Hand/Finger dexterity TB Yoma 49

 I remember my friends who are dentists telling me that when they were applying to dental school besides passing the DAT, Dental Admission Test, they also had to carve something in order to show finger/hand dexterity.

The High Priest also needed finger/hand dexterity in order to execute the required moves to fulfill the burning of the incense. Some Sages on today’s daf TB Yoma 49 hold the position that “the High Priest scoop a handful from the incense once and again scoop a handful a second time in the Holy of Holies… How should the High Priest act in the Holy of Holies, when he needs to place the incense on the coals by taking a handful from the spoon and placing it in his hands? After he places the coal pan on the ground, he holds the front of the ladle, i.e., the spoon of incense, with his fingertips, and some say he holds it with his teeth. At this stage the handle of the spoon rests between his arms. And he pushes it and raises it up slowly with his thumb toward his body until it reaches between his elbows, which he then uses to turn it over. He then returns the incense into his palms, after which he pours it from his hands into the coal pan. And he heaps the incense into a pile on the coals so that its smoke rises slowly. And some say he does the opposite, that he scatters it so that its smoke rises quickly.

“And this taking of a handful of incense is the most difficult sacrificial rite in the Temple. The Gemara asks: This one is the hardest rite, and no other? But there is pinching (manner of slaughtering a burnt offering of a bird), which is also considered extremely difficult; and there is taking a handful of a meal-offering, another complex rite. Rather, this taking of a handful of incense is one of the most difficult rites in the Temple, rather than the single most difficult one. In any event, you can learn from this that the High Priest scoops a handful and again scoops. The Gemara concludes: Indeed, learn from this that it is so.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Having the ability to accomplish these three difficult rites were extremely important when the Temple stood. I wonder if a priest had to pass a “hand/finger” dexterity test in order to become the High Priest just like my dentist friends.