Menachot 92a (צב.) — the Talmud in English

The libations of a ewe

that is two years old, like a ram—

how much

are brought for it: libations like those of a lamb or like those of a ram?

And we said to him:

We answered Rava: Behold,

it is stated explicitly in a Mishna

in tractate Shekalim that the libations of a ewe do not differ from those of a lamb.

One who required libations would not bring fine flour from his home. Rather, he would give money to the Temple treasurer according to the value of his libations, and he would receive a “seal,” which was a kind of receipt. He would then take this receipt to the official, who would give him fine flour for his libations in exchange for it.

For we learned in tractate Shekalim 5:3: There were four seals in the Temple, and written on them were: “calf,” “male,” “kid,” and “sinner”: “

Kid”

—the seal upon which “kid” was written—

was used

for receiving

the libations of sheep and goats, of large and small animals

large and small animals,

of males and females, except for rams

whose libations differ from those of the other sheep and goats. We have thus learned that a large female—that is, a ewe—does not differ from the other sheep and goats; only a ram is excluded.

The Mishnayot from here until the end of the chapter deal with laying hands on offerings, as stated at the beginning of the Book of Leviticus: “When a person brings an offering from you to the Lord, if his offering is a burnt offering from cattle, he shall lean his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to effect atonement for him.” Laying hands is mentioned several more times in the Torah, and with regard to several types of offerings.

Laying hands consists of the owners pressing both of their hands firmly upon the head of the offering and confessing, in the case of a sin offering, the sin of the sin offering; in the case of a guilt offering, the sin of the guilt offering; and in the case of a burnt offering, a transgression of a positive commandment, or a negative commandment whose punishment has been converted into a positive commandment. With regard to a peace offering, he does not confess; rather, he recites words of praise; [according to Maimonides, Laws of the Procedure of Offerings, end of chapter 3].

Mishna:

All communal offerings do not have laying on of hands

upon the offering—

except for the bull

sin offering

brought on account of

one of

all the commandments

a sin-offering bull, brought when the Great Sanhedrin mistakenly instructed that it was permitted to violate one of all the commandments, and the people acted according to their ruling; this is “the bull for the communal unwitting decision”—

as stated in the verse [Leviticus 4]: “And if the entire assembly of Israel [this refers to the Sanhedrin] errs, and a matter becomes hidden from the eyes of the congregation, and they perform one of all the commandments of the Lord that may not be performed, and they incur guilt [the Sanhedrin erred in ruling with regard to one of all the prohibitions punishable by karet in the Torah that it was permitted, for example, they ruled that the fat upon the stomach was permitted because they thought it was ordinary fat and not forbidden fat, and the people acted according to their ruling]. When the sin that they committed becomes known, the congregation shall offer a bull as a sin offering and bring it before the Tent of Meeting, and the elders of the assembly [this refers to the Sanhedrin] shall lay their hands upon the head of the bull before the Lord.”

And the scapegoat

to Azazel on Yom Kippur, as stated in the verse [Leviticus 16]: “And from the assembly of the Children of Israel he shall take two male goats as a sin offering, and he shall take the two goats and stand them before the Lord at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron shall place lots upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord and one lot for Azazel. Aaron shall lay both of his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess upon it all the iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their transgressions, for all their sins, and the goat shall bear upon itself all their iniquities to a desolate land; and he shall send the goat into the wilderness.”

Rabbi Shimon says: Also

the goat

sin offering for

idolatry

that the community brings requires laying on of hands. This is what the verse says [Numbers 15]: “And when you unwittingly fail to perform all these commandments [meaning one commandment that is equivalent to all the commandments, namely, idolatry], and it shall be that if the matter was done unwittingly by the eyes of the assembly [the eyes of the assembly, meaning the Sanhedrin, mistakenly ruled that one of the forms of worship was permitted as a means of worshipping an idol, and the people acted according to their ruling], the entire assembly shall prepare one bull as a burnt offering and one male goat as a sin offering.”

All offerings

of animals of

an individual require laying on of hands

by the owners—

except for the firstborn and the animal tithe

and

the Paschal offering,

which do not require laying on of hands.

