Yoma 48 - Unanswerable questions of Rav Pappa
"In between, obvious, leveled, scattered" is a mnemonic sign to remember the following inquires; however, this is nothing but a hidden mystical key. All of the Talmud used to be learned by heart, so having a key such as this one would be of little help in other places.
First question: the incense between the fingers and hands of the High Priest on Yom Kippur - should it be burned on the coals or no? In the phrase, "and he will scoop with full hands, and he will bring..." which word is more important? If it is "he will scoop with full hands," then even the particles in between are included, but if it is "and he will bring," - then it is not his intention to bring them, and so they are not included.
Second: it is obvious that scooping should be done in the normal way? However, what if he did it just with his fingertips, or by pushing his hands into the incense and allowing it to collect inside - is this still acceptable or not?
As a preface to his third question, we need to recall that if one spilled the blood of a sacrifice on the floor and then scooped it back up, it is invalid, but if he received it into a vessel, then spilled from the vessel and scooped back, then it is valid. In the case of High Priest, if he spills the incense from his hands onto the floor and picks it up - is this valid, or does he have to scoop again from the shovel? Do we compare his hands to the animal's neck so that his procedure is invalid, as above, or do we compare his hands to a Temple's vessel, and then it is valid? The questions above remain without an answer.
Art: Brass Cooking Vessel By Antoine Vollon
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