Hasmonean stones TB Yoma 16

If you’re into architectural schematic depictions, today’s daf TB Yoma 16 is your cup of tea. The Mishnah of Middot describes the dimensions of the Temple Mount, the courtyards and its contents, and the Temple itself. The Mishnah of Tamid describes the operation of the sacrificial cult from predawn until its conclusion with the afternoon tamid sacrifice. Today’s daf highlights a discrepancy between the Middot and Tamid. According to Tamid the chamber containing the lambs for the tamid was located in the Northwest corner of the Bet HaMokad, a large room in the Temple courtyard. According to Middot this chamber was located in the southwest corner of the Bet HaMokad. The Gemara resolves this contradiction by saying that the author of the Middot mishnayot is Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya’akov and the author of the Tamid mishnayot remains anonymous. These tannaim just had different traditions concerning the Temple. The Gemara provides two proofs why Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya’akov has to be the author of Middot. One of the proofs dives deeply into the dimensions of the Temple Mount and all it contains. So if you’re interested in this sort of information, go study today’s daf with illustrations.

Everybody knows that we just don’t throw away any books like a Hebrew prayer book, scrolls, or documents which contain any one of God’s name. Since they are holy, we treat them with the up most respect. They are either put in a geniza which is a storage room or they are buried. The most famous geniza is the Cairo geniza and its importance was recognized by Solomon Schechter. To learn more about the Cairo Geniza and its importance, I highly recommend the book Sacred Trash: the Lost and Found of the Cairo Geniza by Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole.

Today’s daf teaches that we show the same respect to an altar as we do to holy books, scrolls, or documents. Our story begins with the Maccabees and Hanukkah. The Maccabees defeated the Syrian Greeks and rededicated the Temple after it had been desecrated. An independent Jewish Commonwealth was reestablished and the Maccabees founded the Hasmonean dynasty. Because the altar was holy, it could be thrown away or reused for a secular purpose. Just as we place holy books, scrolls, or documents in a geniza, they sequestered the altar stones that the Syrian Greeks desecrated in a geniza. “The northeast chamber was the chamber in which the Hasmoneans sequestered the altar stones that were desecrated by the gentile kings when they sacrificed idolatrous offerings.” (Sefaria.org translation)