Yoma, Chapter Five, Mishnah 3. In the two previous mishnayos we dealt with the way the Kohen Gadol brought in the pan of coals and placed the incense upon it. Now, after he has completed that process, our mishnah turns to the sprinkling of the blood that was performed in the Kodesh HaKodashim.
The words of the Mishnah and their explanation:
"Yatza v'lakach es hadam mimi shehayah memares bo" - this is the blood of the bull that was brought to atone for himself and for his household, and a man was stirring it so that it would not congeal. From that man the Kohen Gadol took the blood.
"Nichnas l'makom shenichnas" - he entered again the place he had entered earlier, namely the Kodesh HaKodashim.
"V'amad b'makom she'amad" - in the very place where he had stood before, directly opposite the spot where the Aron stood.
"V'hizah mimenu achas l'maalah v'sheva l'matah" - this is the order of the sprinklings that we will discuss below.
The Mishnah itself explains what that "one above and seven below" means: "V'lo hayah miskaven l'hazos lo l'maalah v'lo l'matah, ela k'matzlif" - like someone who raises his hand in order to strike or to lash.
The source of the law in the Torah:
The Torah instructs that one take from the blood and sprinkle it with his finger. First it says "al p'nei hakapores" - the kapores is the cover that lay upon the Aron; and afterwards it says "lifnei hakapores," meaning opposite the kapores, and there he must sprinkle seven times from the blood. From the wording of the verse it appears, then, that there is one sprinkling at the start and seven sprinklings after it.
How the sprinklings were done:
Chazal understood from the verse that there is one and seven here, but this one and seven were not done the way one might have understood from a simple reading - that he would first sprinkle on the upper edge of the kapores and then seven times in the middle of the kapores. Rather, this is what he would do:
The single sprinkling above: the first sprinkling, done by itself, was performed with the back of the Kohen Gadol's hand facing downward toward the ground, and he sprinkled with an upward motion.
The seven sprinklings below: these were done with his palm facing downward, and he sprinkled with a downward motion - the exact opposite of the first.
The first was opposite the upper edge of the kapores, and the seven were opposite its middle, but all of them fell onto the floor. The matter of "k'matzlif" - like one who strikes - was fulfilled in that the seven sprinklings were not all in one spot, but rather one and then seven more, all of them falling on the floor, yet in a set order: one, and after it the seven.
The order of the counting:
Since the Torah separated between the single sprinkling and the seven, the Kohen Gadol would count them in a way that distinguished between them. In the words of the Mishnah: "V'chach hayah moneh" - just as he would do, so he would count:
"Achas" - corresponding to the first sprinkling, which was done with an upward motion.
"Achas v'achas" - this is the first of the downward sprinklings.
"Achas ushtayim".
"Achas v'shalosh".
"Achas v'arba".
"Achas v'chamesh".
"Achas vashesh".
"Achas vasheva" - and with this he completed the one and the seven.
When he finished, in the words of the Mishnah: "Yatza v'hinicho al kan hazahav shebaheichal" - he went out of the Kodesh HaKodashim and placed the blood of the bull on the golden stand that stood in the Heichal.
In summary: in this mishnah we learned the order of sprinkling the blood of the bull in the Kodesh HaKodashim: taking the blood from the one who was stirring it, entering and standing in the place where he had stood, the one sprinkling above with the back of the hand facing downward and the seven sprinklings below with the palm facing downward - all of them falling on the floor in the manner of "k'matzlif," the counting that distinguishes between the one and the seven, and the conclusion of the service by placing the blood on the golden stand in the Heichal.