הַפַּיִס הַשְּׁלִישִׁי חֲדָשִׁים לַקְּטֹרֶת בֹּאוּ וְהָפִיסוּ
For the third lottery, those new to offering the incense come and participate in the lottery.
We began a new Mishnah today. For the third lottery, those who are new to offering the incense come forward and participate. We learned today that for the incense offering, priests new to this came forward and participated. Some learners suggested that this made for a far more welcoming atmosphere, as it was a good starting place.
Chet-dalet-shin, meaning “new”, is an interesting root to explore. In my experience, its familiarity often leads me to forget the deeper implications. Learning a text written after the destruction of the Temple, whose service is so carefully being explored, the new priests are given an entryway into sacred service through coming together as a group, not competition.
On this Shabbat Nachamu, shabbat of comfort, I am finding interesting resonances with the ways in which the Tannaim—rabbis who compiled the Mishnah—are spending significant time recalling a place and a time in our collective past that wasn’t all that far behind. What might it have meant for them to imagine the minutia of the Temple lotteries, the daily performance of sacred ritual? We’ll never know if they imagined they would find themselves entering the Temple courtyard in their lifetime or not. Perhaps there was a voice within urging them towards more of a collaborative ritual construct in the form of this lottery. I wish I could get the tiniest insight into the workings of the earliest batei midrash, hearing for myself how the rabbis sought to preserve memory as they created anew.