Pesachim 5:7-8

Pesachim 5:7

When the first shift of Jews bringing their Passover offerings left, the second shift entered. When the second shift left, the third entered. Each shift followed the same procedure as the first. The Leviim (Levites) sang Hallel. If they finished it while the current shift were still offering sacrifices, they repeated it. If they still finished with time to spare, they would theoretically sing Hallel a third time but that was never actually necessary. Rabbi Yehuda said that during the third shift the Leviim never even got as far as “Ahavti” (Psalm 116) because there weren’t too many people left by that point, so things moved really quickly.

Pesachim 5:8

The procedure on Shabbos was the same as it was on weekdays except that on Shabbos the kohanim (priests) washed the courtyard floor without approval from the Sages. Rabbi Yehuda said that a kohein would fill a cup with mixed blood from the floor and throw it against the altar just in case they neglected to sprinkle blood from one of the sacrifices; the Sages disagreed. (They felt that any one animal’s blood would be nullified in such a mixture, rendering this a pointless act.)