Sukkah, Daf Nun Heh, Part 5
Today’s section is a mishnah. My commentary is from Mishnah Yomit.
משנה.
1) בשלשה פרקים בשנה היו כל משמרות שוות: באימורי הרגלים, ובחילוק לחם הפנים.
2) בעצרת אומר לו: הילך מצה הילך חמץ.
3) משמר שזמנו קבוע הוא מקריב תמידין נדרים ונדבות ושאר קרבנות צבור – ומקריב את הכל.
1) At three periods in the year all the priestly watches shared equally in the festival sacrifices and in the division of the showbread.
2) On Shavuot they used to say to the priest, Here is matzah for you, here is chametz for you.
3) A watch whose period of service was fixed [for that festival week] offered the tamid, vow-offerings and freewill-offerings and all other public offerings; and it offered them all.
Section one: This is a reference to the previous mishnah. On all three festivals all of the watches shared equally in all of the sacrifices that came on account of the festival. This would include the musafim mentioned yesterday, but also the hagigah and other special sacrifices that individuals would bring on account of the festival. They also divided the showbread equally, despite the fact that the showbread is not really a sacrifice that comes on account of the festival.
Section two: On Shavuot there were both the matzot of the showbread and leavened bread (chametz) from the two special loaves on Shavuot. Therefore they could amusingly say to the priest coming to take his share: here s your matzah, here s your chametz.
Section three: The watch whose week fell on the week upon which there was a festival would get the offerings that were brought not on account of the festival. They would get the tamid, the daily offerings. They also received the individual voluntary offerings vow offerings and free-will offerings. They also received other public offerings not listed in the previous mishnah. This would include the Shabbat musaf offerings. Finally, they would get any offering that was brought for some reason other than the festival. This would include first-born animals and tithes. We should note that despite the fact that the festival offerings were divided up equally among the different watches, it surely would have been a bonus to have one s watch fall on the festival for the simple reason that more people came to the Temple at these times. It was at these times of the year that people would have brought their voluntary offerings, their first-born animals, their animal tithes and other offerings. Hence, it was probably quite lucrative to have your watch fall during the festival.