Shevuot 2b — the Talmud in English

concerning the pure person who ate

sacred meat

that was impure,

who is not liable for an individual offering [because there is no liability for excision for eating it intentionally], and nevertheless he requires atonement, and the goat of the New Moon is his atonement.

Rabbi Meir says: All the goats,

apart from the inner goat,

their atonement is equal.

For all of them atone

for impurity of the Sanctuary and its sacred things

in all circumstances: whether there was awareness only at the end, whether there was no awareness at all, and whether a pure person ate sacred meat. Except for one who knew at the beginning but it did not become known to him at the end, for whom only the inner goat atones.

And now the Mishna returns and again brings the view of Rabbi Shimon, in order to explain his view and the view of those who disagree with him:

Rabbi Shimon would say: The goats of the New Moons atone for the pure person who ate

sacred meat

that was impure. And those of the Festivals atone for

impurity

for which there is no awareness

at all,

neither at the beginning nor at the end.

And the outer goat

of the Day of Atonement atones for

impurity

for which there was no awareness at the beginning, but there is awareness at the end. [

Whereas the inner goat atones for that for which there was awareness at the beginning but there is none at the end].

They said to him

the Sages to Rabbi Shimon:

What is the law: may these be offered in place of one another?

For example: if the outer goat of the Day of Atonement was lost, and they offered another goat in its place, and afterward the lost goat was found, may it be offered on a Festival or on the New Moon, and atone through it for those requiring the special atonement for which the goats of the Festivals and the goats of the New Moons atone?

Rabbi Shimon said to them: They may be offered

in place of one another!

They said to him [

Rabbi Meir]: In keeping with my position, which is that their atonement is equal, they may be offered in place of one another. But according to your position,

since their atonement is not equal,

for according to your words the goat of the New Moon atones only for a pure person who ate sacred meat, and does not atone for an impure person who ate sacred meat or entered the Sanctuary,

how can they be offered in place of one another!?

How can the goat of the Day of Atonement be offered on the New Moon? But when this goat was designated, it was designated for an atonement different from that for which it is now being offered?

He said to them

Rabbi Shimon:

All of them come to atone for impurity of the Sanctuary and its sacred things,

and therefore it makes no difference for which circumstance of atonement it was designated, and it is possible to offer this one in place of that one.

Rabbi Shimon ben Yehuda says in his name

of Rabbi Shimon: Thus Rabbi Shimon said, and thus he disagreed with the Sages:

The goats of the New Moons -

atone for the pure person who ate the impure.

He adds to them

goats

of the Festivals, which atone for the pure person who ate the impure, and for that for which there is no awareness, neither at the beginning nor at the end.

He adds to them

the outer goat

of the Day of Atonement, which atones for the pure person who ate the impure, and for that for which there is no awareness, neither at the beginning nor at the end, and for that for which there is no awareness at the beginning but there is awareness at the end.

They said to him

the Sages to Rabbi Shimon:

What is the law: may they be offered in place of one another?

He said to them

Rabbi Shimon:

They may be offered

in place of one another!

They said to him: If so,

indeed

those of the Day of Atonement

whose atonement is more severe, since they atone even for an impure person who ate sacred meat, who is liable to excision if he ate intentionally,

may be offered on the New Moons,

and atone for the lesser atonement of the pure person who ate sacred meat that was impure, who is not liable to excision if he ate intentionally.

But how

can the goats

of the New Moons be offered on the Day of Atonement to atone with an atonement that is not theirs!?

For they were designated only for a lesser atonement!

He said to them

Rabbi Shimon:

All of them come to atone for impurity of the Sanctuary and its sacred things,

and therefore it makes no difference for which matter of atonement they were designated.

And now the Mishna explains additional laws of atonement, about which all agree:

And for intentional transgression concerning the Sanctuary and its sacred things,

when he ate sacred meat or entered the Sanctuary knowing that he was impure -

the goat

of the Day of Atonement

that is performed inside and

together with the atonement of the essence of the

Day of Atonement, atone

for him!

For the other transgressions in the Torah -

the lesser and the more severe, the intentional transgressions and the inadvertent acts,

and likewise for transgressions for which one is liable for a provisional guilt-offering, such as one who ate something that was doubtfully forbidden fat or doubtfully permitted fat, whether

it became known

to him that he had eaten doubtfully forbidden fat,

or

whether

it did not become known

to him, and likewise for positive and negative commandments,

transgressions punishable by excision and deaths imposed by the court,

for all of them -

the goat that is sent away atones [

except for impurity of the Sanctuary and its sacred things!]

Whether Israelites, or priests, or an anointed priest,

they are equal in their atonement, for the other transgressions, through the goat that is sent away, except for their atonement for impurity of the Sanctuary and its sacred things, in which they differ in their atonement, on the Day of Atonement.

What is the difference between

the atonement of

Israelites and

the atonement of

priests and

the atonement of

the anointed priest

for impurity of the Sanctuary and its sacred things? -

Rather, the bull that he separated

for the sin-offering of the High Priest, whose blood is sprinkled in the innermost place on the Day of Atonement,

atones for the priests

for impurity of the Sanctuary and its sacred things,

whereas the Israelites attain atonement through the two goats, the inner and the outer.

Rabbi Shimon says:

Also for the other transgressions the priests and Israelites differ in their atonement, for the priests attain atonement not through the goat that is sent away but through the confession that the High Priest confesses over his bull. And the reasoning of Rabbi Shimon is -

just as

you acknowledge

that the blood of the goat performed inside atones for Israel

for impurity of the Sanctuary and its sacred things without a verbal confession, but the sprinkling of the blood itself atones in its own right,

so the blood of the bull

of the High Priest

atones for the priests

for their impurity of the Sanctuary and its sacred things without a verbal confession. If so, for what purpose does the High Priest need to confess? Rather, the intent of the Torah in the confession that the High Priest confesses over his bull is to teach us -

just as the confession of the goat that is sent away atones for Israel

for the other transgressions,

so the confession of the bull

atones for the priests

for the other transgressions. For they do not attain atonement through the goat that is sent away at all.

Gemara:

The Gemara discusses:

Since the tanna,

the tanna who arranged for us the order of the tractates,

from

the tractate

Makkot has concluded,

and afterward he teaches the tractate Shevuot. If so, it is necessary to discuss:

What is different, that he taught

the tractate

Shevuot

after the tractate Makkot? And the Gemara explains:

Because he taught

at the end of the tractate Makkot that one who shaves the corners of his head and beard

is liable for

the removal of

the head, two

lashes, for one corner

on this side, and

for one corner

on this side,