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Week 30 - Friday - 24 June 2000

YOMA: CHAPTER 4 : MISHNA 2

He tied a strip of crimson on the head of the scapegoat and he stood it in the direction it was to be sent out, and to the one slaughtered at the place of the slaughtering. He came to his bullock a second time, and he placed his two hands on it and he made confession. And thus he would say: "O, the Name, I have done wrong, I have transgressed, I have sinned before You, I and my house and the children of Aaron, Your holy people. O, the Name, forgive the wrongs, and the transgressions, and the sins, that I have done wrong, and that I have transgressed, and that I have sinned before You, I and my house and the children of Aaron, Your holy people, as it is written in the Torah of Moses your servant, 'For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins shall you be clean before the Lord' (Lev. 16:30)." And they answer after him, "Blessed be the Name of the glory of His kingdom for ever and ever."

Kehati

He - the High Priest, having placed the two lots on the two goats, Tied a strip of crimson - wool, on the head - i.e., between the horns, of the scapegoat - to Azazel, and he stood it in the direction it was to be sent out - towards the gate through which they would take it out to send it to Azazel, i.e., the eastern gate, and to the one slaughtered - the goat for which the lot "For the Lord" had come up and which was about to be slaughtered, he tied a strip of crimson at the place of the slaughtering - i.e., on its neck. The Gemara explains that they tied these strips on them lest they become mixed up with other goats; they tied the strip on one on its head (between its horns), and on the other around its neck, lest they become mixed up with one another. They used strips of red colored wool because of the verse, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" (Isa. 1:18) (see below, end of chap. 6). After the High Priest had tied the strips of crimson to the goats,

He came to his bullock a second time - for he had already confessed upon it one time for his wrongdoings and those of his house (see 3:8, above); now he confessed a second time, for the wrongdoings of his fellow priests, and he placed his two hands on it - between its horns,

And he makes confession - for his wrongdoings, and those of his house, and of all the priests. And thus he would say: "O, the Name - he pronounced the Tetragrammaton, as it is written (see 3:8, above), I have done wrong, I have transgressed, I have sinned before You, I and my house and the children of Aaron, Your holy people. O, the Name, forgive the wrongs, and the transgressions, and the sins, that I have done wrong, and that I have transgressed, and that I have sinned before You, I and my house and the children of Aaron, Your holy people, as it is written in the Torah of Moses your servant, 'For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins shall you be clean before the Lord'" - we have already explained (3:8, above) that the text of the confession stated in the mishnah ("I have done wrong, I have transgressed, I have sinned") follows Rabbi Meir's view; however, the Sages hold that he says, "I have sinned, I have done wrong, I have transgressed." The law is in accordance with the Sages.

And they - the priests and the people standing in the Temple Courtyard, on hearing the Tetragrammaton pronounced, answer after him, "Blessed be the Name of the glory of His kingdom for ever and ever" - the Gemara quotes a baraita which explains that the first confession is for only himself and his house, and the second confession is for all the priests, because "it is preferable that the innocent (i.e., who had already obtained forgiveness) make atonement for the guilty, rather than the guilty obtain atonement for the guilty."

YOMA: CHAPTER 4 : MISHNA 3

He slaughtered it and he received its blood in the bowl, and he gave it to the one who was to stir it on the fourth terrace in the Sanctuary, so that it should not congeal. He took a fire-pan and went up to the top of the Altar, and he cleared away coals to one side and to the other, and he scooped out from the innermost burnt ones, and he came down and he placed it on the fourth terrace in the Temple Courtyard.

Kehati

He - the High Priest - Slaughtered it - the bullock, after he had confessed over it the second time, and he received its blood in the bowl, and he gave it to the one who was to stir it on the fourth terrace in the Sanctuary - the pavement of the Temple Courtyard was made of rows of marble stones, and each row was called a "terrace" (roved). The Gemara explains that "on the fourth terrace in the Sanctuary" does not refer to the actual Sanctuary, for it is written, "And there shall be no man in the tent of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the holy place" (Lev. 16:17); it rather refers to the fourth terrace in the Temple Courtyard, counting from the entrance to the Sanctuary outwards (Rashi), where the priest stirs the blood in the bowl, so that it - the blood,

Should not congeal - for after receiving the blood of the bullock, the High Priest would go to offer up the incense; it therefore was necessary to stir the blood in the bowl, until he would return from the burning of the incense and take the blood for sprinkling. He - the High Priest, took a fire-pan - for the incense, and went up to the top of the Altar - in the Temple Courtyard, and he cleared away coals to one side and to the other, and he scooped out - burning coals in the fire-pan, from the innermost burnt ones - from the coals within the fire, which had been well burnt, and not firebrands that give off smoke, and he came down - from the Altar,

And he placed it - the fire-pan with the burning coals, on the fourth terrace in the Temple Courtyard - i.e., on the same terrace where the priest was stirring the blood (although the first section of the mishnah states "in the Sanctuary," and here, "in the Temple Inner Court," the Jerusalem Talmud explains that they both refer to the same place), until he took a handful of incense in the hollow of his hand and put it into the ladle, following which he takes the ladle and the fire-pan inside, to perform the service of the incense (see 5:1, below).

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