Tamid, Chapter 2, Mishnah 1. Chapter 1 followed the kohanim through the night in the Beit Hamikdash and ended with the terumat hadeshen, the removal of ashes from the top of the mizbeach. Our mishnah picks up precisely where that account stopped and moves the avodah forward: once the first service of the day has been performed, the rest of the kohanim spring into action to clear the mizbeach and rebuild its fire.
The signal to the other kohanim
Let us return to the scene Chapter 1 left us with. A lottery had designated one kohen for the terumat hadeshen. He gathered ashes from the mizbeach's upper surface, carried them down, and set them upon the ground of the azarah, the Temple courtyard. With that act, the first avodah of the day was complete.
Our mishnah continues: "ra'uhu echav shehirid, hayu ratzin uva'in". The moment his fellow kohanim observed him descending the ramp and depositing the ashes below in the azarah, they hurried over. His coming down told them that the day's service was now under way.
Washing at the kiyor
Where did they run? To the kiyor, the laver from which the kohanim sanctified their hands and feet before serving. They hurried to wash there, readying themselves for the avodah that was now to follow.
Shovels and forks
Now sanctified, each one took hold of the implements: the magreifot, shovels for gathering up ashes, and the tzinorot, forks for lifting and repositioning the pieces of meat lying on the mizbeach. Tools in hand, they climbed the ramp and ascended onto the mizbeach's surface.
Clearing the eivarim and the pedarim
Their task was the state of the mizbeach itself. Limbs and fats from the korbanot of the previous day, the eivarim and the pedarim, had been left burning through the night, and whatever had not been fully consumed was still lying there. The kohanim would move these pieces aside, arranging them along the sides of the mizbeach. This was only a temporary placement: clearing the surface allowed the fire to be rebuilt and relit with full strength.
When the sides were full
And what if space ran short? The mishnah addresses that case too: "im ein hatzedadim machzikin, sodrin otam basovev al hakevesh". When the edges could not accommodate everything, the kohanim would lay out whatever remained upon the sovev, the ledge that ran around the mizbeach, at the spot where the kevesh, the ramp, joins it. That too was only a holding place, lasting until the fire beneath had been properly set in order and the pieces could be returned.