I often find that there are some ideas or concepts that I have questions about without an outlet to ask. For instance, I truly cannot fathom the way the Pesach was actually done.
(a) On a practical level, how did they get three groups? How many in each group? I have been in Machaneh Yehuday or on Kikar Shabat on Erev Shabbos or Erev Sukkos, and I cannot imagine all that activity on a much more massive scale in three groups. And then the third group did not even finish Hallel? What is missing here?
(b) There was enough blood that it was overflowing up to the knees? Did it not smell? Our Pesach smells great. All kinds of fantastic food. This seems like it would smell of blood, death, and excrement on a level of 600,000 animals.
(c) Also how big was a Pesach animal. How many Kilo or lbs? How many people could eat from it?
These are the practical kinds of questions I tend to have and would relish the concept of an e-mail chanvrusah where I could learn at my own pace, write the questions, and have them answered at the pace of someone else who is also doing the Daf. I cannot afford the time to go out and read all the Rishonim and Achronim or even all the publications your organization puts out.
Any suggestions.
Thank you
Ben Berlin Norwalk, CT
Ben,
We'll be glad to try to be your partner in your growth in Torah-study if we can. That's why we are here.
(a) It seems to have worked with first-come first-served. The Kohanim would close the gates when the Azarah filled to capacity - or when they decided to "close" the group based on their calculations of how many to allow.
(b) The blood reached the ankles of the Kohanim, not their knees (see Background to the Daf). All meat coming from a slaughterhouse follows a similar process. After washing and roasting, it tastes just fine. (By the way, the Pesach was eaten anywhere in Yerushalayim).
The Azarah was cleaned with the aqueduct that passed through it.
(c) The Pesach was a goat or a sheep less than a year old. Even if it was lean, I am sure it provided a k'Zayis for a dozen or more people.
Best wishes,
M. KORNFELD
I include below a copy of what the Kollel wrote previously on this topic.
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Pesachim 064b: Fitting 1,200,000 Korban Pesachs in the Azarah
Dov Linzer asked:
Question: The mishna says that the pesach was done in 3 groups, in the Azarah.
The Azara without qualification usually means Ezrat Yisrael. This is also implicit in the comments of the Yachin uBoaz and the RSH"SH on the mishna. The Ezrat Yisrael was 11 amot by 135 amot, roughly 20 ft by 200 feet, or 4,000 square feet. Assuming (very cramped) that a person takes up 1 square foot, that is room only for 4,000 people at a time (ignoring the space for the sheep and goats).
So it seems that 1. the story on 64b about 1,200,000 pesachs must be an exageration, but, more importantly 2.even with a smaller population, how was there enough room?
Dov Linzer,
The Kollel replies:
I passed your question on to Rabbi Yehudah Landy who responded as follows:
"It is certainly permitted for a Yisrael to enter into the Ezras Kohanim, and even between the Ulam and the Mizbe'ach when there is a need to do so, as the Mishnah says in Kelim at the end of the first Perek. However, this will not answer your question, because it still does not give sufficient room for such a large number of people, for the entire azrah is 187 X 135 Amos, in which the Beis ha'Mikdash takes up 100 X 70 (or actually a little bit more than that), leaving only approximately 24,500 sq. Amos, besides the Lishkos and the area of the Mizbe'ach and other items. All of Israel brought their Korbanos Pesach with them, and every animal must certainly require more than one squared Amah, and thus your question remains.
"I heard from Rabbi Zalman Koren, the foremost expert in our generation on all matters of the Mikdash, that your question has been addressed by a gentile scholar by the name of Hoyt who was an engineer and who wrote a scholarly book on the topic ("More Places for People," Charles K. Hoyt, 1983, McGraw-Hill, New York).
"In order to answer your question, [(1) it must be that the Gemara is indeed making an exaggeration, as you suggested, or (2) a miracle occurred so that a large amount of animals could be contained within a small amount of space, as we find in Gitin (57a) and in Avos (5:5). (3)] Hoyt suggests -- and Rav Koren agrees that this is a possibility -- that the "Azarah" mentioned here includes the area north of the Azarah on Har ha'Bayis. The members of each group would enter the Azarah from the south and exit to the north and wait there."
(There are a number of comments to make on this approach, but such discussion is beyond the scope of this forum.)
Best wishes, and thanks for the question,
Mordecai