And

also

the heir,

whose father voluntarily designated a burnt offering or a peace offering and set it aside, and then died,

lays his hands

upon the offering.

And he brings

the heir

libations

for his father’s offering.

And he may exchange it,

if the heir exchanged the animal—which his father had set aside and then died—for another animal, “then it and its substitute shall be holy,” just as the owners may exchange an offering.

Gemara:

The Sages taught: All communal offerings do not have laying on of hands, except for the bull brought on account of

one of

all the commandments

that Israel performed following the instruction of the court [“the bull for the communal unwitting decision”],

and the goats for

idolatry

that Israel worshipped following the instruction of the court.

These are the words of Rabbi Shimon.

Rabbi Yehuda says: The goats for idolatry do not have laying on of hands.

And whom

from the communal offerings

shall I bring in their place

to complete the number of communal offerings upon which laying hands is performed?

The scapegoat.

Before the Gemara finished citing the entire baraita, the Gemara raises an objection to it:

But is it the case that

it is impossible not to bring in another

[is it necessary to bring another in place of the one that he excluded] that Rabbi Yehuda said, “And whom shall I bring in their place”?

He said—

he explained—

Ravina: It has been received

[as a halakhic tradition transmitted from Sinai] that

there are two acts of laying on of hands

among

the

offerings of

the community. If you exclude the goats for idolatry from the count, it is necessarily required to bring another in their place, and the scapegoat comes and completes the number.

and if you remove the goats of idolatry from the count, it is necessarily required to bring another in their place, and the sent-away goat came and completed the count.

Here the Gemara returns to the continuation of the baraita:

Rabbi Shimon said to him:

How can we bring the scapegoat to complete the number?

But laying on of hands is only performed by the owners,

and

if

this

the scapegoat, through which only Israel achieves atonement—

Aaron and his sons

[that is, the High Priest and whichever of his sons is appointed to succeed him]

lay hands upon it,

even though their atonement does not depend upon the scapegoat!?

He said to him—

Rabbi Yehuda said to Rabbi Shimon:

Even this

the scapegoat—

Aaron and his sons achieve atonement through it,

and therefore laying on of hands is performed by owners. He proceeds to explain in what way they disagree.

Rabbi Yirmeya said:

And

Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Shimon

follow their own principles

[the principles underlying their respective views], as they disagree over whether Aaron and his sons achieve atonement through the scapegoat or not

; for it was taught:

It is written in the passage concerning Yom Kippur [Leviticus 16]: “By this shall Aaron enter the Sanctuary [the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur]: with a young bull as a sin offering [a bull that Aaron brings from his own funds]... And from the assembly of the Children of Israel he shall take two male goats as a sin offering. And Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering that is his [from his own funds], and he shall effect atonement for himself and for his household [he confesses over it his sins and the sins of his household]. And Aaron shall place lots upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord and one lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the lot for the Lord fell, and he shall make it a sin offering. And Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering that is his and effect atonement for himself and for his household [this is the second confession that Aaron makes over the bull, for his sins and for the sins of his fellow priests, who are called ‘his household’]. And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger upon the eastern face of the Ark cover, and before the Ark cover he shall sprinkle seven times from the blood with his finger.”

With this Aaron shall enter the Sanctuary [the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement] with a young bull as a sin-offering [a bull that Aaron brings from his own property]... And from the assembly of the children of Israel he shall take two he-goats as a sin-offering, and Aaron shall bring the sin-offering bull that is his [from his own property] and make atonement for himself and for his household [he confesses over it his sins and the sins of his household], and Aaron shall place lots upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord and one lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the lot for the Lord came up, and make it a sin-offering. And Aaron shall bring the sin-offering bull that is his and make atonement for himself and for his household [this is the second confession, in which Aaron confesses over the bull for his sins and for the sins of his fellow priests, who are called “his household”], and he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger upon the face of the curtain eastward, and before the curtain he shall sprinkle seven times from the blood with his finger."

