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Yoma 52a

יומא נ״ב ע״א

Learn Yoma 52a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The כהן גדול's route to the קדש הקדשים, and the doubt about the holiness of the אמה טרקסין

Overview

This amud opens by finishing the debate about how the כהן גדול walks toward the קדש הקדשים on יום כפור. רבי יהודה holds that an indirect path shows respect. רבי יוסי holds that a direct path is fine, because ישראל need no go-between. The גמרא asks why, according to רבי יהודה, he does not walk between the מנורה and the wall, and answers that his clothes would get blackened with soot. Then רבי נתן says the חכמים never decided whether the one-cubit partition, the אמה טרקסין, counts as inside or outside. רבינא challenges him. The measurements in ספר מלכים cannot be the source of the doubt, because those פסוקים count only open space, and the משנה in מדות, which does count walls, lists the partition as its own cubit. So the real doubt is about the partition's holiness, not its location. The גמרא links this to יוסף איש הוצל's question about how to read a פסוק describing the דביר. It then asks whether he could really be unsure, quoting איסי בן יהודה's teaching that only five פסוקים have no decided reading. That challenge continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

לְמֵיעַל לְהֶדְיָא.

to enter directly.

וְרַבִּי יוֹסֵי אָמַר לָךְ:

And Rabbi Yosei would say to you:

חֲבִיבִין יִשְׂרָאֵל

The Jewish people are beloved

שֶׁלֹּא הִצְרִיכָן הַכָּתוּב לְשָׁלִיחַ.

for the Torah did not require them to use an agent.

The steps (13)

  1. ResolutionWhy רבי יוסי allows the כהן גדול to walk in directly
  2. ChallengeWhy not an even more indirect path according to רבי יהודה
  3. ResolutionHis clothes would get blackened
  4. Statementרבי נתן: the status of the אמה טרקסין was never decided
  5. Challengeרבינא asks the reason for the doubt
  6. ProofThe suggested source of the doubt: the measurements in ספר מלכים
  7. RejectionThe verses count open space, not walls
  8. ProofProof from the משנה in מדות that counts walls
  9. ResolutionThe real doubt is about the partition's holiness
  10. ProofThis matches יוסף איש הוצל's dilemma about the פסוק
  11. QuestionHow is the פסוק to be read?
  12. QuestionTwo possible ways to read the verse about the partition
  13. ChallengeCould he really be unsure? A teaching about five undecided verses