MISHNAH - Maseches Tamid describes the daily offering of the Korban Tamid in the Beis ha'Mikdash, specifically the morning Tamid. It also provides a descriptive record of the daily events that led up to the offering of the Tamid. The Mishnah's account begins before dawn, when the night-watchmen of the Mikdash were still on duty and the gates of the Mikdash were not yet opened for the morning service.
Although Tamid is divided into seven Perakim in our edition, the Rishonim appear to have combined the last two Perakim into one, making a total of only six Perakim. (See Ra'avad, Rambam in Perush ha'Mishnayos (Kapach edition), and note in the Shitah Mekubetzes at the end of the Maseches.)
Six Perakim seems to be the correct number, for the following reason. As Rav Reuven Margolios points out in Yesod ha'Mishnah v'Arichasah (ch. 3), although the Rishonim and Acharonim go to great lengths to find a logical order for the Masechtos of Shas, a general, underlying order is immediately apparent. Nearly without exception, those Masechtos with a greater number of chapters precede those with fewer chapters. (The only exception to this rule is the beginning of Seder Zera'im; regarding Seder Nezikin, see Avodah Zarah 7a, and Background to the Daf there, 7:8. The fact that Zera'im does not follow this order justifies the Rishonim who sought to offer logical reasons for the order of the Masechtos. In addition, the rationale of the Rishonim is needed for two Masechtos of equal length.) Since the two Masechtos that precede Tamid both contain only six Perakim, it is likely that Tamid also contains six Perakim, and it is not one Perek longer than the preceding Masechtos. (See Rav Margolios' footnote, ibid. #10. [Note that there are some significant printing errors in the footnote].)
Keeping a diagram of the Azarah of the Beis ha'Mikdash on hand will greatly enhance the study of Maseches Tamid. The most easily accessible diagrams are (1) the one printed in the Vilna Shas, usually after Maseches Midos, which was drawn by Rabeinu Yonasan of Rozenai, and (2) the scale diagram of the Tiferes Yisrael, printed in the Vilna Mishnayos that include his commentary (either in the back of the volume, or in the second chapter of Midos, depending on the printing). We will include copies of these diagrams in the D.A.F. Archives. We have prepared a comprehensive discussion of the diagram of the Tiferes Yisrael, and we discuss some of the printer's errors in the various diagrams of the Beis ha'Mikdash, and we compare the various opinions to each other.
In the Background section to Tamid, for each of the places mentioned in the Maseches we will refer to the number of that location in the two Beis ha'Mikdash diagrams mentioned above, using the following initials: VS (the diagram in the Vilna Shas) and TY (the diagram of the Tiferes Yisrael).
GEMARA. There is very little Gemara in Tamid; only the first, second, and fourth of Perakim have any Gemara at all. The style of the Gemara of Tamid is different from the style of the more familiar Masechtos, and it is even different from the Gemara of the other Masechtos of Kodshim. It seems to resemble the addenda of the Rabanan Savora'i to the Shas. In the Background section, we will explain the difficult passages of the Maseches when they can be explained in concise terms (the numbers preceding the Background notes which explain the difficult passages will be marked with asterisks, such as 9).
We recommend learning Maseches Tamid with PERUSH HA'ROSH, a clear and concise commentary on the entire Maseches. In our Girsa section, we will note only Girsa'os in the Mishnah, Gemara, and Rosh. Our Background and Review mailings have also been prepared with the assumption that the reader is learning Tamid with Perush ha'Rosh.
MEFARESH. The commentary of the Mefaresh on Tamid (in the margins where the commentary of Rashi and Tosfos usually appear) covers only until the end of the fourth chapter. Printed with the final chapters is the commentary of the Rambam instead. (Even in the chapters for which the commentary of the Mefaresh was printed, his comments for the ends of some of the chapters is missing.)
