Honorable Innovations and Selfish Secrets: Contributions and Criticisms in Second Temple Service (Mishnah Yoma 3:10-11)
This is a highly structured Mishnah, with four items in the first list of good, four in the contrasting list of bad, and a conclusion, with a biblical verse about each.1
Outline
Actions Mentioned Favorably
Ben-Katin - Spigots and machine for the Basin
King Munbaz - gold handles for Yom Kippur vessels
Queen Helene - gold chandelier for the Sanctuary entrance; golden tablet with the Torah portion of Sota
Nicanor - doors
Actions Mentioned Unfavorably
House of Garmu - showbread preparation
House of Evtinus - incense preparation
Hogrus the Levite - music / song
Ben-Kamtzar - writing
Conclusion: Moral Reflection Using Biblical Verses
The Passage
Actions Mentioned Favorably
Ben-Katin - Spigots and machine for the Basin
Ben-Katin (בן קטין) added twelve spigots2 to the Temple basin (כיור) so multiple priests could sanctify their hands and feet simultaneously.
He also designed a machine3 to submerge the basin in flowing water overnight, preventing the water from being disqualified.
בן קטין --
עשה שנים עשר דד לכיור, שלא היו לו אלא שנים.
ואף הוא עשה מוכני לכיור, שלא יהיו מימיו נפסלין בלינה.
The High Priest ben Katin
made twelve spigots for the basin so that several priests could sanctify their hands and feet at once, as previously the basin had only two.
He also made a machine [mukheni] for sinking the basin into flowing water during the night so that its water would not be disqualified by remaining overnight. Had the water remained in the basin overnight, it would have been necessary to pour it out the following morning. By immersing the basin in flowing water, the water inside remained fit for use the next morning.
King Munbaz - gold handles for Yom Kippur vessels
King Monobaz (מנבז המלך) funded the making of gold handles for all Yom Kippur vessels.
מנבז המלך --
היה עושה כל ידות הכלים של יום הכפורים של זהב.
King Munbaz
would contribute the funds required to make the handles of all the Yom Kippur vessels of gold.
Queen Helene - gold chandelier for the Sanctuary entrance; golden tablet with the Torah portion of Sota
Queen Helene (הילני) made a gold chandelier (נברשת) above the Sanctuary (היכל) entrance.
She also fashioned (or funded the fashioning of) a golden tablet4 with the Torah portion of Sota for copying purposes.5
הילני אמו --
עשתה נברשת של זהב על פתחו של היכל.
ואף היא עשתה טבלא של זהב שפרשת סוטה כתובה עליה.
Queen Helene, his mother,
fashioned a decorative gold chandelier above the entrance of the Sanctuary.
She also fashioned a golden tablet [tavla] on which the Torah portion relating to sota was written. The tablet could be utilized to copy this Torah portion, so that a Torah scroll need not be taken out for that purpose.
Nicanor - doors
Miracles occurred with the doors of the Temple's Gate of Nicanor, which were named after Nicanor.6
ניקנור נעשו נסים לדלתותיו, והיו מזכירין אותו לשבח
With regard to Nicanor, miracles were performed to his doors, the doors in the gate of the Temple named for him, the Gate of Nicanor. And the people would mention all of those whose contributions were listed favorably.
Actions Mentioned Unfavorably
ואלו לגנאי,
Apropos the mention in the mishna of people who took action in the Temple and were mentioned favorably, the mishna lists those who took action in the Temple and were mentioned unfavorably.
House of Garmu - showbread preparation
The House of Garmu (בית גרמו) refused to teach the secret of showbread (לחם הפנים) preparation.
של בית גרמו --
לא רצו ללמד על מעשה לחם הפנים.
The craftsmen of the House of Garmu
did not want to teach the secret of the preparation of the shewbread and sought to keep the secret within their family.
House of Evtinus - incense preparation
The House of Evtinus7 refused to teach the secret of incense preparation.
של בית אבטינס
לא רצו ללמד על מעשה הקטרת.
The craftsmen of the House of Avtinas
did not want to teach the secret of the preparation of the incense.
Hogrus the Levite - music / song
Hogrus ben Levi8 possessed unique musical knowledge but refused to share it.
הגרס בן לוי
היה יודע פרק בשיר, ולא רצה ללמד.
Also, Hugras ben Levi
knew a chapter in the art of music, as will be explained, and he did not want to teach it to others.
Ben-Kamtzar - writing
Ben-Kamtzar (בן קמצר) mastered a special technique for writing all four letters of the Tetragrammaton simultaneously but refused to teach it.
בן קמצר
לא רצה ללמד על מעשה הכתב.
And the scribe ben Kamtzar
did not want to teach a special act of writing. He was expert at writing all four letters of a four-letter name simultaneously.
Conclusion: Moral Reflection Using Biblical Verses
About the favorable contributors: “The memory of the righteous shall be for a blessing” (Proverbs 10:7).
About the unfavorable contributors: “The name of the wicked shall rot” (Proverbs 10:7).
על הראשונים נאמר (משלי י): "זכר צדיק לברכה".
ועל אלו נאמר (שם): "ושם רשעים ירקב"
About the first ones, who were mentioned favorably, it is stated: “The memory of the righteous shall be for a blessing” (Proverbs 10:7);
and about these who were concerned only for themselves it is stated: “But the name of the wicked shall rot” (Proverbs 10:7).
For more examples of structure in the Mishnah, see my series of pieces at my Academia.edu page, section “Formatted Mishnah”.
For other Mishnaic-era lists of Second Temple personalities, see my “Figures on the Fringes: Named Non-rabbis in the Talmudic Literature“, pp. 1-2.
See Wikipedia, “Ordeal of the bitter water“. The standard rabbinic interpretation is that the Torah passage about the ordeal is itself the “curse”. Compare the quote in my piece here, where the dissolving of the Torah passage, with God’s name in it, is mentioned:
נשא אחיתופל קל וחומר בעצמו:
ומה לעשות שלום בין איש לאשתו, אמרה תורה: שמי שנכתב בקדושה ימחה על המים,
Then Ahithophel raised an a fortiori argument on his own and said:
And just as in order to make peace between a man and his wife in the case of sota, when the husband suspects his wife of having committed adultery, the Torah said: My Name that was written in sanctity will be erased on the water to establish peace
ניקנור - a Greek name.
And see שער ניקנור – ויקיפדיה, section “מקור השם”.
In general, half of the eight names listed in this Mishnah are Greek:
Helene
Nicanor
Evtinus
Hogrus
בית אבטינס - a Greek name.