The Lived Mishnah·A Zeman Nakat Project
Tisha B'Av Series
Mishnah 18 of 41
אִם אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְרוּשָׁלָיִם
Audio · Listen with Ephraim Diamond
Listen with Ephraim Diamond · 6:44 0:00 / 6:44
0:00
6:44
Speed
Click any Hebrew phrase above to jump to where Ephraim reads it · Highlight holds while he discusses each phrase
NashimSederסדרנָשִׁים
SotahMasechtaמסכתסוטה
7Perekפרקז׳
7Mishnahמשנהז׳
נושא · Topicקְרִיאַת כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל בְּיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִיםThe Kohein Gadol's Torah reading on Yom Kippur
Mishnah סוטה ז׳:ז׳ · Sotah 7:7
בִּרְכוֹת כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל כֵּיצַד.
חַזַּן הַכְּנֶסֶת נוֹטֵל סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה וְנוֹתְנָהּ לְרֹאשׁ הַכְּנֶסֶת,
וְרֹאשׁ הַכְּנֶסֶת נוֹתְנָהּ לַסְּגָן,
וְהַסְּגָן נוֹתְנָהּ לְכֹהֵן גָּדוֹל,
וְכֹהֵן גָּדוֹל עוֹמֵד וּמְקַבֵּל וְקוֹרֵא עוֹמֵד,
וְקוֹרֵא אַחֲרֵי מוֹת וְאַךְ בֶּעָשׂוֹר.
וְגוֹלֵל אֶת הַתּוֹרָה וּמַנִּיחָהּ בְּחֵיקוֹ וְאוֹמֵר,
יוֹתֵר מִמַּה שֶּׁקָּרִיתִי לִפְנֵיכֶם כָּתוּב כָּאן.
וּבֶעָשׂוֹר שֶׁבְּחֻמַּשׁ הַפִּקּוּדִים קוֹרֵא עַל פֶּה,
וּמְבָרֵךְ עָלֶיהָ שְׁמֹנֶה בְרָכוֹת:
עַל הַתּוֹרָה,
וְעַל הָעֲבוֹדָה,
וְעַל הַהוֹדָיָה,
וְעַל מְחִילַת הֶעָוֹן,
וְעַל הַמִּקְדָּשׁ,
וְעַל יִשְׂרָאֵל,
וְעַל הַכֹּהֲנִים,
וְעַל שְׁאָר הַתְּפִלָּה.
The Kohein Gadol’s blessings — how?
The attendant takes the sefer Torah and gives it to the head of the synagogue,
the head of the synagogue gives it to the segan,
and the segan to the Kohein Gadol;
the Kohein Gadol stands, receives it, and reads standing —
he reads Acharei Mos and Ach Be’Asor.
He rolls the Torah, places it against his chest, and says:
“More than what I have read before you is written here.”
The Be’Asor of Chumash HaPikudim he reads by heart,
and recites over it eight blessings:
on the Torah,
on the Avodah,
on the thanksgiving,
on the forgiveness of sin,
on the Mikdash,
on Israel,
on the Kohanim,
and on the rest of the prayer.
case/objectpermissive rulinggeneral rule
Transcript
Summary Chart
The Kohein Gadol's Torah reading on Yom Kippur▾
CaseRulingReason
How does the sefer Torah reach the Kohein Gadol?Passed up the chain — attendant → head of synagogue → segan → Kohein Gadol—
What does he read, and how?Standing — Acharei Mos and Ach Be’Asor; the Be’Asor of Chumash HaPikudim by heart—
How many blessings, and on what?Eight — Torah, Avodah, thanksgiving, forgiveness of sin, Mikdash, Israel, the Kohanim, and the rest of the prayer—
All Meforshim
Mishnah Insights
The same reading, and the tongue it must keep▾

A mishnah with two homes

This same scene — the Kohein Gadol’s Yom Kippur reading, the sefer Torah passed up the chain, the eight blessings — appears almost word for word in Maseches Yoma, set within the order of the day’s avodah. There it reads as its natural home. Here in Sotah it has been borrowed: the seventh perek is listing everything that must be said specifically in Lashon Hakodesh, and the Kohein Gadol’s reading is one of those items. A single mishnah living in two masechtos — and the question of which place is its real home — is the kind of thing the Shas quietly raises again and again.

The brachos, or the reading?

The mishnah files ‘the Kohein Gadol’s blessings’ among the things that must be in Lashon Hakodesh, but Tosafos Yom Tov argues that this cannot be quite right. Ordinary berachos, like tefillah, may be recited in any language, and the Rambam records that rule without making an exception here. What actually must be in Lashon Hakodesh, he says, is the reading itself: one reads from the sefer Torah exactly as it is written, since the Written Torah may not be said from memory. Tosafos HaRosh takes the simpler path — the holy tongue here is a matter of honoring the day and the crowd gathered for it.

עוֹלָמוֹ שֶׁל הַמִּשְׁנָה
Where he stood, and where he had been sitting

The mishnah says the Kohein Gadol ‘stands and receives’ the sefer — which means that until that moment he had been sitting. But sitting is forbidden anywhere in the Azarah except to a king of the house of David (Rambam). So this reading could not have taken place in the Azarah itself; it was held out in the Ezras Nashim, where the people could gather and be seated. One word — ‘stands’ — quietly tells us which courtyard we are standing in.

Series Insights
Series context▾
← Previous
Yoma 7:1
The Kohein Gadol's Torah reading on Yom Kippur
Mishnah 18 of 41
Sotah 7:7
The same reading, in Lashon Hakodesh
Next →
Sotah 7:8
Parshas HaMelech

Where this sits

In Sotah this reading joins a short run of the Mikdash’s public rituals that had to be voiced in Lashon Hakodesh — the Priestly blessing before it, the king’s Hakhel reading after. Together they preserve the sound of the Beis HaMikdash’s great gatherings: the exact words, in the holy tongue, spoken before all Israel — scenes the Churban silenced but the mishnah still lets us hear.

‹PreviousYoma 7:1 ›NextSotah 7:8