The author of the Mefaresh has been identified by some authorities as Rabeinu Baruch bar'Rebbi Yitzchak, the author of the Sefer ha'Terumah. This seems evident from the words of the Bartenura (end Tamid 3:9) and Tosfos (Yoma 46b, DH Ki; 16b, DH Min). (Although Tosfos in Yoma 16b refers to him as Rabeinu Yitzchak bar'Rebbi Baruch, this appears to be a printer's error and it should read instead Rabeinu Baruch bar'Rebbi Yitzchak; see Chok Nasan at the beginning of Tamid).
(This section includes a roughly chronological listing of Rishonim who wrote a Daf-by-Daf commentary on the Maseches. We have included some of the less familiar commentaries even though they were written on the Rif and not on the Maseches itself.)
ROSH - the Rosh's commentary on Tamid is short, but sufficient. In Rav Ilan's edition of the Shitah Mekubetzes (see below), the entire commentary of the Rosh is cited and many printing errors are corrected. Rav Ilan's Shitah Mekubetzes also includes the commentary of the Rosh on much of the third chapter of Tamid, which was omitted from our volumes.
RA'AVAD - this is a marvelous commentary on the entire Maseches. However, because of its length, what is printed in the margin of Maseches Tamid is the Ra'avad's commentary only until the middle of the first chapter. The rest is printed at the end of the Maseches.
Unfortunately, much of the Ra'avad's commentary has been subject to significant omissions. "Blessed is He who gave his world to guardians" -- the true text of the Ra'avad can be found in Rav Ilan's edition of the Shitah Mekubetzes, which includes the full text of the Perush ha'Ra'avad. Even there, however, there are many errors in the text of the Ra'avad. Between the Perush ha'Ra'avad in our volumes and the Ra'avad as printed in the Shitah Mekubetzes of Rav Ilan, it is possible to discern the Ra'avad's true intention.
The exact identity of the author of this commentary is not clear. In a number of places, the Ra'avad's commentary on Tamid contradicts the Ra'avad's words in his Hasagos on the Rambam and in his commentary to Toras Kohanim (see, for example, the Ra'avad to Tamid 31b, which apparently contradicts what the Ra'avad writes in the Hasagos to Hilchos Temidin u'Musafin 1:10). Nevertheless, in the commentary of the Rash Siriliyo to Shekalim (beginning of ch. 5, and other places), he refers to this commentary on Tamid as "the Ra'avad." Tosfos Rabeinu Peretz (Yoma 17a) also refers to the author as "the Ra'avad" (Rav Ilan, introduction to the Shitah Mekubetzes on Tamid). Rav David Luria (in his Hagahos to Sotah 38a, and in Pirkei d'Rebbi Eliezer 31:34), on the other hand, attributes this commentary to the Ravyah.
RABEINU GERSHOM - see Introduction to Masechtos Kerisus and Me'ilah regarding the identity of the author of this commentary.
SHITAH MEKUBETZES - an anthology of notes by Rishonim collected by Rav Betzalel Ashkenazi (the Rebbi of the Beis Yosef). The Shitah Mekubetzes to Tamid includes no citations from outside sources and is limited almost exclusively to textual emendations.
Rav Yakov David Ilan printed the Shitah Mekubetzes from Rav Shlomo Adani's manuscript of Rav Betzalel Ashkenazi's notes. (Rav Adani, author of "Meleches Shlomo" on the Mishnayos, was a student of Rav Betzalel Ashkenazi.) According to Rav Ilan (in his preface), Rav Betzalel Ashkenazi prepared two separate manuscripts of his Shitah on Kodshim (some pages of both original manuscripts have been preserved and are presently in Hebrew University's National Library), and the one printed in the Shas is not the same one that Rav Adani copied (except for the end of Menachos, and all of Chulin, as the Vilna printers note at the end of the Shitah Mekubetzes on Midos). Rav Ilan's Shitah is printed in clear, block letters with Rav Ilan's own invaluable insights, and occasionally his edition of the Shitah Mekubetzes includes additions to that which is printed in the Gemaras. The Shitah Mekubetzes of Rav Ilan includes the full, edited texts of the commentaries of the Rosh and the Ra'avad.
