Where do we find unsportsmanlike conduct mention in the Talmud? TB Yoma 22

Today’s daf is dedicated to Marc Hirschman who first taught me this Mishna.

Every year Camp Ramah in the Berkshires and Camp Ramah in New England compete in sports day, Yom Berkshires every summer. The fierce rivalry between the two camps can be compared to the rivalry between the Yankees and the Red Sox. When I was a teacher at Camp Ramah in New England, I witnessed too often that this rivalry crossed the line and became unsportsmanlike conduct. To help my campers returned to appropriate conduct, I taught the Mishna on today’s daf Yoma 22 because an unsportsmanlike caused a serious injury.

Part of the Avodah (עבודה), sacrificial worship service included the daily removal of the ashes from the altar. We learned on daf Yoma 20b:

“Therefore, every day the priests remove the ashes from the altar at the crow of the rooster or adjacent to it, whether before it or after it, as on a typical day removing the ashes just before dawn is sufficient. On Yom Kippur, when, due to the fact that he performs the entire day’s service, there is an issue of the weakness of the High Priest, the ashes are removed earlier and we do so from midnight. And on the Festivals, when the Jewish people in Jerusalem are numerous and the offerings that they bring to sacrifice during the Festival are numerous, the ashes are removed even earlier, and we do so from the first watch, in accordance with the reason that is taught in the mishna: And the call of the rooster would not arrive on Festivals until the Temple courtyard was full with the Jewish people.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The sages first believed that not too many priests would want to stay up late or get up early to remove the ashes, te-rumat hadeshen- תרומת הדשן) a dirty and an inglorious part of the Avodah. They changed the procedure because they were wrong as the Mishnah testifies.

 “Initially, the practice among the priests was that whoever wishes to remove the ashes from the altar removes them. And when there are many priests who wish to perform that task, the privilege to do so is determined by a race: The priests run and ascend on the ramp leading to the top of the altar. Any priest who precedes another and reaches within four cubits of the top of the altar first is privileged to remove the ashes. And if both of them were equal and neither preceded the other, the appointed priest says to all the priests: Extend your fingers, and a lottery was performed, as will be explained…

“Initially, that was the procedure; however, an incident occurred where both of them were equal as they were running and ascending on the ramp, and one of them shoved another and he fell and his leg was broken. And once the court saw that people were coming to potential danger, they instituted that priests would remove ashes from the altar only by means of a lottery. There were four lotteries there, in the Temple, on a daily basis to determine the priests privileged to perform the various services, and this, determining which priest would remove the ashes, was the first lottery.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Imagine the foot race up to the top of the altar and being pushed off the ramp and falling nine amot or close to 18 feet hitting the cold hard floor of the Temple. The priest who was pushed was lucky to the extent that only his leg was broken. As you can see one unsportsmanlike conduct ruined it for everybody else. And that was the lesson I try to teach my campers every year before Yom Berkshires. More importantly, unsportsmanlike conduct is just wrong and not a Jewish attribute.