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Passover: How the Holy Temple Observed

Arthur L. Finkle

The shofar sounds during all the holidays in the Jewish year: the New
Year, the Day of Atonement and the three pilgrimage festival. For the three
pilgrimage festivals there are three very different rituals that the Priests
practiced in the Holy Temple.

During the Passover in the Temple, there was a ceremony with golden and
silver bowls through which the sacrificial blood of lambs were Pesach, the
Priests sounded the shofar was sounded 3-times each for three parts of the
Temple ceremony. The Mishnah Pesachim 64, it states:

The priests stood in rows, and in their hands were basins (to
received blood) of silver and basins of gold; a row which was
entirely of silver was of silver, and a row which was entirely of gold
was of gold: they were not mixed; and the basins had no [flat]
bottoms, lest they put them down and the blood become
congealed. The Israelite killed [the lamb], and the priest caught [the
blood]; he handed it to his colleague and his colleague [passed it
on] to his colleague; and he received the full [basin] and gave back
the empty one. (Thus it was worked on the ‘endless-chain’ system.)

The priest nearest the altar sprinkled it once over against the base
[or the altar].the first division [then] went out and the second
entered; the second went out and the third entered. As the manner
of the first [group], so was the manner of the second and the third.
they recited the hallel

Babylonian Talmud in Pesachim 64b gives an example of the great number


of people who entered Jerusalem and partook in this mitzvah by retelling
that one year King Agrippa wanted to count the number of people. He
instructed the high priest to count the number of sacrifices that were
brought as the sacrifice (Korbán Pesach). When they reached 1,200,000
the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) stopped the count. This was double the
number of people who had left Egypt.

There was usually a lamb for each family. Interestingly the Ethiopian Jews,
who were cut off from Rabbinic Judaism, performed the lamb ceremony as
was stated in the Bible, very similar to the Temple ceremony.
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The Torah requires that the sacrifice be offered publicly. On the 14 day of
Nisan the Kohanim (Priests) would open the doors of the temple and allow
the people in with their offerings in three large groups of no less than thirty
people but each group which usually were more numerous than the
minimum. The Priests would stand in long lines shoulder to shoulder from
the courtyard of the people into the courtyard where only Priests could
enter all the way to the foot of the altar.

The first man would come with his lamb and slaughter it in front of the first
Priest who would catch the blood in golden holy vessels and pass it to the
next Priest and so forth until it arrived at the base of the altar where the
blood was deposited.

The vessels had a round bottom to them so that the Kohanim could not put
them down even for a moment in order to prevent the blood from
coagulating rending the offering unfit. The vessels would be passed from
Priest to Priest back and forth. The person would then move to the next
station where the carcass was hung from a hook and skinned and the
prohibited fats and other parts were removed.

Behind the Kohanim on a platform stood the Choir of Levites. When the
process began, the Shofar was sounded with the three traditional
sounds: tekia; teruah; tekia and the choir recited the Hallel prayer. This
continued until the entire group that had been let in had finished offering
both the Pesach offering and also the other sacrifice for the holiday called
the Hagiga offering. (The first meat eaten was the meat of the Hagiga
sacrifice and then later the Passover Sacrifice which was eaten with bitter
herbs and matzah.)

An important feature is the Shofar’s prominence of solemnity, holiness and


reminder of the significance of freedom from slavery. These blasts focused
attention on the sacrifice of blood, representing giving one’s own life
through animal blood as a metaphor of obeisance to God.

Origin of Hallel

The Hallel consists of Psalms 113 through 118 and is a central prayer in
Judaism. It is recited by observant Jews as praise and thanksgiving on
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Jewish holidays, including Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot and on other


occasions such as Hanukkah and the New Moon (Rosh Chodesh).

Rabbinic tradition credits King David with having written almost all of the
Psalms, including those which now make up Hallel. R. Eleazar ben Yosé,
however, ascribed Hallel to Moses and the Israelites; while R. Judah taught
that the prophets had decreed that these psalms be recited to mark
national events and deliverance from peril. Other sages maintained that
Hallel was recited by various leaders of Israel throughout the biblical
period----by Joshua, Deborah, and Hezekiah, by Hananiah, Mishael, and
Azariah, by Mordecai and Esther (Pes. l l7a-118a).

They would chant the Hallel for each group at least three times.
Accordingly, there were nine shofar blasts. When all of this was finished
they would allow the next group in after the first group left. This occurred
three times. If the 14th day of Nisan were Shabbat everything was done the
same way except that the people could not take the meat home with them
until after Shabbat.

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