Seven days before the Day of Atonement, we sequester the High Priest from his house to the Palhedrin Chamber, and we prepare for him another priest in his place, [for] perhaps there will occur in him a disqualification. Rabbi Yehuda says: We even prepare another wife for him, [for] perhaps his wife will die; as it is said, "and he shall atone for himself and for his household" - his "household" is his wife. The Sages said: If so, there is no end to the matter.

All seven days [of his sequestration], [the High Priest] casts the blood, and burns the incense, and cleans the lamps, and offers the head and the leg [of the continual-offering]. All other days, if he wants to offer, he offers — for the High Priest offers a portion first, and takes a portion first.

Certain elders of the elders of beth-din were assigned to him, who read to him [all seven days] in the order of the day (of atonement) [in Leviticus 16]; and they said to him: "Our lord, the high-priest, read it with your mouth, lest you have forgotten it or not learned it." [This was necessary in the second Temple, when unqualified high-priests were appointed by the ruling powers. But in the first Temple, they appointed only the greatest of the priests: in wisdom, in beauty, in strength, and in wealth. And if he were not wealthy, his fellow priests would "elevate" him from what was theirs, viz. (Leviticus 21:10): "And the priest who is greater than his brothers" — Make him great from what appertains to his brothers.] On the morning of Yom Kippur eve, they would stand him at the eastern gate, and they would pass before him bullocks, rams, and sheep in order to familiarize him with the service. [He would give thought to the beasts passing before him to impress upon himself the halachoth of the order of the day.]

All seven days they did not keep food and drink from him; but as it started getting dark on Yom Kippur eve, they did not permit him to eat much, for eating is sleep-inducing. [They did not permit him to eat much even of those foods which do not cause one to become heated, and they kept from him entirely those foods which increase heat and semen, such as milk, eggs, meat, oil, old wine, and the like.]

The elders of beth-din [who had taught him the order of the day] delivered him to the elders of the priesthood [to teach him the (service of) the incense handfuls, viz. (Leviticus 16:12): "…and his full handfuls of incense of spices, etc.", a difficult service], and they took him up to the chamber of Beth Avtinas [the makers of the incense, those who crushed it and compounded its spices], and they beswore him [not to be a Sadducee, i.e., not to prepare the incense on the coal-pan on the outside (in the sanctuary) and bring it inside (in the holy of holies), For they expound (Leviticus 16:2): "For with the cloud shall I appear upon the ark cover" — With the cloud of smoking incense (prepared on the outside) shall he (the high-priest) come, and then I shall appear upon the ark cover. And this is not so, for it is written (Ibid. 13): "And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the L rd" (in the holy of holies).], and they took their leave of him, saying: "Our lord, high-priest, we are the emissaries of beth-din, and you are our emissary and the emissary of beth-din. We beswear you in the name of Him who reposed His name in this house, that you not alter one thing of all we have told you." He goes to a side and cries [that they suspected him of being a Sadducee], and they go to a side and cry [that they suspected him, the master having said (Shabbath 97a): "One who suspects the innocent is smitten in his body."]

If he is a sage, he expounds [on halachah the entire night of Yom Kippur so that he not fall asleep and see keri (an emission)], and if not [i.e., if he is a disciple, but not a sage, able to comprehend halachic discourse, but unable to expound], then Torah scholars expound before him. If he is accustomed to read in Scripture, he does so; if not, they read before him. What do they read? Sections from Job, Ezra, and Chronicles, [which hold one's interest and ward off sleep]. Zecharyah b. Kevutal said: Many times I read before him in the Book of Daniel.

If he started nodding, the pirchei kehunah (the young priests) would strike before him with the (etzba tzreidah) [("pirchei kehunah":) Youths, whose beards have just begun to sprout (lifroach) are called "pirchei." ("etzba tzreidah":) the finger near the thumb. "tzreidah" = "tzarata deda" ("this one's match), i.e., the match of the thumb, which adjoins it. They would join the thumb to the finger nearest it, and release it with a snap so that the high-priest not fall asleep], and they would say to him: "Our lord, high-priest, stand [on your feet] and remove (hafeg) it [your warmth] once on the [marble] floor," [the coolness of the feet dispelling drowsiness. "hafeg" = "remove," as in (Beitzah 14a): "mefigin ta'aman" ("their flavor is removed")], and they would keep him thus occupied until the time for the slaughtering (of the morning tamid).

Every day the ashes would be removed from the altar at the call of the gever ("gever" - "rooster" or "man" appointed to rouse the priests) [He (a priest) scoops out the ashes, whether much or little, with a coal pan, and deposits them on the east of the ramp, where they are absorbed in place. (This marked the beginning of the morning service)] or close to it [close to the call of the gever], before or after. On Yom Kippur, [he removes the ashes] from midnight [in consideration of the weakness of the high-priest. Because the entire service devolved upon him, he had to rise earlier.]; and, on festivals, from the first watch. [For there were many Jews and many offerings and an abundance of ash at the wood-pile, whence it had to be removed to a place in the middle of the altar called "tapuach" ("apple"), where a great heap of ash was piled up in the form of an apple. They, therefore, had to rise earlier, and they rose from the first watch, which is a third of the night.] And the call of the gever was not heard [on festivals] until the azarah (the Temple court) was filled with Jews [who brought their offerings to be sacrificed immediately after the morning tamid.]