(a) The Gemara says "The Kohanim bless the people at four times (Shacharis, Musaf, Minchah and Ne'ilah) on three occasions - fasts, Ma'amados, and Yom Kipur."
Isn't the occasion of Ma'amados EVERY DAY in the Beis HaMIkdash? So do they always do Neilah in the Beis HaMikdash? What am I missing....
(b) Given that Dovid helped make them.....were there shuls even during the first Temple outside Jerusalem etc where the Ma'Amados convened and the Kohanim blessed? I thought only in the Second Temple???
hgschild, ny, usa
(a) There were two parts to the Ma'amad. The part that prayed in their own cities fasted etc. and said Ne'ilah. The part of the group that was in Yerushalayim did not say Ne'ilah. Below, I will put in what we wrote about this in our Background to the Daf, here.
(b) "Given that Dovid helped make them..." I don't know what this means. There is a Torah commandment for the Kohanim to bless the people, and it was probably practiced during the first Temple as well.
M. Kornfeld
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MA'AMAD
(a) Our Mishnah states that the early prophets divided Bnei Yisrael into twenty-four groups, or Ma'amados. Each Ma'amad consisted of Kohanim, Leviyim and Yisra'elim (according to Rashi; according to the RITVA here, the Ma'amad consisted solely of Yisraelim). The Ma'amados worked in a 24 week rotation in conjunction with the Mishmeros Kehunah (see next entry), and took responsibility for the Korbanos of one week, twice each year.
(b) When each Ma'amad's turn arrived, the Kohanim and Leviyim would travel to the Beis ha'Mikdash to do the divine service. Some of the Yisraelim also traveled to Yerushalayim (or lived there permanently), and it was their duty to be in Yerushalayim during their turn in order to witness and oversee the offering of the Korbenos Tamid and the other public offerings. (According to Rashi DH Korban Musaf, the members of the Ma'amad who were Kohanim actually helped offer the public Korbanos as well.) However, most of the Yisra'elim in the Ma'amad stayed in their own cities. It was the role of these Yisra'elim to pray that the week's Korbanos should be accepted by HaSh-m. They fasted, and gathered together in the public areas to pray, read special portions of the Torah and recite the special Shemoneh Esrei of Ta'aniyos (see Background to Shabbos 24:1).