And he shall slaughter the goat of the sin-offering that is for the people, bring its blood inside, beyond the curtain, and perform with its blood as he performed with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it upon the cover and before the cover -

And he shall effect atonement [through the sprinkling of the blood of the bull and the blood of the goat] for the Sanctuary, from the impurities of the Children of Israel, and from their transgressions, for all their sins [that is, the blood of the bull effects atonement for the kohanim, while the goat, whose blood is sprinkled inside, effects atonement for Israel who entered the Temple or ate sacrificial food while impure]. And when he has completed effecting atonement for the Sanctuary, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar [with the blood of the bull and the goat], he shall bring the live goat [which is the goat sent away]. And Aaron shall place both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their transgressions, for all their sins, and he shall place them upon the head of the goat and send it with the hand of a designated man into the wilderness [and this confession concerns the other transgressions, since Israel have already attained atonement for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred offerings through the blood of the goat ]] ".

And we learn from these verses that the blood of the bull effects atonement for the kohanim for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred offerings, while the blood of the goat whose blood is sprinkled inside effects atonement for Israel for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred offerings; and the goat sent away effects atonement for Israel for the other transgressions, since they have already attained atonement for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred offerings—these through the blood of the bull, and those through the blood of the goat performed inside.

However, Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Yehuda disagree in two matters. The first: whether the goat sent away also effects atonement for the other transgressions of the kohanim.

The second: whether the confession over the bull comes to effect atonement for the kohanim for the other transgressions, or whether the confession, too, is like the blood, which effects atonement only for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred offerings.

It is written at the end of the section concerning Yom Kippur: “And he shall effect atonement for the holy Sanctuary, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar; he shall effect atonement, and for the kohanim and for all the people of the congregation he shall effect atonement.” Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Shimon disagree in its interpretation: "

And he shall effect atonement for the holy Sanctuary",

this refers to the innermost area.

That is, the sprinklings of the bull and the goat effect atonement for impurity that occurred in the innermost area, in the Holy of Holies—for example, one became impure in the innermost area and remained there for the time required for prostration, for which he is liable on account of his remaining there; or, for example, the impurity was not yet known to him, in which case the bull and the goat effect atonement for him until he becomes aware of it and brings his primary offering, namely, the sin-offering of an individual that varies according to his means. "

And the Tent of Meeting"

this refers to the Sanctuary.

That is, the sprinklings of the bull and the goat effect atonement for one who became impure in the Sanctuary. "

And the

altar"

as its plain meaning.

That is, the golden altar [upon which the blood of the bull and the goat is sprinkled]; in other words, the sprinklings of the bull and the goat effect atonement for one who burns incense while impure. "

He shall effect atonement,"

these are the courtyards.

That is, the sprinklings of the bull and the goat effect atonement for one who enters the courtyard while impure. "

And for the kohanim"

according to its plain meaning. "

And

for all the people of the congregation"

these are Israel. "

He shall effect atonement"

these are the Levites.

They were all equated—

kohanim, Levites, and Israelites—

with regard to one atonement, for they attain atonement through the goat sent away for the other transgressions.

That is, the kohanim and Israel have already attained atonement for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred offerings—these through the bull, and those through the goat performed inside. Yet this verse makes clear that there is one atonement for the kohanim and Israel. What case is the verse discussing? The goat sent away, whose atonement for the other transgressions is shared by the kohanim and Israel

—

the words of Rabbi Yehuda.

Rabbi Shimon says:

The matter is not as you say, that the kohanim attain atonement through the confession of the goat sent away for the other transgressions. Rather, there is a different atonement for the kohanim for the other transgressions. For according to your words, the kohanim attain atonement for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred offerings through both the blood of the bull and its confession, whereas Israel attain atonement for this through the blood of the goat alone, since it has no confession; and the confession that is made over them with the goat sent away comes for atonement for the other transgressions. But this is not so. Rather:

Just as the blood of the goat performed inside

the live goat, whose blood is sprinkled inside,

effects atonement

alone

for Israel for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred offerings,

for you cannot say that it does not effect atonement alone but only together with the confession, since there is no confession for the inner goat,

so the blood of the bull

alone

effects atonement for the kohanim for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred offerings,

and the confession accompanying it is not needed for their atonement for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred offerings, since “the blood effects atonement through the soul,” and the confession is not needed—just as in the atonement of Israel through the inner goat.

