It had once been the practice that when the kohen hamemuneh arrived, the kohanim would turn and race up the slope of the altar. The first to the top would win the privilege of performing the terumat hadeshen service. After these races led to accidents, they were banned and replaced by a lottery system. The kohen hamemuneh administered the lottery in the Beit Hamoked. The lottery winner was honored, not only with performing the terumat hadeshen but also with arranging on top of the altar the three wood pyres, the ma’arachot, which were later lit to fuel the sacrificial fires. The lottery winner, accompanied by the other kohanim, would then leave the Beit Hamoked through the door leading into the azarah and with torches in hand they would walk around the azarah to inspect the various utensils, klei mikdash, soon to be used in the korban tamid service.

The lottery winner would then break away from the group and step westward into the darkness of the ezrat kohanim, walking beyond the altar toward the Sanctuary until he reached the kiyor, the washbasin in which he would wash his hands and feet. Then he would pick up the silver shovel, ascend the altar and remove, with the shovel, a fistful of ashes from the wood pyre and complete the terumat hadeshen ceremony.

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Seeing him descend, the group of kohanim would leave their post at the lishkat osei hachavitin, rush toward the kiyor to purify themselves, and then ascend the altar with rakes and shovels. There they would clear to the edges of the altar any parts of the previous day’s sacrifice which had not been consumed by the fires. They would then pile any remaining ashes onto a mound on top of the altar known as the tapuach. The lottery winner would then ascend the altar again to arrange the wood pyres on which the pieces of the korban tamid and the incense would later be burned. The other kohanim would replace the parts of the previous day’s sacrifice on the first pyre and then light the pyres.

With this work complete, all of the kohanim repaired to the liskat hagazit chamber, the seat of the Sanhedrin, located to the east of the Beit Hamoked. There they would participate in a second lottery to determine which of the bench kohanim would perform the other tasks of the korban tamid. Since the act of shechitah could not be performed at night, one of the kohanim was sent up onto the roof to see whether dawn had broken. If he could see all the way to Hebron, it was light enough to perform the shechitah.

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Raphael Grunfeld received semicha in Yoreh Yoreh from Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem of America and in Yadin Yadin from Rav Dovid Feinstein. A partner at the Wall Street law firm of Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, Rabbi Grunfeld is the author of “Ner Eyal: A Guide to Seder Nashim, Nezikin, Kodashim, Taharot and Zerayim” and “Ner Eyal: A Guide to the Laws of Shabbat and Festivals in Seder Moed.” Questions for the author can be sent to [email protected].