I don't understand why they needed to make 2 parochot every year for the parochet of the Ulam.
Also, it just struck me... the Gemara made a special note about how much money was spent on the special kevesh for the Parah (acc. to opinion that it was just to be machshiv the Parah) - but here it's a fantastic sum every year.
Tuvya Marcus, Jerusalem Israel
1)
(a)The Tiferet Yisrael here 8:34 writes that we are referring to the 2 parochos that separated between the Kodesh Hakodoshim and the rest of the Ulam, as we find in the Mishnah Yoma 51b. So this means that these 2 parochot were changed once a year.
(b) Reb Tuvya, the Tiferes Yisrael here, Boaz #3, was also surprised at how such a tremendous sum of money was spent every year on these curtains, especially since the Beis Hamikdash was such a clean and pure place. He discusses this dilemma at length. He cites the Mishnah Chagigah end 26a that after Yomtov the vessels in the Beis Hamikdash were immersed in the Mikveh and the unlearned Cohanim were warned not to touch the table because it could not be put in the Mikveh. The Mishnah also states there that there were 2 or 3 sets of every type of kli in the Beis Hamikdash so that if one become tamei there would be a substitute. We do learn from this that the items inside the Ulam did tend to get tamei as a result of the Cohanim who frequented the area.
2)
(a) The Gemara above top 11a states in the name of Rabbi Chanina that the sons of the Cohanim Gedolim showed great arrogance when they paid a lot of money to build a new bridge every time a Parah Adumah was taken along the bridge. However the issue involved here is not comparable to that of making a new Parochet every year. The new brige was totally unnecessary. The only reason it was built was because of the haughtiness of the Cohanim; that they did not want to use a kevesh that a different Cohen Gadol had used. This is not similar to the parochet which may have become soiled and tamei every Chag, as we saw above from the Gemara Chagigah.
(b) The Teshuvot Chatam Sofer Yoreh Deah #202 DH veOd mentions a phenomenon where people who got into power demolished the buildings used by the previous rulers and built their own buildings so that they could be called on their name. He cites our Gemara as a source to show how this practice was opposed by Chazal. To destroy the work of earlier people, merely because of one's own personal prestige, is simply a waste of money.
KOL TUV
Dovid Bloom