Yoma 24B

״ולמבית לפרוכת ועבדתם״, ״אל מבית לפרוכת״ הוא דעבודת מתנה ולא עבודת סילוק. הא בחוץ ⁠— אפילו עבודת סילוק.

“To that within the veil; and you should serve; I give you the priesthood as a service of gift” (Numbers 18:7), indicating that it is only with regard to services that are performed within the veil, i.e., in the Holy of Holies, that there is a distinction between services, and a non-priest who performs services of giving there, such as sprinkling the blood inside the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, is subject to the death penalty, but not one who performs services of removing there, such as the removal of the censer from the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur. This leads to the conclusion that when it comes to services performed outside of the Holy of Holies, a non-priest would be liable if he performed any service, even a service of removal, such as the removal of ashes from the altar.

אי הכי, ״ועבדתם״ נמי, ״אל מבית לפרוכת״ הוא דעבודה תמה ולא עבודה שיש אחריה עבודה. הא בחוץ ⁠— אפילו עבודה שיש אחריה עבודה!

The Talmud asks: If it is so that the limitations of the verse apply only to those services performed in the Holy of Holies, one should say that the phrase: “And you should serve [va’avadtem],” from which it is derived that one is liable only for a service that is complete [avoda tamma] on its own and not incomplete, should also be similarly limited to services performed to what is within the veil. In that case, the liability of the non-priest, which is limited to cases where he performs a complete service and does not apply if he performs a service that is only preparatory and has another service after it that completes its purpose, should apply only to services performed in the Holy of Holies. But for services performed outside the Holy of Holies, a non-priest should be liable even if it is a service that is incomplete and has a service after it.