And just as the confession of the goat sent away effects atonement for Israel for the other transgressions, so the confession of the bull effects atonement for the kohanim for the other transgressions.

That is, just as the confession of Israel does not come as an addition to the blood of the goat, but rather for atonement for the other transgressions, so the confession of the kohanim comes for the other transgressions and not for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred offerings. Through the confession of the goat sent away, Israel alone attain atonement, but not the kohanim, who have already attained atonement through the confession of the bull.

We have thus learned that according to Rabbi Shimon there is no atonement for the kohanim through the goat sent away. If so, their placing of hands upon it is not the placing of hands by the owners.

And

we raise an objection to

Rabbi Shimon: Surely they were equated!?

That is, the verse cited by Rabbi Yehuda clearly indicates that there is a shared atonement for the kohanim and Israel, whereas according to Rabbi Shimon they do not attain atonement through one and the same thing. For the impurity of the Temple and its sacred offerings, the kohanim attain atonement through the bull, and Israel through the goat performed inside; while for the other transgressions, Israel attain atonement through the goat sent away, and the kohanim through the confession of the bull!?

And we answer:

No—

they were equated in that they are subject to atonement; nevertheless, each one effects atonement through his own offering.

The verse does not mean that they have one atonement through a single offering, but that all of them have atonement. Their atonement, however, is not through one and the same thing; rather, each one attains atonement through the offering designated for him.

The Gemara summarizes their opinions:

According to Rabbi Yehuda:

For the impurity of the Temple and its sacred offerings, Israel attain atonement through the goat performed inside, while the kohanim through the

blood of the

bull of Aaron.

And

for the other transgressions, both these and those attain atonement through the confession of the goat sent away.

And according to Rabbi Shimon: for the other transgressions as well,

the kohanim differ from Israel, and

the kohanim attain atonement through the confession of the bull

and not through the goat sent away, as Israel do.

The Gemara brings another beraita in which everything explained above concerning the dispute between Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Shimon regarding the goat sent away is stated:

As it is taught

in another beraita:

Both Israel, the kohanim, and the anointed kohein

attain atonement through the goat sent away for the other transgressions.

What difference is there between Israel and the kohanim and the anointed kohein

—that is, in which atonement are they not equal?

Only that the blood of the bull effects atonement for the kohanim for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred offerings,

whereas the blood of the goat effects atonement for Israel for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred offerings. These are the words of Rabbi Yehuda.

Rabbi Shimon says: Just as the blood of the goat performed inside effects atonement for Israel, so the blood of the bull effects atonement for the kohanim; just as the confession of the goat sent away effects atonement for Israel, so the confession of the bull effects atonement for the kohanim.

The Sages taught: A bull

for an unwitting decision of the community

requires placing of hands, but the goats for idolatry do not require placing of hands

at all.

These are the words of Rabbi Yehuda.

Rabbi Shimon says:

This is the distinction between them:

The bull requires placing of hands by the elders

[of the Sanhedrin],

but the goats for idolatry require placing of hands not by the elders, but by Aaron

that is, by the kohanim. But they do require placing of hands, as Rabbi Shimon derives from a verse later in the passage.

We raise an objection to what is stated in this beraita according to Rabbi Shimon, that the placing of hands upon the goats for idolatry is performed by the kohanim

; and we juxtapose it with another source:

It is written concerning the goat sent away: “And Aaron shall place both his hands upon the head of the live goat.” Therefore the verse needed to say

“the live”,

even though the verse is already discussing it, in order to teach:

The live one requires placing of hands, but the goats for idolatry do not require placing of hands

at all.

These are the words of Rabbi Yehuda.

Rabbi Shimon says:

The verse did not come to exclude them from placing of hands entirely; rather, it excludes them as follows:

The live one requires placing of hands by Aaron,