yoma 59

remaining blood gets poured onto the altar
that drains into the water
that washes into the river
that gets sold to nourish the earth.

- it is still blood from the temple
don't get it on your clothes.

(discussion about what to do with the remainder blood, and which part of the altar is it poured on. also described is that this blood would mix with water and drain out of the temple and mix with water. this was sold as fertiliser. The sale would redeem the blood and thus not be suspect of misusing hekdesh - something that belongs to the temple. although it is unclear if the blood was considered property of the temple or belonging to all the people. a detail about the sprinkling is that it was done in a way to prevent blood going on the priest's garments)

yoma 58

mixing the bloods in the bowls before sprinkling in the corners.
the orientation of circles and squares

(there is one opinion that the bull's blood and the goat's blood was mixed before being sprinkled on the altar. but it is debated how the bloods were mixed. if placing the smaller bowl inside the bigger and allowing the bloods to mix was enough. also discussed is the order and procedure of how the altar was sprinkled at the corners. always turn to the right or not? playing with circles and squares)

yoma 57

mixing bull's blood and goat's blood

accidentally and intentionally

(this page discusses the situation if the different bloods get mixed up, how should the High Priest perform the sprinkling. also debated is whether or not the the blood is intentionally mixed together after the sprinkling to pour onto the four corners of the golden altar.)

apologies

finally...

I have finally uploaded a month's lot of daf yomi drawings. apologies to regular readers of this blog. it has been a busy month - exhibition in Ein Harod Israel, presentations at Limmud Conference. But also been beset with various technical problems. Cutting a long, boring story short - this blog now comes to you from a zooped up refurbished MacBook Pro with new hard-drive and squeaky clean motherboard.

I could have found other ways to scan, adjust light levels etc and upload, but I decided not to. I never expected people to read or follow this blog when I started this project. the main reason for posting was to make sure I stayed committed to this daily routine of learning and drawing. and in a strange way it has been oddly liberating just learning, then drawing. Without the immediate urgency to get it out there, and then anxious about if there was any feedback or not. it's been just about the learning and drawing. Which has been great. but now that I have uploaded about a month's lot of drawing, I honestly can say that I don't think I will take such a long break from posting again.

yoma 56

keeping in mind the differences between the bull's blood and the goat's blood, is a lot to expect a weak high priest to be able to do while fasting on Yom Kippur.

yoma 55

words can slip and slide
and numbers can be forgotten

writing and counting are unreliable.

so go back to one

(debated is if there were 2 pedestals or just 1 pedestal in the temple for the bowls of blood. written labels was considered unreliable. also discussed is the way the sprinkling was counted, always including the one upward sprinkle with the downward so not to be confusing for the feeble High Priest who can easily get muddled up)

yoma 54

even cherabim get heartbroken

can a picture of a loved one ever really compensate for what is missing - be it buried in the ground or exiled into silence?

(discussed on this page is the question of where is the ark. Was the ark of the first temple buried within the temple, or taken into exile into Babylon. The ark wasn't in in the second temple, instead there were images of the cherabim on the curtains. according to this page, these cherabim were the form of a male and female embracing showing the love relationship between God and the people)

yoma 53

is it the leaf or the root that makes the smoke rise?

(discussing the ingredients of the incense, specifically the plant that makes the smoke rise, but uncertain if it is the root or the leaf that does this)

yoma 52

walking between the spaces between the curtains
and the sentences

(ambigious punctuation of sentences in tanach - are certain words the ends or beginning of sentences. and when entering the Holy of Holies the High Priest enters one gap on one side, walks in between and then exits through a gap on the other side of the other curtain)

yoma 51

determining the status of no-man's land between the Holy of Holies and the Sanctuary?
half & half?

yoma 50

is the bull's blood the same as the bull?

(while the blood is in the body, it is part of the bull but when the blood is separate from the bull does it have the same identity of the bull or is it it's own identity?)

yoma 49

can a dead man's hand produce a cloud of smoke?

(the incense is measured according to the hand size of the high priest who scoops it. and is subjective. but if the high priest dies after scooping but before performing the ceremony, can the substitute use that incense?)

yoma 48

what if it goes wrong?
the perilous path of the incense.
the wrong thoughts can make it all fly away

(the incense ceremony can be made invalid by doing it wrong or having the wrong thoughts - considered one of the most difficult rituals in the temple)

yoma 47

who is the father?
secrets and hidden organs.

the one with big hands who will perform the ceremony in secret was formed inside the one who kept her hair hidden.

