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Mishna, Tamid chapter 3, in a loose translation:

Those who merited removing the ashes from the inner altar and the candelabrum would precede. They had four tools in their hands: the basket, the pitcher, and two keys.… [They used the keys to open the doors of the main room of the Temple, and entered. Then] the one who merited removing the ashes from the inner altar entered, took the basket, put it before him, and would take handfuls and place them in it; at the end, he swept the rest into it. He left it there and exited. [And the candelabrum person did his job with the pitcher.]

On "he swept the rest into it", Tif'eres Yisrael (73) says:

… he swept the ashes into the basket with a broom.

Where'd he get the broom from?

I can think of a few possibilities, and wonder which of them is true if any, or what the true explanation is:

  1. He carried it in with him, but it was unimportant and so unlisted among the tools brought in.
  2. He carried it in with him, but in the basket rather than directly in his hand, so it was unlisted among the tools brought in "in their hands".
  3. It was stored near the altar.
msh210
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  • I do not find nothing! – kouty May 15 '16 at 14:25
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    You could also ask where his buddy got the wicks from for the menorah. Fascinating question. – Danny Schoemann Feb 22 '18 at 12:29
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    Note that the Mishna and the Rambam do not mention anything about a broom... where did the Tif'eres Yisrael get that from? Maybe from the word מְכַבֵּד – Danny Schoemann Feb 22 '18 at 12:34
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    If he's scooping ashes off the altar with his hands, he's probably also sweeping with hands. Someone is probably holding the basket against the altar and he pushes the ashes over the edge. Perhaps it is a flat edged basket for this purpose. He's probably going to get some on the floor but they clean the floors outside of the service. – Clint Eastwood Nov 22 '23 at 03:26
  • If he's leaving the basket there, probably someone will come later and remove it, and sweep it properly. – Clint Eastwood Nov 22 '23 at 03:33
  • Maybe, since the alter didn’t need to be cleaned with a pitcher, the alter person would have had the basket, the broom, and two keys. And the the pitcher would swap in for the broom for the candelabrum person – zaq Nov 22 '23 at 06:30
  • I have no definite answer. It might be the same broom that was used here? – Shababnik Nov 22 '23 at 06:35
  • I think 3 is the most plausible. The basket and the jug were large vessels, and they carried waste, so it wouldn't make sense to store them near the altar. And the keys had to be put away for safekeeping, of course. But other implements might have been stored nearby for easy access. – shmosel Nov 22 '23 at 08:48
  • The לחם שמים by Rabbi Yaakov Emden asks a similar question, why the mishna doesn't mention the bringing of the oil, and says Mistama the one who lights the candles brings the oil with him, but even so it's surprising that it doesn't say anything about it (seeing as it's more important than the other things mentioned here) – Lo ani Nov 23 '23 at 17:31

1 Answers1

-1

It sounds to me from “and the candelabrum person did his job with the pitcher” that candelabrum cleaner and ash cleaners did not carry the tool that wasn’t relevant to their task

Candelabrum-Cleaner

  1. the pitcher
  2. the basket
  3. key 1
  4. Key 2

Alter-Ash-Cleaner:

  1. the brush
  2. the basket
  3. key 1
  4. Key 2
zaq
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