Yoma 4:6 - 5:1

בכל יום היו שם – in the outer altar.

ארבע מערכות – [piles] of wood which are burned with fire; one large pile [of wood] that we offer upon it the daily offering and a second pile [of wood] that from it we take fire to the altar of the incense, and one pile [of wood] of maintaining the fire, in order that fire not depart from it ever, and another pile of limbs and fats of the daily offering of the eventide that had not been consumed by evening, and which was not burned all night long, we burn them in this pile, and we add for Yom Kippur an additional pile to take from it coals for the incense for the innermost part.

רבי יוסי אומר בכל יום ג' – for three verses are written (Leviticus 6:2): “[This is the ritual of the burnt offering: The burnt offering itself] shall remain where it is burned upon the altar all night until morning,” – this is the large pile of wood. (Leviticus 6:2): “while the fire on the altar is kept going on it” – this is the second pile of the incense. (Leviticus 6:5): “The fire on the altar shall be kept burning, not to go out,” – this is the third pile for the preservation of the fire. But the fourth pile for the limbs and fats that were not consumed, Rabbi Yosi does not have, for he holds that the limbs and fats that were not consumed are burned on the sides of the large pile.

רבי יהודה אומר בכל יום שתים – He (i.e., Rabbi Yehuda) does not hold the third pile for the preservation of the fire, and from the third Biblical verse of (Leviticus 6:5): “The fire on the altar shall be kept burning, not to go out,” Rabbi Yehuda expounds it that the one burns thin chips in order to kindle the fire of the large pile [of wood], he should not kindle it on the floor and raise them while they are burning to the altar but he should kindle them at the top of the altar. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yosi.

הוציאו לו – from the chamber of the utensils.

וכך היתה מדתה – as its measurement outside, so its measure inside, what on the outside he would take grabs of incense with his actual hands and not with a utensil, so also inside, when he pours the incense from the ladle into his handfuls, he would not pour with a utensil that is made like the measure of his handfuls, but into his actual handfuls.

נטל את המחתה בימינו – since it is heaven and hot and the ladle of the incense is lighter than it, therefore, the firepan is in his right-hand and the ladle is in his left-hand.

היה מהלך בהיכל – he enters and walked within towards the west.

לבין שתי הפרוכות – since they were doubtful in Second Temple times if the partition that separates between the Holy and the Holy of Holies which was [found] in the First Temple and was a cubit thick, if that cubit was within or from the outside, therefore, they made two curtains, one an outer one and one an inner one. וביניהן – the airspace of a cubit to retain between them the air space of the partition.

החיצונה פרופה מן הדרום – The Rabbis stated it, that they dispute on that of Rabbi Yosi and state that the curtain divided them in the Tabernacle alone, it was stated.

פרופה – its top was doubled to the outer side and was held with a gold clasp in order [to be open] from the south and standing.

מהלך ביניהן – he entered in the southern clasp and walked between them until he reaches the northern clasp.

הגיע לצפון – when he entered into the space between the Holy of Holies, he turned his face to the south to walk until he was between the bars projecting from the Ark (Tractate Yoma 42b) which is in the middle of the empty space, for the bars were long until the curtain, one head facing to the west and the other one to the east, one at the top of the ark to the north and one at the top to the south.

מהלך לשמאלו עם הפרוכת – when he walks from the north to the south, his left is to the east and the curtain was in the east, his left side is found with the curtain.

עד שהוא מגיע לארון – to the place of the Ark and not to the Ark itself, for the in the Second Temple, there was no Ark there.

דרך כניסתו – so that he would not turn his face to leave, but rather depart in the path of his back with his face towards the Ark.

ומתפלל תפלה קצרה – and this is (Talmud Yoma 53b): “May it be Your will, O LORD my God, for if this year is parched (explanation: hot), that it be rainy, and that the ruler’s staff will not depart from the House of Judah, and that your people Israel will not need substance either one from the other nor from another people, and that the prayers of those on the crossroads will not enter before You,” meaning that people they pray that rain will not fall.

בבית החיצון – in the Temple/the hall containing the golden altar.

שלא להבעית את ישראל – that they will say that he has died.