Shevuot 2b (ב:) — the Talmud in English

concerning the pure person who ate

sacred meat

that was impure,

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

Rabbi Meir says: All the goats,

with the exception of the inner goat,

their atonement is equivalent.

For all of them atone

for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred items

in every circumstance: whether there was awareness only at the end, whether there was no awareness at all, or whether a pure person ate sacred meat. The sole exception is one who knew at the outset but did not become aware of it at the end; only the inner goat atones for him.

The Mishna now returns and again cites the opinion 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

about which there was no awareness

at all,

neither at the outset nor at the end.

And the external goat

of Yom Kippur atones for

impurity

about which there was no awareness at the outset, but there was awareness of it at the end. [

Whereas the inner goat atones for a case in which there was awareness at the outset but none at the end.]

The Sages said to him,

to Rabbi Shimon:

May these be offered in place of one another?

For example: If the external goat of Yom Kippur was lost, and another goat was offered in its place, and afterward the lost goat was found, may it be offered on a Festival or on the New Moon, and atonement be achieved through it for those who require the particular atonement provided by the goats of the Festivals and the goats of the New Moons?

Rabbi Shimon said to them: They may be offered

in place of one another!

They said to him [

Rabbi Meir]: In my view, since I said that their atonement is equivalent, they may be offered in place of one another. But according to you,

since their atonement is not equivalent,

as according to you 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 Temple,

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

How can the goat of Yom Kippur be offered on the New Moon? 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:

They all come to atone for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred items,

and therefore it makes no difference for which type of atonement it was designated, and the goat designated for one occasion may be offered on another.

Rabbi Shimon ben Yehuda says in his name,

in the 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 one.

He adds to them

goats

of the Festivals, which atone for the pure person who ate the impure one, and for a case in which there was no awareness, neither at the outset nor at the end.

He adds to them

the external goat

of Yom Kippur, which atones for the pure person who ate the impure one, for a case in which there was no awareness, neither at the outset nor at the end, and for a case in which there was no awareness at the outset but there was awareness of it at the end.

The Sages said to him,

to Rabbi Shimon:

May these 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 Yom Kippur,

whose atonement is more severe, as they atone even for an impure person who ate sacred meat, for which one is liable to karet if he ate it intentionally,

may be offered on the New Moons

and provide the less severe atonement for the pure person who ate impure sacred meat, for which he is not liable to karet if he ate it intentionally.

But how

can the goats

of the New Moons be offered on Yom Kippur to provide an atonement that is not theirs!?

For they were designated only for the less severe atonement!

He said to them,

Rabbi Shimon:

They all come to atone for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred items,

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

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

And for intentional transgression involving the Temple and its sacred items,

where one ate sacred meat or entered the Temple while knowing that he was impure —

the goat

of Yom Kippur

that is brought inside and

together with the atonement effected by the very essence of

Yom Kippur, atone

for him!

For the other transgressions of the Torah —

the minor and the severe, the intentional and the unintentional,

as well as transgressions for which one is liable to bring an asham talui, such as one who ate something that was possibly forbidden fat and possibly permitted fat, whether

it became known

to him that he had eaten possibly forbidden fat

or

whether

it did not become known

to him, and likewise for

positive and negative mitzvot, karet offenses and offenses punishable by death at the hands of the court,

for all of them —

the scapegoat atones [

except for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred items]!

Whether Israelites, or kohanim, or the anointed kohen,

they are equal with regard to their atonement for the other transgressions, through the scapegoat, except for their atonement for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred items, with regard to which their atonement on Yom Kippur differs.

What is the difference between

the atonement of

Israelites and

the atonement of

kohanim and

the atonement of

the anointed kohen

for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred items? —

Only that the bull

designated as the sin-offering of the High Priest, whose blood is sprinkled within and within on Yom Kippur,

atones for the kohanim

for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred items,

whereas the Israelites achieve atonement through the two goats, the inner and the external.

Rabbi Shimon says:

The kohanim and the Israelites also differ with regard to their atonement for the other transgressions, as the kohanim do not receive atonement through the scapegoat, but through the confession that the High Priest makes over his bull. The reason for Rabbi Shimon’s view is:

Just as

you acknowledge

that the blood of the goat brought inside atones for Israel

for the impurity of the Temple and its sacred items without a verbal confession, as the sprinkling of the blood itself effects atonement,

so the blood of the bull

of the High Priest

atones for the kohanim

for their impurity of the Temple and its sacred items without a verbal confession. If so, why does the High Priest need to confess? Rather, the Torah’s purpose in requiring the High Priest to confess over his bull is to teach us:

Just as the confession of the scapegoat atones for Israel

for the other transgressions,

so the confession over the bull

atones for the kohanim

for the other transgressions, since they receive no atonement at all through the scapegoat.

Gemara:

The Gemara discusses:

Since the tanna,

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

from

tractate

Makkot concluded,

and afterward he teaches tractate Shevuot, it is appropriate to ask:

What is different, that he taught tractate

Shevuot

after tractate Makkot? The Gemara explains:

Because he taught

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

is liable for removing the

corners of

the head, two lashes, one corner

on

this side, and

one corner

on