[Avodah] Paamon veRimon

[Micha Berger]

So, they found a golden bell which could plausibly be a paamon from the
me'il of a kohein gadol. And quite probably isn't. I would be inclined to
be skeptical, except that I can't figure out why someone not compelled
by halakhah would make a bell out of 24 kt gold -- a metal too soft to
make a nice ring. If this was typical of the paamonim of the me'ilah,
the kohein gadol more rattled than rang.

It was found in a main water channel that ran through Y-m, including
the Kotel haMaaravi, under Robinson's Arch.

I'm wondering:

1- Is someone who is presumably tamei allowed to touch and be metamei
bigdei kehunah?

2- Aside from the meshuach milchamah, which was not an issue during
Herod's Bayis, were the 8 begadim ever worn outside the Har haBayis? (I
guess the bell could come off during laundering, thus finding it in a
watershed that didn't actually run /through/ Har haBayis doesn't rule
out the bell being sacred. The story just got me wondering.)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Our greatest fear is not that we're inadequate,
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