Study Yoma folio 20B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
ואי סלקא דעתך מחצות דאורייתא היא, היכי מקדמינן (והיכי מאחרינן)?
And if it enters your mind to say that the time for removal of the ashes is from midnight by Torah law, how do we perform it earlier and how do we perform it later than the time established by Torah law?
אלא אמר רבי יוחנן: ממשמע שנאמר: ״כל הלילה״, איני יודע שהוא עד הבקר? ומה תלמוד לומר ״עד הבקר״ — תן בקר לבקרו של לילה.
Rather, R' Yoḥanan said: The fact that midnight is the deadline after which the limbs may not be burned is derived from a different source. From the fact that it is stated with regard to the burning of the limbs: All night, don’t I know that it means until morning? And for what purpose, then, does the verse state: Until morning? It means: Add another morning to the morning of the night. Arise before dawn, and that is the time for removal of the ashes. Nevertheless, there is no specific hour fixed for performing this removal, and how much earlier than dawn it is performed depends on the need.
הלכך, בכל יום תורמין את המזבח בקריאת הגבר או סמוך לו, בין מלפניו בין מלאחריו — סגיא. ביום הכפורים, דאיכא חולשא דכהן גדול — עבדינן מחצות. וברגלים, דנפישי ישראל ונפישי קרבנות — עבדינן מאשמורת הראשונה. כדקתני טעמא: לא היתה קריאת הגבר מגעת עד שהיתה עזרה מלאה מישראל.
Therefore, every day the priests remove the ashes from the altar at the crow of the rooster or adjacent to it, whether before it or after it, as on a typical day removing the ashes just before dawn is sufficient. On Yom Kippur, when, due to the fact that he performs the entire day’s service, there is an issue of the weakness of the High Priest, the ashes are removed earlier and we do so from midnight. And on the Festivals, when the Jewish people in Jerusalem are numerous and the offerings that they bring to sacrifice during the Festival are numerous, the ashes are removed even earlier, and we do so from the 1st watch, in accordance with the reason that is taught in the Mishnah: And the call of the rooster would not arrive on Festivals until the Temple courtyard was full with the Jewish people.
Text data via Sefaria: William Davidson Edition - English and William Davidson Edition - Vocalized Aramaic, CC-BY-NC; edition provenance: Koren. Display terminology has been modernized for readability.