The Tosefta on Conflict between Priests
There was an incident involving two priests who were running simultaneously up the ramp [to the altar]. One of them pushed the other [when he was] within four arms’ lengths [of the altar], and he took a knife and stuck it into his heart. R. Tsadok came and stood on the steps to the Temple entrance and said, “Hear me, house of Israel, our brothers! It says: When a corpse is found . . . and your elders and your judges measure (Deuteronomy 21:1–2). Come and measure: [On whom] is it incumbent to bring a heifer, the Temple or the courtyards?”1 Everyone murmured after him, crying, and afterward the father of the child [i.e., the slain priest] came and said to them, “Our brothers, I am your atonement.” His son was still convulsing, so the knife was not yet impure—which teaches you that the impurity of a knife was more severe to Israel than bloodshed. Thus, it says: Moreover, Manasseh put so many innocent persons to death that he filled Jerusalem [with blood] from end to end (2 Kings 21:16). Based on this they said: For the sin of bloodshed, the divine presence departed, and the Temple was rendered impure.
Notes
[The biblical passage discusses a situation in which a corpse is found in the countryside and the murderer is unknown. The elders and judges are to measure the distance between the corpse and the surrounding cities, and the elders of the closest city slay a heifer and wash their hands over it, declaring, “our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see it” (Deuteronomy 21:1–7). The applicability of the biblical law to the situation described in the Tosefta is unclear and is questioned in the Babylonian Talmud, which concludes that the purpose of R. Tsadok’s speech is simply to bring the people to tears (b. Yoma 23a–b).—Ed.]
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.
