Shoveling the Ashes

(1) God spoke to Moses, saying: (2) Command Aaron and his sons thus: 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, while the fire on the altar is kept going on it. (3) The priest shall dress in linen raiment, with linen breeches next to his body; and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar and place them beside the altar. (4) He shall then take off his vestments and put on other vestments, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a pure place.

MISHNA: Initially, the practice among the priests was that whoever wishes to remove the ashes from the altar removes them. But now that there are many priests who wish to perform that task, the privilege to do so is determined by a race: The priests run and ascend on the ramp leading to the top of the altar. Any priest who precedes another and reaches within four cubits of the top of the altar first is privileged to remove the ashes.

Once, an incident occurred where two priests were tied while racing to ascend the ramp, and one of them shoved the other and he fell and broke his leg. Once the court saw that the priests were facing potential danger, they ruled that they would remove the ashes from the altar only by means of a lottery.

"The fire of the altar shall burn with it" (Lev. 6:2) -- This means that in the heart of every person, a fire of enthusiasm should burn. "On the altar continuously" (Lev. 6:6) means "all the time, at every moment."

One who needs fire should look in the ashes.