Sifra 9.0.7

Acharei Mot, Chapter 4

1) (Vayikra 16:16) ("And he shall make atonement for the holy place from the uncleanlinesses of the children of Israel, and from their offenses of all of their sins; and so shall he do for the tent of meeting that dwells with them in the midst of their uncleanlinesses.") "And he shall make atonement for the holy place from the uncleanlinesses of the children of Israel": Three "uncleanlinesses" may be adduced here: that of idolatry, viz. (Vayikra 20:3) ("for of his seed he has given to the Molech) to defile My Sanctuary and to profane My holy name"; that of illicit relations, viz. (Vayikra 18:30) "not to do in the manner of the abominations that were done before you, and you shall not become unclean in them"; that of bloodshed, viz. (Bamidbar 35:34) "And you shall not defile the land wherein you dwell, in whose midst I dwell."

2) I might think that the he-goat atones for all of these defilements; it is, therefore, written "from the uncleanlinesses," and not all the uncleanlinesses. Which tumah do we find Scripture to have distinguished from all other uncleanlinesses (by making it subject to an oleh veyored [sliding scale] offering)? That of defiling the sanctuary and its consecrated objects; here, too, we adduce only that of defiling the sanctuary and its consecrated objects. These are the words of R. Yehudah. R. Shimon said: It may be adduced from its very context, viz. "And he shall make atonement for the holy place from the uncleanlinesses of the children of Israel" — from the defilements of the sanctuary.

3) I might think (that this he-goat atones) for all defilements of the sanctuary; it is, therefore, written "their offenses (pisheihem) — these are sins of rebellion (i.e., deliberate sins, as in II Kings 3:7) "The king of Moav pasha against me," and (II Kings 8:22) "Then tifsha Livnah at that time") and sins like peshaim, that are not subject to an offering.

4) From here they ruled: Wherever there was awareness in the beginning (i.e., where he is aware that he has become unclean), and no awareness in the end, (i.e., where he is not aware that he has touched a sanctified object in his state of uncleanliness), judgment is suspended (by the he-goat presented within and Yom Kippur) until he becomes aware and he brings a sliding scale offering, it being written "from their offenses of all of their sins." (i.e., he is shielded from judgment of those offenses, which, when he becomes aware of them, will result in a sin-offering.) (See Vayikra, Dibbura d'Chovah, Chapter 13:11-12).

5) "and so shall he do for the tent of meeting": Just as he does in the holy of holies, so does he do in the sanctuary. Just as in the holy of holies, one above and seven below of the blood of the bullock, so, in the sanctuary. And just as in the holy of holies, one above and seven below of the blood of the he-goat, so, in the sanctuary." "who dwells with them in the midst of their tumah": Even though they are tamei, the Shechinah dwells among them.

6) (Vayikra 16:17) ("And no man shall be in the tent of meeting when he comes to make atonement in the holy place until he goes out. And he shall make atonement for himself, and for his household, and for the entire congregation of Israel.") "And no man shall be": I might think in the azaroth (the Temple courts); it is, therefore, written "in the tent of meeting." This tells me only of the tent of meeting (in the desert). Whence do I derive (the same for) Shiloh and for the Temple? From "in the holy place." This tells me only of the time that he enters with the incense. Whence do I derive (the same) for the time that he enters with the blood? From "when he comes to make atonement" (which is done by the sprinkling of the blood). This tells me (that no one shall be there) only upon his entering. Whence do I derive (the same for) his leaving? From "until he goes out." "And he shall make atonement for himself, and for his household, and for the entire congregation of Israel.": His own atonement comes before that for his household, and that for his household comes before that for all of Israel.

7) (Vayikra 16:18) ("And he shall go out to the altar which is before the L–rd, and make atonement upon it. And he shall take of the blood of the bullock and of the blood of the he-goat, and he shall place it upon the corners of the altar roundabout.") "And he shall go out to the altar which is before the L–rd": What is the intent of this? (i.e., Is he not already standing in the sanctuary, where the golden altar is found?) R. Nechemiah answered: Because we find in respect to the bullock that is brought for all the mitzvoth (i.e., the bullock of the anointed priest) that the Cohein stands outside (i.e., at the far end of) the altar and sprinkles upon the curtain, I might think that the same applies here. It is, therefore, written "And he shall go out to (the far end of) the altar." Where was he, (then, until now)? On the inside of the altar (before the curtain).

8) — But perhaps we are speaking of the outer altar (that he goes out to from the sanctuary)! (This is not to be entertained, for) it is written "which is before the L–rd," which can apply only to the inner altar.

9) "and he shall make atonement upon it (the altar)": atonement which is (made) upon its body. (i.e., atonement through the blood, which is placed upon the corners of the altar [and not verbal atonement])."and he shall take of the blood of the bullock and of the blood of the he-goat": intermixed. I might think of each by itself; it is, therefore, written (Shemoth 30:10) "of the blood of the sin-offering of the atonement once a year." How, then, am I to understand "and he shall take of the blood of the bullock and of the blood of the he-goat"? As "intermixed." (For otherwise, it would be twice a year.)

10) "and he shall place it on the corners of the altar": He begins from the northeast corner (and then proceeds) northwest, southwest, southeast. Where he begins, (sprinkling the blood of) the sin-offering upon the outer altar, there he concludes (the sprinkling of the mixed bloods) upon the inner altar. R. Yehudah says in the name of R. Elazar: He stands on his place and he sprinkles. And on all (of the corners) he applies (the blood) from bottom to top, except in the one before which he is standing, where he applies it from top to bottom.

11) "roundabout": R. Yishmael says: "roundabout" is written here, and "roundabout" is written elsewhere (viz. Shemoth 1:5). Just as here there are four distinct applications (one on each corner), so, there, there are four distinct applications.

12) (Vayikra 16:19) ("And he shall sprinkle upon it of the blood with his finger seven times; and he shall cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleanliness of the children of Israel.") "And he shall sprinkle upon it": upon the "clean spot" of the altar (i.e., After sprinkling upon the corners, he moves the coals and the ashes on the altar aside and sprinkles on the area that has been cleared.) "of the blood": of the blood under discussion (i.e., that in the sprinkling bowl). "seven times": and not seven drops. "seven": He counts seven times, not "one and seven" (as he does in the instance of the sprinklings on the curtain).

13) "and he shall cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleanlinesses of the children of Israel": He cleanses it from past defilements so that it is hallowed for future use.