(Kimchit said she merited to have 7 sons, all of whom became High Priests because she covered her hair indoors. One of her sons had extra big hands, as the greatest of the sperm congealed within her womb. in all these stories one fact is hidden. who is the father?)

yoma 46

the relationship between the coal and the fire

(is a piece of coal separate from the altar still considered fire from the altar?)

yoma 45

the fine and the super-fine
and the flame that rises from the incense

(the incense was ground extra fine for yom kippur)

yoma 44

seven types of gold
but pennies and don't strain the communal purse by making the pans of silver

(list of the different types of gold used in the temple. a strange detail is that the pans were made of silver so not to burden the community with extra expenses.... considering how much gold and finery was used, it's a strange thing to suddenly economise now)

yoma 43

taking into account the frail high Priest's body

only those with exposed genitals can sprinkle

(discussing who can sprinkle, women can't or hermaphrodites or others whose genitals are concealed. because as those who share a bathroom with a man know, men have a tendency to sprinkle. Later in the page is contrasted what normally happens in the temple and what happens on Yom Kippur, taking into account the fragile nature of the High Priest's body. The talmudic rabbis go into a lot of detail and emphasis on the making the case that the High Priest was frail and delicate, and perhaps not strong enough for the job.)

yoma 42

who can hold the knife, gather the ash, sprinkle the water

and who can only assist.

(in discussing the tasks of the temple, some can be done by non-priests, but not by children, women or those who lack awareness and understanding. there is an opinion that a woman can help a child do these tasks even if she can't do them herself.)

yoma 41

role of the red thread.
identifying tag or a weight

(discussing the use of the red thread in the rituals of goat to Azazel and the red heifer. and how much red thread is needed for each, as one ritual needs a minimum amount - either to identify, or to tie together the ceder and hyssop and be significantly heavy to throw and burn within the flames of the red heifer)

yoma 40

designating by mouth or hand

(discussing how lots were cast for which goat was sent off into the desert to Azazel, and which goat was for God - how essential was it to actually place the lot on the goat, tie a red thread, or was verbal designation enough?)

yoma 39

hierarchy of right over left

right hand leads to success and left to destruction

(lots of the goat that gets sent to Azazel and to God - it was considered much better if the lot for God appeared in the High Priest's right hand rather than the left.)

yoma 38

each one has their own skill and ability.
but not to teach is the throw it away into the sea and be fatally consumed by one's mother

(various craft skills used for the temple are discussed. secrets that are not passed on to the collective. some of these skills are to prevent them falling into misuse, but others like the ability to have different nibs between different fingers and write all four letters of God's name at the same time - that was not passed on for wicked reasons. wickedness leads to maternal canabalism and destruction by water)

yoma 37

the glare of publicity

the gold tablet so that the Torah shouldn't have to come out to shame the Sotah - who will be publicly shamed.
but everyone likes a disco-ball morning alarm

(described are 2 items of gold in the temple donated by the same woman. the first is a light fixing that when the morning light would hit it will radiate out letting all know it is time for the shema, and a gold tablet on which the passage of the Sotah is written on it, so that a sefer torah won't have to be brought out for such a shameful ritual...)

yoma 36

the orientation of confession

but what achieves atonement? - the words of confession or the blood?

(the direction of where the animal and priest stand during the confession. but shouldn't have the rear facing the altar in case the animal defecates. in the drawing the horn becomes a comma, and the poo becomes a full-stop)

yoma 35

constantly changing clothes morning and night.
The High Priest to serve and the woman to seduce.

(the many costume changes of the High Priest on Yom Kippur, and later in the page is described how Yosef resisted Potiphar's wife. she would try to seduce him by constantly changing her costume...)

yoma 34

the fragile physical body.
ensuring that the water isn't too cold for the High Priest's delicate body.
and clothing it in the finest of expensive linens

(the High Priest has to immerse many times on Yom Kippur, and if his body was delicate the water would be heated by placing pre-heated metal. later on the page are described the various items of clothing he would wearing, and their value)

yoma 33

the to-do list of the temple

but more importantly - finish one job before starting the next. and look busy

(this page lists the various tasks that need to happen in the temple, including tasks that are just there so that the place will look busy for any on-lookers.... appearance is everything)

yoma 32

two-handed slaughter of the two organs

the hand that is washed & hands the knife over to another's hand to complete the slaughter.

(slaughtering involves cutting the windpipe and the gullet. the High priest doesn't have to do both but can hand the knife to another priest to complete the slaughter so he can catch the blood)

yoma 31

bathing on the paper-thin roof

(calculating the dimensions of the temple roof and where the High Priest immersed on the roof, means that this floor's thickness was neglible and not included in the dimensions)

yoma 30

is washing something to be done publicly or privately?
do others need to see it in order to know that is happened?

(if go to the toilet mid-meal, important to publicly wash hands so that others will know that you have done this. contrasted with the High Priest immersing behind a sheet - it is public that the High Priest is immersing, but no one can see a thing)

yoma 29

the woman who is the dawn.
the end of night & miracles

(Esther is compared to dawn as her story is the end of miracles. which makes the time of miracles, night-time.)

yoma 28

there were always elders who sat and studied
and there was always moonlight

(discussing the world zakayn - elder, or beard, wrt to Abraham, and elders in Eygpt, as being a group of older wise men who sat and studied torah, astronomy etc. And moonlight, and not mistaking this for sunlight by the single column of light, unlike the sun that radiates out)