PERUSH HA'MISHNAH OF THE RAMBAM - the Rambam's commentary that is printed in our volumes of Shas is a translation (from Arabic to Hebrew) of the first edition (Mahadura Kama) of the Rambam's commentary on Mishnayos, which he wrote at a young age. After the Rambam completed writing the Mishneh Torah, he re-edited the original draft of his Perush (that he had written in Arabic). One of his aims in doing so was to ensure that everything in the commentary was consistent with his rulings in the Mishneh Torah. This edited version is known as the Mahadura Basra ("final edition"). This final version was discovered and published in recent years by Rav Yosef Kapach (the "Kapach edition").
ME'IRI - Rabeinu Menachem ben Shlomo (d. 1315) wrote his comprehensive Halachic work, "Beis ha'Bechirah," on 37 Masechtos of Shas. A student of the Rashba, he sometimes even cites from commentaries as late as those of the Ritva. Almost never mentioning another Rishon by name, the Me'iri created "nicknames" for the commentators from whom he often cites, such as "Gedolei ha'Rabanim" for Rashi, etc. A convenient list of these, along with their true identities, can be found at the beginning of the Beis ha'Bechirah on Beitzah.
PISKEI TOSFOS - the Halachic conclusions of a now-lost Ba'al ha'Tosfos are recorded in the Piskei Tosfos that is printed in the Vilna Shas. Through its terse words we often are able to deduce the question and answer of Tosfos. The Mishneh l'Melech in Hilchos Bi'as Mikdash often quotes the Piskei Tosfos in this context.
BE'ER SHEVA - this early commentary (by Rav Yisachar Ber Eilenberg) is written on six Masechtos, with a collection of Halachic responsa. His commentary on Tamid is called "Ner Tamid." It covers the first and last chapters of the Maseches (for which the commentary of Tosfos had not been printed, in his days). The Be'er Sheva wrote his commentary in the style of Tosfos, with the goal of providing a commentary in lieu of Tosfos for the Masechtos and chapters for which no Tosfos was printed. The Acharonim discuss his words often.
LIKUTEI HALACHOS - written in the style of the Rif, the Chafetz Chayim compiled a collection of the Gemara's conclusions along with Rashi-style glosses and an additional commentary, called ZEVACH TODAH, in which he provides in-depth insights into the Halachos.
ASIFAS ZEKENIM - on Tamid, this includes a short commentary of the Birkas ha'Zevach by Rav Shmuel Kaidonover.
PEIROS TE'ENAH - insights and explanations, culled primarily from the major earlier commentaries, written by Rav Shmuel Rothchild.
KOLLEL IYUN HADAF - The Kollel's invaluable "Insights to the Daf" touch on many of the questions one is likely to ask on Gemara and Rashi, as well as Halachic clarifications and in-depth discussions on issues and Agados of the Masechta. Our helpful "Charts" and "Background to the Daf" make the Maseches much more approachable, with translations, Girsa notes, and introductions to concepts discussed on the Daf. Summarize what you have learned with our "Review Questions and Answers," enhance your learning with our "Outlines of the Daf," or, if you prefer Hebrew, review with "Galei Masechta," a concise Hebrew review of the Gemara, Rashi, and Tosfos. Ask the Kollel your questions on the Daf and receive clear, authoritative answers. Write to daf@dafyomi.co.il for more information.
YOSEF DA'AS - published by Kollel Iyun Hadaf, Rav Yosef Ben Arza's renowned Hebrew compendium on the Masechta is now printed in hard cover (with a copy of the Wagschal printing of the Gemara), and is also available online through D.A.F. This outstanding publication provides clear and concise exposure to the distinct approaches of the Rishonim to the Sugya, analyses of the Acharonim, inspiring insights of the masters of Musar and Machshavah, and summaries of the Halachic conclusions of the Poskim. A comprehensive review section is also included.