Yoma

becoming ritually impure through family contact.1 R. Johanan said to Resh Lakish: It is right according to me who infer2 from the Consecration; for this agrees with what we are taught: ‘On both of them [the Priests]3 we sprinkle throughout the seven days[water] from all the sin-offerings4 that were there’;5 but according to you who infer from Sinai, was there any sprinkling done on Sinai? — But6 according to your own reasoning, it would not be right either, for in the consecration [ceremony the sprinkling was done with] blood, whereas here with water? — That7 is no difficulty. For R. Hiyya taught: ‘The water takes the place of blood’, but according to you, was there any sprinkling on Sinai? — He answered: It was a mere additional provision. 8 We have a teaching in accord with R. Johanan,9 and we have a teaching in accord with Resh Lakish.10 ‘In accord with R. Johanan we have a teaching’; Scripture reads: Herewith [bezoth] shall Aaron come into the holy place,11 i.e., with that mentioned in that section, the section of the Consecration. And what is mentioned in the section about the Consecration? Aaron was removed for seven days and then officiated for one day, and Moses handed over to him12 throughout the seven days to train him in this service. Also for the future the high priest is to be removed for seven days and to officiate for one day, and two scholars of the disciples of Moses13 [this excludes Sadducees]14 transmitted to him throughout the seven days to train him in the service. Hence [the Rabbis] ruled that seven days before the Day of Atonement the high priest was removed from his house to the cell of the counsellors. And just as the high priest was removed, so was the priest burning the heifer removed to the cell lying in the north-eastern corner before the Temple and each of them was throughout the seven days sprinkled [with water] from all the sin-offerings that were there. And if you should ask: But during the Consecration the sprinkling was done with blood and here water, [remember] that the water takes the place of the blood. And it further says: ‘As hath been done this day so the Lord hath commanded la'asoth [to do], lekapper [to make atonement] for you’.15 ‘La'asoth’ refers to the ceremony of the heifer, ‘lekapper’ means the service of the Day of Atonement.16 But the word ‘be-zoth’ is required for the verse itself,17 i.e., with a young bullock for a sin-offering and a ram for a burnt-offering? — Answer:18 If ‘be-zoth’ were meant to refer only to the sacrifices, the text should have said ba-zeh [with this] or ba-eleh [with these], why [was] ‘be-zoth’ [chosen]? So that you may learn both things from it.19 Why was it necessary to cite the other verse?20 — You might have said only the first Day of Atonement requires that the high priest be removed at the Consecration, but on all future Days of Atonement no such removal is necessary; or [you might say] only the first21 high priest needed such removal but all future high priests do not require it; come and hear:22 ‘As hath been done this day etc.’23 ‘We have a teaching in accord with Resh Lakish’: Moses went up in a cloud, was covered by the cloud, and was sanctified by the cloud in order that he might receive the Torah for Israel in sanctity, as it is written: And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai,24 this took place after the Ten Commandments, which were at the beginning of the forty days,25 this is the view of R. Jose the Galilean. R. Akiba said [with reference to] ‘And the glory of the Lord abode’ from the beginning of the [third] month, and the cloud wa-yekasehu [covered it],26 i.e., the mountain,27 congress with a menstruant would be levitically impure for seven days, thus prevented from officiating on the Day of Atonement. Day of Atonement. Mishnah. The choice of be-zoth indicates that something else is implied. indication that erroneous inference might be made, which the additional verse, through its information, prevents. (mountain) being also masculine. days before the Revelation.