Avot294

6:
We continue our review of the ten miracles that our mishnah claims were performed in the Bet Mikdash. Some of the items really do test our credulity.

No fly was ever seen in the slaughterhouse. In order to understand the next few items one needs to have a mental picture of the Courtyard of the Priests in the Bet Mikdash. A detailed description is available here. For our present purposes let us just recall briefly that the Priestly Courtyard was a large unroofed court. If one imagines that one is standing just inside the main (eastern) entrance to the courtyard one would see at the far end the steps leading up to the massive Sanctuary. But our view would be partially blocked by the huge altar that was in the centre of the courtyard. A detailed description of the altar is available here, where there is also a drawing of the altar. Please note the little figure standing at the front left hand corner of the altar: the figure is there to give some idea of the massive nature of the main altar.

7:
We are still standing, as it were, at the main entrance to the Court of the Priests. Ahead of us and to our left is the ramp which leads up to the top of the altar. To our right, against the far (northern) wall is the "slaughterhouse". This was not a building at all: it was just an area within the courtyard where there were set up tables of marble. The tables were used to wash the carcasses after slaughter. There was also a set of restraining rings set in the ground and pillars which were used for hoisting the animal for dismemberment. Even if we assume that this area was kept very clean and that after each sacrifice the tables and the rest of the equipment were washed and scrubbed clean (to which there is no testimony) it seems to me quite incredible that during the 585-year history of the Second Temple at no time ever was a fly seen in the slaughter area! Happy he who believes it.

8:
Rain never quenched the twigs on the fire stack. The fire stack was on the top of the altar, of course, and it was used to incinerate the animal carcasses for sacrifice. A detailed description of it and the way it was cared for is available here. I suppose that if the priests were truly diligent in their duties and made sure that the stack was always well fueled and if they shielded it in some way from the rains it is possible that the fire on the altar was never quenched. However, it being certain that the Priestly Courtyard was not spared when Jerusalem was treated to massive downpours as autumn turned to winter I find that this claim too requires a great deal of credulity.

9:
The wind never wafted the column of smoke. This item, too, strains my belief, and the sources lend support to my incredulity! The Gemara [Yoma 21b] specifically says that at the end of Sukkot everyone would anxiously watch which way the wind blew the column of smoke arising from the main fire stack, because by popular superstition this would indicate what kind of year it would be. So how could the people watch for the direction the smoke wafted if miraculously it never wafted?

10:
No snake or scorpion ever caused injury in Jerusalem. I am not the only one who finds this very hard to accept. In his commentary on our present mishnah, Tosafot YomTov, Rabbi YomTov Lippmann Heller [1579-1654] tries to tone down the claim:

To be continued.