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  • From: Søren Holst <sh AT teol.ku.dk>
  • To: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] high priest on Yom Kippur -- no strings attached?
  • Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 09:08:49 +0200

Thanks a million, Yitzhak

This would appear to be the same passage of the Zohar that Steven quoted
yesterday (Zohar on Vayikra 102a); if it is of interest to others, I'll just
add that Kevin Woodruff kindly sent me off-list a reference also to 67a in
the Leviticus part of the Zohar (parashat Achrey Mot).

I admit I had a hard time ad-libbing my way through the Aramaic of the only
Zohar edition at hand (off the Responsa CD-ROM) so your Hebrew/English
version (as well as additional information) is a great help.

thanks again
Soren

> -----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
> Fra: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [SMTP:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] på vegne af Yitzhak Sapir
> Sendt: 21. juli 2005 00:21
> Til: b-hebrew
> Emne: Re: [b-hebrew] high priest on Yom Kippur -- no strings attached?
>
> It appears to me that the Zohar is the earliest source that mentions this
> phenomenon. The quote of the Zohar in this regard that I found is at:
> http://www.ynet.co.il/home/1,7340,L-1722-288-8021608,00.html where it
> quotes the Zohar on Lev. (Emor):
>
> > ????? ?? ??? ??? ?????? ????? ?? ???? ????? ???? ?????
> ????? ???????. ??? ????, ????? ???? ?????? ??????? ???? ???,
> ???? ?????? ?? ????? ???????
> = A golden chain would be tied around the leg of the High Priest when he
> enters the Holy of Holies, so that if he dies, they can pull him out by the
> chain and take him from there, without having to enter the Holy of Holies
> themselves.
>
> The following is based mainly on Joseph Tabory's, Jewish Festivals in the
> Time of the Mishnah and Talmud, Magnes: Jerusalem (2000) [Hebrew], p. 266
>
> This appears to have been unknown to the Talmudic Rabbis. See Bavli Yoma
> 19b, where a Sadducee is described as having died as a result of not
> performing the ritual according to law. A discussion follows as to whether
> he died a few days after or as he came out of the Holy of Holies: And some
> say, as he came out he was plagued, as R' Hiyya said: A kind of cry was
> heard in the Azara, that an angel came and hit him in the head. And his
> brothers, the priests, went inside and found a calf's footprint between his
> shoulders...
>
> So apparently, the Talmud had no problem with priests entering the Holy of
> Holies to take out a plagued or dead High Priest in extreme circumstances.
>
> The following additional sources have bearing to the question: Yoma 7:4 "A
> good day it was to his followers when [the high priest] came out well out
> of the Holy [of Holies.]" This is not simply because of the wellbeing of
> the High Priest himself, but also
> because his wellbeing in the Holy of Holies reflected on the atonement that
> the nation received. Yoma 5:1 The prayer while lighting the incense was
> short "so as not to worry Israel." The dead Sadducee story - Jerusalemi
> Yoma 1:5, 39a, Bavli Yoma 19b, Tosefta Kippurim 1:8.
>
> Articles referenced in Tabory on the dangers of entering the Holy of Holies
> are in Tarbiz 48, p. 201- 214, Tarbiz 51, p. 310-311/311-312. The joy of
> leaving the Holy of Holies [referenced to above] is probably related to Ben
> Sira 50:6-7, "How great is it when he looks out from the Tent, and leaves
> the House of Cover, like a star among the clouds, like a full moon amongst
> on holidays."
>
> Tabory doesn't mention Josephus on the paragraph of the dangers of entering
> the Holy of Holies but mentions him in the next paragraph regarding the
> Sadducees having been bound by Pharisee law due to public pressure so it
> appears to me that if Josephus would have mentioned this it would have been
> mentioned by Tabory.
>
> Yitzhak Sapir
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