When the Ram's Horn Sounds Long They May Ascend the Mountain

"No hand shall touch it" (Exodus 19:13): there is no everlasting house [the Temple is not made unfit] by mere touch [in the same way]. "No hand shall touch it"—nor he who was touched by it through another object. "For he shall surely be stoned." I know only stoning; from where do I learn even being cast down? Scripture says, "or he shall surely be thrown down." And from where do I learn that if he is stoned he is also cast down? Scripture says, "he shall surely be stoned or thrown down"—all who are liable to stoning are cast down. And from where do I learn that if he died from a single throwing-down it suffices? Scripture says, "or he shall surely be thrown down." "Whether beast." I know only a domestic beast; from where a wild animal? Scripture says "if a beast"—the same law applies to every animal, wild beast or fowl, whether unclean or clean. "Or man." I know only a man; from where a woman? Scripture says "if a man." "It shall not live." This is the penalty. "When the ram's horn sounds long, they may go up into the mountain": when the shofar ceases. And so it says, "And it shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the shofar" (Joshua 6:5); and in the Arabic tongue a ram's horn [is called] yovela. Rabbi Yose says: It is not the place that honors the man, but the man who honors his place. For as long as the Divine Presence was upon Mount Sinai, whoever went up to its top was liable to death; once the Divine Presence departed, the unclean and the blemished were permitted to go up there. And as long as the Tent of Meeting was pitched, whoever entered it was liable to death; once the Tent of Meeting was taken down, the unclean and the blemished were permitted to enter.