In the previous section we discussed the wood offering, which was brought at set times throughout the year. Our Mishnah, Mishnah 5 in the fourth chapter of Maseches Taanis, spells out exactly when those times were.
"Zeman atzei kohanim veha'am hayu tishah":
The Mishnah lists nine times at which the wood was brought by the kohanim and the people:
"B'chad b'Nisan" - on the first of Nisan, the family of Arach ben Yehudah.
"B'esrim b'Tammuz" - on the twentieth of Tammuz, the family of David ben Yehudah, apparently a reference to David HaMelech and his descendants.
"B'chamishah b'Av" - on the fifth of Av, the family of Parosh ben Yehudah.
"B'shivah b'Av" - on the seventh of Av, the family of Yonadav ben Rechav.
"B'asarah b'Av" - on the tenth of Av, the family of Sena'ah ben Binyamin, from the tribe of Binyamin.
"B'chamishah asar b'Av" - on the fifteenth of Av, the family of Zattu ben Yehudah, "v'imahem kohanim u'Leviyim v'chol mi shata'ah b'shivto" - and with them the kohanim, the Leviyim, and anyone who does not know for certain which tribe he comes from, "u'vnei gonvei eli, bnei kotz'ei ketzi'os".
"B'esrim bo" - on the twentieth of Av, the family of Pachas Moav ben Yehudah.
"B'esrim b'Elul" - on the twentieth of Elul, the family of Adin ben Yehudah.
"B'echad b'Teves" - on the first of Teves, when the family of Parosh brought a second time. This family had already brought on the fifth of Av, and brought again on the first of Teves.
"Bnei gonvei eli, bnei kotz'ei ketzi'os" - who are they?
The Gemara explains that there was a time when the government decreed that it was forbidden to bring bikkurim, and stationed guards along the roads to stop those who were bringing them. In order to get past the guards, people would place the bikkurim in baskets and cover them with figs, and take along an 'eli' - a pestle, a utensil normally used to prepare fig cakes. When they were stopped on the road, they would claim that they were merely on their way to a certain place to prepare fig cakes, and in this way they outwitted the guards so that they would not realize what they were doing. For this reason they were called "bnei gonvei eli," the sons of those who stole away with the pestle, and also "bnei kotz'ei ketzi'os" - those who would prepare the ketzi'os, that is, the fig cakes.
"B'echad b'Teves lo hayah bo ma'amad":
The Mishnah concludes that on the first of Teves no ma'amad convened at all, in line with what we learned in the previous Mishnah, that there are certain matters which prevent the men of the ma'amad from gathering: "shehayah bo Hallel" - the Hallel of Chanukah, since the first of Teves falls during Chanukah; the mussaf offering, since it is Rosh Chodesh; and the wood offering.
It is worth noting that the Hallel of Rosh Chodesh is not counted here, since that practice postdates the time of the Gemara; the Hallel referred to here is the Hallel of Chanukah.
Now let us add the view of Ben Azzai in the previous Mishnah: the mussaf offering cancels the mussaf ma'amad and the minchah ma'amad, the wood offering cancels the ne'ilah ma'amad, and Hallel cancels the shacharis ma'amad. It emerges that on the first of Teves no gathering of the ma'amad remained at all.
In summary: in this Mishnah we counted the nine times of the wood offering and the families that brought it, we saw the Gemara's explanation of the titles "bnei gonvei eli" and "bnei kotz'ei ketzi'os" - those who outwitted the guards in order to bring bikkurim at the time of the decree, and we learned why on the first of Teves there was no ma'amad at all: Hallel, the mussaf offering and the wood offering all came together on that day.