Mishnah Yomi: The Original Iron Man

Mishnah Yomi will be learning Sotah 9:10 today. There we read about Yochanan Kohen Gadol and one of the changes he instituted in the Beis Hamikdash. He was unhappy with the original method used of quieting animals prior to their slaughter and so he devised a new system.

For hundreds of years (it seems), the sacrificial animals were subdued with clubs. Yochanan Kohen Gadol was afraid that, in his days, the application of this method was causing the animal to develop a blemish that would disqualify it from being used as an offering. Instead, he instituted that iron rings be affixed to the Courtyard floor that would hold the animals still during slaughter. Each of the twenty-four watches (family groups) of Kohanim were given their own ring, and these rings were placed in the area just north of the Outer Altar.

Looking north at the twenty-four iron slaughtering rings set into the Courtyard floor.