he was presented with "she'ar kol ha'eivarim", all the limbs that remained, every one of them routed through that single Kohen. "Vehu somech aleihen vezorkan": on each he leaned, and each he cast into the fire.
"Uvizman shehu rotzeh, hu somech va'acheirim zorkin": if the Kohen Gadol preferred, he could limit his own involvement to the leaning alone, and let others do the throwing.
Our mishnah does not spell it out, but the flour offering and the chavitin loaves were also cast onto the fire at this stage.
Circling the Mizbe'ach for the wine
The last item still awaiting its turn was the yayin, the wine libation poured out on the Mizbe'ach. The wine was placed in a silver vessel, and the required spot for pouring it was the southwestern corner up on the Mizbe'ach's surface. The mishnah accordingly describes the route by which the Kohen, now standing at the head of the kevesh, made his way to that corner.
"Ba lo lehakif et haMizbe'ach": he now walked around the Mizbe'ach on his way to the southwestern corner. "Meheichan hu matchil?" At which corner is the circuit begun? Should he turn to his left and arrive within a few steps, or turn to his right and travel the whole way around?
"Mikeren deromit mizrachit": he turns to his right and starts out from the southeastern corner, for there is a governing principle that turning is always done rightward: "dechol pinot she'atah poneh", every turn that you make, "lo yehu ela derech yamin", must be toward the right. His circuit therefore ran "mizrachit tzefonit, tzefonit ma'aravit, ma'aravit deromit": southeast to northeast, northeast to northwest, northwest to southwest.
"Natnu lo yayin lenasech": only when he arrived at that corner did they hand him the vessel of wine for the pouring. He did not carry the wine with him as he walked around, because the smoke could have spoiled it, so it was given to him at that point.
The signals and the song
Everyone now takes up his station for the libation. "Hasegan omed al hakeren": the Segan, deputy to the Kohen Gadol, took his stand at the Mizbe'ach's southwestern corner, "vehasudarin beyado", holding signal flags ready in his hand.
"Ushnei chohanim omdim al shulchan hachalavim": two Kohanim were stationed at the shulchan hachalavim, a marble table beside the Mizbe'ach on which the pieces of the korban headed for the fire were first laid out. "Ushtei chatzotzrot shel kesef beyadam": in the hand of each of them was a silver trumpet.
"Tak'u veheri'u vetak'u": three separate sounds were produced on the trumpets, a teki'ah, one drawn out blast; a teru'ah, a run of short broken notes such as we hear from the shofar; and then a closing teki'ah, another sustained blast. This served to notify the singers that the nisuch hayayin, the wine libation, was about to take place.
"Ba'u ve'amdu eitzel Ben Arza": the pair of trumpeters descended from that table and stationed themselves beside Ben Arza, the officer in charge of the cymbal, "echad mimino ve'echad mismolo", one on his right and one on his left. Since the song of the Levi'im accompanied the nisuch hayayin, the mishnah goes on to explain how the singing was timed to begin exactly as the yayin was poured.
"Shachah lenasech": the Kohen Gadol stooped over to pour out the wine. "Vehenif hasegan basudarin": the Segan, observing that the libation had begun, waved the flags in his hand. "Vehikish Ben Arza batziltzal": at the sight of those flags, Ben Arza struck the cymbal. "Vedibru haLevi'im bashir": the sound of the cymbal was the cue, and the Levi'im broke into the song appointed for that day. Each weekday had a song of its own, the shir shel yom, a subject the next mishnah will take up.
Trumpet blasts and bowing
"Higi'u laperek": when the Levi'im reached the end of a section of the song, "tak'u vehishtachavu ha'am", they paused, the Kohanim sounded teki'ah, teru'ah, teki'ah on the trumpets, and the people assembled in the Azarah bowed down.
"Al kol perek teki'ah": at the finish of every section the same three sounds went up from the trumpets, "ve'al kol teki'ah hishtachavayah", and with every such blowing the assembled people prostrated themselves. Since each day's song was made up of three sections, the trumpets were sounded nine times in all, three sets of three, and the people bowed down on three occasions.
"Zeh hu seder haTamid", this is the order of the Korban Tamid, "la'avodat Beit Eloheinu", offered up for the service of the House of our God: everything laid out across this Masechet, with a single mishnah still ahead of us.
"Yehi ratzon": may this be the desire of Hashem, "sheyibaneh bimheirah beyameinu, amen", that the Beit Hamikdash rise again quickly, within our days and within our lifetime, amen.