😴Caught Sleeping on Watch
If a guard didn't answer 'peace be upon you,' everyone knew he was asleep. The Temple Mount officer would hit him with his staff and could even burn his garment. Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov said his own uncle was once caught sleeping, and his garment was burned too.
Amud aBefore and After the Lottery
The Gemara noticed a puzzle: first the Mishnah says whoever is ready first gets to remove the ashes, but then it talks about a lottery. Abaye explained that one line describes life before the Sages made a lottery rule, and the other describes life after it, once two priests got hurt racing up the ramp.
Amud aWalking by Firelight Alone
No one was allowed to enter with the priest who removed the ashes, and he carried no lamp. He walked only by the light of the burning wood on the altar, hidden and silent. The other priests only knew he had finished when they heard the sound of ben Katin's wooden pulley machine lifting the Basin from the water.
Amud b