Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 6, scan section 27

58 TRACT YOMAH (DAY OF ATONEMENT). 59 not of the high-priest ; therefore the spirits of the latter would have been depressed. On what point do they differ ? One thinks, the right hand of the Segan is better than the left hand of the high-priest, and therefore both should put into the box their right hand ; whereas the other thinks that the left hand of the high-priest is as good as the right hand of the Segan, and therefore he ought to place both his hands in the box. And who is the Tana who differs from R. Jehudah? That is R. Hanina, the Segan of the priests. As we have learned in the following Boraitha: R. Hanina the Segan of the priests said: Why did the Segan ever walk on the right of the high-priest? In case the high-priest became unfit for service, the Segan should enter at once to do the service. The rabbis taught: In the time of the forty years during which Simeon the Upright was high-priest, the lot for Jehovah always came into the high-priest's right hand, but thereafter it sometimes fell into his right, sometimes into his left hand. And the tongue of crimson wool, during the time of Simeon the Upright, always became white. But after Simeon the Upright, sometimes it became white, sometimes it remained red. In Simeon the Upright's time the western light ever burned, but after him it sometimes burned and sometimes went out. The fire of the altar ever waxed in strength, and except the two measures of wood prescribed they had not to add any wood, in Simeon the Upright's time; but after him, sometimes the fire persisted and sometimes wood had to be added. In his time a blessing was sent into the Omer, the two loaves of bread, and the show- bread, and every priest who received only the size of an olive became satiated, and some was left over; but after him, these things were cursed, and every priest got only the size of a bean. And the delicate priests refused to take it altogether, but the voracious ones accepted and consumed. It once happened, one took his own share and his fellow's: he was nicknamed "robber " till his death. The rabbis taught: The year when Simeon the Upright had to die, he told the sages: " Children, know ye that this year I am going to die." They asked him: " How dost thou know ?" He said: " Every year when I entered and left the Holy of Holies, I was accompanied by one old man, dressed in white and enveloped in white; but this year it was an old man attired in black and in a black turban, and he entered with me but did not go out with me." And after the festivals, he got sick, and died. 6o THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. And thenceforth priests ceased to bless Israel with the name of Jehovah, but used " Adonai " (the Lord). The rabbis taught: Forty years before the Temple was de- stroyed, the lot never came into the right hand, the red wool did not become white, the western light did not burn, and the gates of the Temple opened of themselves, till the time that R. Jo- hanan b. Zakkai rebuked them, saying: " Temple, Temple, why alarmest thou us ? We know that thou art destined to be de- stroyed. For of thee hath prophesied Zechariah ben Iddo [Zech. xi. i]: ' Open thy doors, O Lebanon, and the fire shall eat thy cedars.' " '' He placed them on the two he-goats.'' The rabbis taught : Six times the high-priest pronounced God's name, as it is writ- ten (Jehovah), during the Day of Atonement : three times in the first confession and three times in the second confession, and the seventh time when he had drawn the lot. It happened, when the high-priest said, " I beseech thee, Jehovah," his voice was heard in Jericho, ten Parsas distant from Jerusalem, according to Rabba bar bar Hana. And the sound of opening the Temple gates was heard at the distance of eight legal limits of Sabbath (16,000 ells). The goats that were in Jericho used to sneeze at the incense offered at Jerusalem. A bride in Jerusalem had never to perfume herself, as the odor of the incense imbued them all with aromatic smells. R, Joel b. Diglai said: My father had goats on the mountains of Michmar. They sneezed at the in- cense. R. Hiya b. Abbin said in the name of R. Joshua b. Kar'ha: A certain old man has related to me, that since the time when he was walking in Shiloh, he still felt the smell of its formerly offered incense. R. Janai said : To take out the lots from the box was obliga- tory, but to place them on the goats was not so. R. Johanan says: Even taking them out was not obligatory. An objection was made from the following Boraitha: The disciples asked R. Aqiba, If the lot came into his left hand, might he not put it into his right hand ? He replied: Do not give the Sadducees opportunity to rebel (by declaring it unbiblical). Now here the reason is only that the Sadducees should not rebel ; but other- wise, we would say, he may transfer it from one hand to the other. How, then, can R. Janai say that it was obligatory ? Then the lots would not be changeable. Said Rabba: They mean to say, not that he may transfer the lot in his left hand to his right hand, but that when the lot has been placed on the TRACT YOMAH (DAY OF ATONEMENT). 6i goat for Azazel, whether he may transfer him to his right, and design him for the Lord ? The answer to this was: Although one may use a thing appointed to a less holy purpose for a more holy, yet the Sadducees will rebel. MISHNA: He tied a tongue of crimson wool to the head of the goat that was to be sent away [the scapegoat], and placed him opposite to the gate through which he was to be transferred ; and the one to be slaughtered, opposite to the place of its slaugh- tering. He went to his bull a second time, putting his hands on him, and confessing in these terms: " I beseech thee, Jehovah, I have committed iniquities, transgressed, and sinned before Thee, I and my house, and the sons of Aaron, Thy holy people: I beseech Thee, Jehovah, forgive the iniquities, transgressions, and sins which I have committed, transgressed, and sinned, I and my house, and the sons of Aaron, Thy holy people, as it is writ- ten in the Torah of Moses Thy servant : ' For on that day shall he make atonement for you, to cleanse you from all your sins, that ye may be pure before Jehovah.' " They respond after him: " Blessed is the name of His kingdom's glory forever." GEMARA: The schoolmen propounded a question: The Mishna states: He was placed opposite to the gate, and the one to be slaughtered opposite to the slaughtering-place. Were they to be tied in their places, or only placed there ? Come and hear! R. Joseph taught : He tied a tongue of crimson wool to the head of the goat that was to be sent away, and placed him opposite to the gate, and the one to be slaughtered opposite to the slaughtering-place, for the purpose that they should not be