After the fire died down and all had been completely burned, everything there is ground down and pulverized - including the wood, and all parts of the animal. The entire black mass is beaten with rods and sifted, and these are the ashes which will be saved and used for purity.
The ashes would be divided into three portions. One share was watched for safe keeping in the Holy Temple, within the wall in front of the Women's Court. Another portion was kept at the burning station on the Mount of Annointment, and the third was divided for use between all the priestly shifts serving in the Temple. The attending priests would then use their respective portions to purify the country folk and the impure, while the allotment that was on the mount, was to be used for the priest who came to burn a new heifer.
The third portion that was kept within the wall in the Holy Temple was not used at all - it was placed there as a remembrance, as the Holy One commanded: "and it shall be for the congregation of the Children of Israel for a remembrance." |
