Siman - Taanis Daf 26
The majority of this Daf is one long Mishnah that contains all the Mishnayos of the fourth perek.
- אלו הן המעמדות
The Mishnah explains the institution of maamados. The passuk states in reference to the tamid: "צו את בני ישראל...את קרבני לחמי" – Command bnei Yisrael and tell them, My offering, My food. This teaches that the korban tamid is brought on behalf of the entire Jewish people.וכי היאך קרבנו של אדם קרב והוא אינו עומד על גביו – How can a person’s korban be brought when he is not standing by it? Therefore, the נביאים ראשונים instituted twenty-four mishmaros, in which the Kohanim and Leviim were divided into twenty-four groups that served in the Beis Hamikdash on a weekly rotation, על כל משמר ומשמר היה מעמד בירושלים של כהנים של לוים ושל ישראלים – and for each mishmar there was maamad in Yerushalayim made up of Kohanim, Leviim, and Yisraelim that would represent the people by the offering. When it came time for each mishmar to go up, כהנים ולוים עולים לירושלים – The Kohanim and Leviim would go up to Yerushalayim, וישראל שבאותו משמר מתכנסין לעריהן וקוראין במעשה בראשית – and the Yisraelim that were part of that mishmar, who were not in Yerushalayim, would gather in their towns and read from ma’aseh Bereishis.
- The tragedies that occurred on Shiva Asar B’Tammus and Tisha B’Av
The Mishnah lists the events that occurred on Shiva Asar b’Tammuz and Tisha B’Av. חמשה דברים אירעו את אבותינו בשבעה עשר בתמוז וחמשה בתשעה באב – Five calamities happened to our ancestors on the Seventeenth of Tammuz and five on Tisha B’av.
- On Shiva Asar B’Tammuz נשתברו הלוחות – The luchos were broken, ובטל התמיד - and the bringing of the tamid offering was stopped, והובקעה העיר – the city wall was breached, ושרף אפוסטמוס את התורה – Apostumos, a Greek general, burned the sefer Torah that was kept in the azarah, והעמיד צלם בהיכל – and he placed an avodah zarah in the Heichal.
- On Tisha B’av, נגזר על אבותינו שלא יכנסו לארץ – It was decreed on our ancestors that they were not to enter the land, וחרב הבית בראשונה ובשניה – and the first and second Temples were destroyed, ונלכדה ביתר – and the city of Beitar was conquered, ונחרשה העיר – and the city of Yerushalayim was plowed under, by the Roman General, Turnus Rufus. משנכנס אב ממעטין בשמחה – When the month of Av begins, we diminish our simchah.
- The source that a Kohen who does Birkas Kohanim is forbidden to drink wine
The Gemara brought a three-way machlokes regarding which tefillos Kohanim do not do נשיאת כפים due to a concern of שכרות – drunkenness. The Gemara notes that all the Amoraim agree that a Kohen who is drunk is forbidden to bless the people and asks for the source. Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi said in the name of Bar Kappara: למה נסמכה פרשת כהן מברך לפרשת נזיר – Why did the Torah juxtapose the parsha of the Kohen who recites Birkas Kohanim next to the parsha that deals with a nazir? לומר מה נזיר אסור ביין אף כהן מברך אסור ביין – To teach that just as a nazir is forbidden to drink wine, so too the Kohen who blesses is forbidden to drink wine. The Gemara on the next Daf concludes that the prohibition is only a d’Rabbanon and that the passuk brought is an asmachta.
