Study Yoma folio 45A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
שדומה לפז. זהב שחוט — שנטוה כחוט. זהב סגור — בשעה שנפתח כל החנויות נסגרות. זהב פרוים — שדומה לדם הפרים.
because it resembles the luster of pearls [paz] in the way it glistens. Shaḥut gold is named as such because it is very malleable and is spun like thread [shenitve keḥut]. Shaḥut is a contraction of the words shenitve keḥut. Closed gold is so called because when a shop opens to sell it, all the other shops close, as no one is interested in purchasing any other type of gold. Parvayim gold is so called because its redness resembles the blood of bulls [parim].
רב אשי אמר: חמשה הן, וכל חד וחד אית ביה זהב וזהב טוב. תניא נמי הכי: בכל יום היה זהבה ירוק, והיום אדום — והיינו זהב פרוים שדומה לדם הפרים.
Rav Ashi said: There are in fact only 5 types of gold, the last 5 in Rav Ḥisda’s list. Gold and good gold are not independent categories; rather, each and every one of the types of gold has two varieties: Regular gold and a superior variety called good gold. That was also taught in a baraita with regard to parvayim gold: On every other day the coal pan was made of greenish gold, but on this day it was made of a red gold, and this is the parvayim gold which resembles the blood of bulls.
בכל יום מקריב פרס שחרית וכו׳. בכל יום היתה דקה, והיום דקה מן הדקה. תנו רבנן: ״דקה״ מה תלמוד לומר? והלא כבר נאמר: ״ושחקת ממנה הדק״! אלא, להביא דקה מן הדקה.
§ The Mishnah states: On every other day, a priest sacrificed a peras, half of a maneh, of incense in the morning, and a peras in the afternoon, but on this day the High Priest adds an additional handful of incense and burns it in the Holy of Holies. On every other day, the incense was ground fine as prescribed by the Torah, but on this day it was superfine. A baraita states: The verse states with regard to the incense on Yom Kippur that it is “finely ground aromatic incense” (Leviticus 16:12). What does the verse mean to teach by this? Has it not already been stated: “And you should grind some of it finely” (Exodus 30:36)? Rather, it teaches that on Yom Kippur the incense has to be superfine.