Hello everyone and thank you for joining our pre-Pesach Mishnayos series as we explore Mishnayos that relate to the time period between Purim and Pesach, and Pesach itself and the Mitzvos that are associated with the Yom Tov. The first two Mishnayos that we dealt with were from Masechta Shekalim and they dealt with getting ready for the Bnei Yisrael, for the Jews, to make their way to Yerushalayim, fixing up the roads, and then we spoke about what happens when you find animals wandering outside Yerushalayim and how we treat them as it gets closer to Pesach. Our next Mishna can be found in Masechtas Middos, פרק ג משנה ד. This Mishna talks about getting the Beis Hamikdash itself ready for the upcoming holiday of Pesach. Although it's not explicit exactly as to the date on which the work was started, one can surmise or one can make the assumption that it started alongside all the other work which would namely be 30 days prior to Pesach, so placing this Mishna roughly in the same time period as the first few Mishnayos that we discussed. As background, Masechtas Middos is the Masechta that discusses the measurements of the Beis Hamikdash, how the Beis Hamikdash looked, and the dimensions of the Beis Hamikdash, the size of the Beis Hamikdash, the placement of the Keilim, etc. This basically describes the Beis Hamikdash as it was in the late period of the second temple, of the second Beis Hamikdash, the Herodian temple. And our Mishna, our specific Mishna deals with two specific topics. The first part of our Mishna will deal with how they would quarry the stones used for the Mizbe'ach. The second will be about how they began to spruce up the Beis Hamikdash ahead of Yom Tov. So let us begin. The Mishna begins as follows. אחד אבני הכבש ואחד אבני המזבח, whether it's the stones made for the ramp for the Mizbe'ach. The Mizbe'ach sat tall and in order to go up on the Mizbe'ach, there was a long ramp that went from north to south in the courtyard of the Beis Hamikdash and it would both the stones for the ramp itself, Veechod Avnei Hamizbe'ach and the stones for the Mizbe'ach itself, MiBikas Beis Kerem. They came from the valley of Beis Kerem, which is outside of Yerushalayim or now it's incorporated as a neighborhood in Yerushalayim but back then it was not. There was a quarry there in which they would be able to extract these very large boulders that could be used for the Mizbe'ach. The Mishna continues. Vechofarin Lemata Mehabisulah. They would find untouched earth, meaning earth that was never touched before, never dug out before and they would begin to dig over there. They would quarry the stones from that space. ומביאים משם אבנים שלמות and they were careful that they only used whole stones. They didn't put together stones and make a larger stone from that, but rather they would quarry large stones, שלא הונף עליהן ברזל. And specifically you were not allowed to use any metal utensils, any metal tools in order to chisel or to create the stone itself. And the Mishna says because Shehabarzel Posel Binegiah, that if any metal touches the Mizbe'ach, it passels that particular stone of the Mizbe'ach. Ubifigimah Lechol Davar. And more importantly, if it gets a nick or a niche, a notch into any of the stones, even if not done by a metal tool, the pigimah, that notch, that little nick inside the stone will make the particular stone passel. However, Nifgemah Achas Mehen, but if one of them has a pigimah, Hee Psulah only that stone will be passel, Vechulan Ksheiros, but the rest of them will be kosher. So the Mishna just because one of the stones might have a nick in it or some other damage, it doesn't make the entire Mizbe'ach passel and you would just swap out that particular stone itself. The second part of our Mishna begins as follows. ומלבנים אותם פעמיים בשנה. That the Mizbe'ach they would whitewash the Mizbe'ach twice a year, Achas BaPesach, once ahead of Pesach, Veachas Bachag, and once ahead of Sukkos. Vehaheichal, and the Heichal, which is usually meant the inner sanctuary, but here most of the Meforshim explain it means the rest of the Beis Hamikdash, Pa'am Achas BaPesach, they would spruce up the entire Beis Hamikdash just around Pesach time. And that's because during the rainy season, the whitewash from the previous season would have washed off and it was dingy and dirty after the rainy season and now that the sunny season was beginning, the summer, it made sense to spruce it up. Rebbi Omer, Rebbi... He says that when it comes to the Mizbeiach, you're right they didn't whitewash it fully every week. However, כל ערב שבת מלבנין אותו במפה מפני הדמים, they would wipe it down with cloths in order to clean it from the blood that obviously was on the Mizbeiach, so in order to clean it, they would do that every week. But they would only whitewash it twice a year. The mishna continues לא היו סדין אותו בכפיס של ברזל, when they, when you would spread the plaster around the Mizbeiach, so you were careful not to use a trowel made of metal, because as we said using metal would passul the Mizbeiach. Shema yiga veyiphsol, because if it, the metal actually touches the stone of the Mizbeiach itself, it would passul, it would invalidate the Mizbeiach. שהברזל נברא לקצר ימיו של אדם, and now the mishna explains the reason behind the ban on using metal tools, that's because generally speaking, iron and other metals like that were used to shorten the life of people by making swords and guns. והמזבח נברא להאריך ימיו של אדם, and the Mizbeiach, the purpose is for when a person brings a korban and he recognizes who he's standing in front of Hakadosh Baruch Hu and he's asking for forgiveness or he's thanking Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the idea is that he's trying to lengthen his days. Ve'eino badin, and it would be inappropriate שינוף המקצר על המאריך, that you place the item that usually shortens a person's life, the metal tools, al hama'arich, on top of the item that actually lengthens their life. So the basic takeaway of this mishna is that at least from the second part of the mishna is that as it got closer to Pesach, they would spruce up the Beis HaMikdash and the Mizbeiach. It's very interesting in a sefer called שאלות ותשובות תורה לשמה, which is attributed to the Ben Ish Chai in סימן תק\"ט. He's asked about a prevailing minhag in the city that it seems that there was a custom in the city that before Pesach people would spruce up their homes. And one person didn't want to do it Pesach time, and he rather wanted to do it Sukkos time, and people didn't really know the reason why that was the local custom. And so he answers, the Ben Ish Chai answers that while every, even these mundane things seem to have a source in the Torah, and he actually points to our mishna as showing that it is appropriate to spruce up one's home ahead of Pesach, especially since you'll be spending so much time at home with the sedarim as opposed to Sukkos when you're sitting outside in your sukkah, that it makes sense to clean up your house ahead of the Pesach holiday. So even something as mundane as doing some work in your house can have its sources here in the mishna, as the Ben Ish Chai said. With that have a wonderful Shabbos.