Yoma, chapter five, mishnah 1. In the previous chapter we learned how the Kohen Gadol filled the machtah - the fire shovel - with coals, and in the mishnah before us we will deal with how the incense was prepared and brought into the Holy of Holies.
"Hotziu lo es hakaf ve'es hamachtah":
They brought two vessels out to the Kohen Gadol: a golden pan that was empty, and a machtah. It is important to be precise here: the machtah mentioned in this mishnah is not the same as the term we used in the previous chapter, where it meant a shovel. Here it refers to a vessel full of incense, from which the Kohen Gadol is about to scoop a handful of incense.
"Vechafan melo chofnav" - he scoops with both palms from that incense in the machtah, "venasan letoch hakaf" - and places it into the golden pan. The amount of the incense is determined solely by the size of his own hands: "hagadol lefi gadlo vehakatan lefi katno" - a large man according to his largeness, and a small man according to his smallness. There is no fixed measure here; it depends entirely on the actual size of the Kohen Gadol.
"Vechach haysah midasah":
The Gemara explains that this expression refers to the fact that the measure, that is, the practice followed outside - that the Kohen Gadol used his own hands - was followed inside as well. When he came to take the incense and place it into the machtah, he did not do so from the pan; rather, he returned the incense into his hands, and from his hands he placed it directly onto the coals.
Dividing the vessels between the hands:
After he placed the incense from the machtah into the pan, they hand him the machtah - and here too the reference is not to the machtah mentioned at the beginning of the mishnah, but to the machtah we discussed in the previous chapter: the fire shovel, the pan full of coals and not of incense:
"Natal es hamachtah biyemino" - the machtah full of coals in his right hand.
"Ve'es hakaf bismolo" - the pan containing the incense in his left hand.
At first glance it would seem more fitting to hold the incense in the right hand, since it is the primary item and it is what is about to be burned. However, the shovel of coals was heavier, so they made it easier for the Kohen Gadol and gave him the heavier item in his right hand, on the assumption that the Kohen Gadol is right handed. And indeed, there is room to discuss whether it is possible at all for him to be left handed.
Walking through the Heichal and the two curtains:
"Hayah mehalech baheichal ad shemagia levein shtei haparochos hamavdilos bein hakodesh uvein kodesh hakodashim" - he walked through the Heichal until he reached the two curtains that separated the Kodesh from the Holy of Holies. "Uveineihen amah" - between the two curtains there was a space of one amah.
The reason for this: in the first Beis HaMikdash there was a wall that separated the Kodesh from the Holy of Holies, called the 'amah traksin'. The Sages were in doubt as to where exactly the sanctity of the Holy of Holies began - on the outer side of that amah or on its inner side. Since in the second Beis HaMikdash the ceiling was higher and it was impossible to erect a wall, they were forced to hang a curtain; and since they did not know where to place it, they made two curtains, and between the two there remained a sort of no man's land whose level of sanctity was unclear.
The opinion of Rabbi Yosi:
Rabbi Yosi disagrees and holds that there was no doubt there at all; they knew exactly where to place the curtain and where the sanctity began: "Rabbi Yosi omer: lo hayah sham ela parochet achas bilvad". He bases his words on the verse stated regarding the Mishkan: "Vehivdilah haparochet lachem bein hakodesh uvein kodesh hakodashim".
Let us return to the opinion of the first Tanna, that there were two curtains there, and he describes how they were used:
"Hachitzonah haysah perufah min hadarom" - the outer curtain was fastened back on its southern side, so that it would not lie flush against the wall, and in this way an opening was created to enter through the south.
"Vehapenimis min hatzafon" - the inner curtain was fastened back on the northern side, and from there was the opening through which to enter.
"Mehalech venichnas ad shemagia letzefonah" - he enters from the south, where the opening in the outer curtain was, and walks between the two curtains until he reaches the north. "Higia letzefonah, hofech panav ladarom" - there he turns toward the south, and walks to his left along the curtain until he reaches the Ark.
The Gemara notes that this does not refer to the Ark itself, since our mishnah describes the order of service in the second Beis HaMikdash, in which there was no Ark; rather, it means the place of the Ark. When he reaches the Ark, or the place of the Ark, he sets down the machtah with the coals in it between the two staves of the Ark, or in the place where the two staves had been.
Afterward he heaps all the incense together on top of the coals, and the entire chamber fills with smoke. When he finishes, he leaves, walking out the way he came - that is, he exits backwards, as is the practice before a great person. In the Heichal, in the outer chamber, he would recite a short prayer, and he would not prolong his prayer, so as not to frighten Israel, who were waiting and hoping to see whether he would emerge safely, lest, Heaven forbid, he not emerge and die in the process.
In summary: in this mishnah we learned the order of preparing the incense - bringing out the pan and the machtah, scooping the incense according to the size of the Kohen Gadol's own hands, and placing it from his hands onto the coals inside as well; the division of the vessels between right and left because of the weight of the shovel; the route between the two curtains and Rabbi Yosi's dissenting opinion on the matter; setting the machtah down between the staves of the Ark, burning the incense, exiting backwards, and the short prayer in the Heichal.