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Text Excerpt
מתני׳ ״ויצא אל המזבח אשר לפני ה׳״, זה מזבח הזהב. התחיל מחטא ויורד, מהיכן הוא מתחיל? מקרן מזרחית צפונית, צפונית מערבית, מערבית דרומית, דרומית מזרחית. מקום שהוא מתחיל בחטאת על מזבח החיצון — משם היה גומר על מזבח הפנימי.
Mishnah: It is stated: “And he should go out to the altar that is before YHWH, and make atonement for it; and he should take of the blood of the bull, and of the blood of the goat, and place it upon the corners of the altar round about” (Leviticus 16:18). This altar is the golden altar, since the outer altar is not before YHWH in the Sanctuary. He began to cleanse the altar, sprinkling the blood downward. From where does he begin? He begins from the northeast corner, and proceeds to the northwest corner, and then to the southwest corner, and finally to the southeast corner. A way to remember this is: At the place where he begins sprinkling the blood for a sin-offering sacrificed on the outer altar, the southeast corner, there he finishes sprinkling the blood on the inner altar.
רבי אליעזר אומר: במקומו היה עומד ומחטא.
R' Eliezer says: The priest would not circle the altar; rather, he stood in one place and sprinkled the blood from there. Since the altar was only one square cubit, he could sprinkle the blood on all 4 corners without moving.
ועל כולן היה נותן מלמטה למעלה, חוץ מזו שהיתה לפניו, שהיה נותן מלמעלה למטה. הזה על טהרו של מזבח שבע פעמים, ושירי הדם היה שופך על יסוד מערבי של מזבח החיצון, ושל מזבח החיצון היה שופך אל יסוד דרומי. אלו ואלו מתערבין באמה ויוצאין לנחל קדרון, ונמכרין לגננין לזבל, ומועלין בהן.
And on all the corners he would present the blood from below upward, except for that corner that was directly before him, on which he would present the blood from above downward. He sprinkled blood on the pure gold of the altar 7 times after clearing away the ashes. And he would pour the remainder of the blood on the western base of the outer altar. On a related topic, the Mishnah teaches that he would pour the remaining blood of an offering, after it was sprinkled, on the outer altar, on its southern base. These remainders of blood from the outer altar and those remainders of blood from the inner altar are mixed in the canal beneath the altar and flow out with the water used to rinse the area to the Kidron River. This water was sold to gardeners for use as fertilizer. The gardeners paid for this water and thereby redeemed it from its sanctity. Failure to do so would render them guilty of misuse of consecrated property.