. They did not sleep in
the holy garments, but they undressed, and folded them, and put them under
their heads, and they covered themselves with their own dresses. If legal
defilement happened to one of them, he went out, and proceeded in the
circuit that went under the Temple, and candles flamed on either side,
until he arrived in the house of baptism. And the fire pile was there, and
the place of the seat of honor; and this was its honor, when he found it
closed, he knew that someone was there; when he found it open he knew that
no one was there. He descended and washed; he came up and wiped himself,
and warmed himself before the fire pile. He came and sat beside his
brethren the priests, till the doors were opened; then he went out on his
own way.

2. He who wished to take the ashes from the altar, rose up early and
bathed before the Captain of the Temple came. And in what hour did the
Captain come? All times were not equal; sometimes he came at cockcrow, or
near to it, before or after it. The Captain came, and knocked for them,
and they opened to him. He said to them, "let whoever is washed, come, and
cast lots." They cast lots, and he gained who gained.

3. He took the key and opened the wicket door, and entered from the House
Moked to the court, and the priests went after him with two lighted
torches in their hands. And they divided themselves into two parties.
These went in the gallery eastward, and those went in the gallery
westward. They observed everything as they walked till they approached the
place of the pancake-makers. They arrived. Both parties said, peace! all
peace! The pancake-makers began to make pancakes.

4. He who gained the lot to take the ashes from the altar, took them; and
they said to him, "be careful that thou touch not the vessels, till thou
dost sanctify thy hands and thy feet from the laver." And the ash dish was
placed in the corner between the ascent to the altar and the west of the
ascent. No man entered with the priest, and there was no candle in his
hand, but he walked toward the light of the fire on the altar. They did
not see him, and they did not hear his voice, till they heard the creaking
of the wheel, which the son of Kattin made for the laver, and they said,
"the time has come to sanctify his hands and feet from the laver." He took
the silver ash dish, and he went up to the top of the altar, and he turned
the live coals on one side, and he piled up those that were well burned