Yoma 32a (לב.) — the Talmud in English

And we raised an objection:

Granted,

it is readily understandable

according to Rabbi Meir; this is how you find

that the High Priest would sanctify

ten times

during the five immersions.

The High Priest wore golden garments three times and white garments twice, alternately, as explained below; altogether, he wore the sacred garments five times. Before each donning, he immersed once and performed two sanctifications, making ten sanctifications in all.

But according to the Rabbis,

who hold that during the first immersion he performed only one sanctification [for donning the sacred garments], this is difficult:

there were only nine

sanctifications

! [

During the four immersions from the second immersion onward, he performed two sanctifications for each immersion, making eight sanctifications, and there was one additional sanctification for the first immersion.]

The Rabbis could say to you

the following answer:

The final sanctification,

the last sanctification, when the High Priest completed all the services of the day,

when he removed

when he removed the

sacred garments and donned [

and wore]

ordinary garments, he performed it there,

he performed an additional sanctification there, which was the tenth sanctification.

And although he did not immerse at that time [since he was not coming to don sacred garments], nevertheless he performed one sanctification before removing the sacred garments, because according to the Rabbis there was one sanctification for each removal. [As explained above].

The Sages taught:

In the passage concerning the Yom Kippur service, after Aaron completed all the services performed inside the Sanctuary, it is stated [Leviticus 16:23]:

“And Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting.”

Yet afterward in the passage only services performed outside the Sanctuary are mentioned. If so,

why does he come

into the Sanctuary?

And the beraita explains:

He comes only

in order

to remove the spoon [

which had been placed in the Holy of Holies, and with which he had earlier brought in the incense],

and the coal-pan [

which had likewise been placed in the Holy of Holies, and with which he had brought the coals for burning the incense].

And the entire passage

of the Yom Kippur services

was stated in the order

in which the High Priest performed them,

except for this verse,

“And Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting,” from which we learn about removing the spoon and the coal-pan from the Holy of Holies.

This verse was stated after the order of the services performed inside. After it, it says, “And he shall go out and perform his burnt-offering and the burnt-offering of the people.” In fact, however, this was not the order. Rather, the removal of the spoon and the coal-pan took place after the offering of his burnt-offering and the burnt-offering of the people.

And we raised an objection:

What is the reason

for insisting that this verse does not follow the order of the passage, but that the High Priest was required to go out and offer his burnt-offering and the burnt-offering of the people between the services performed inside and the removal of the spoon and the coal-pan from inside?!

Rav Ḥisda said: It is an established tradition

—they learned as a halakha given to Moses at Sinai—that

the High Priest immersed five times and performed ten sanctifications on that day.

Each time he changed his garments and donned sacred garments, he immersed and performed a sanctification.

And if

you were to say that all the verses were stated

in their order, you would find

them [the immersions and sanctifications]

to consist of only three immersions and six sanctifications,

since the High Priest would change his garments only three times, as follows.

The services performed inside were performed in white garments, whereas the services performed outside were performed in golden garments. If we say that the verses were stated in their order, the order of the services of the day was as follows: [according to Rashi here]:

a. The daily morning offering—in golden garments.

b. The services involving the inner bull and goat, and the incense in the coal-pan—in white garments. At that time, while he was still wearing white garments, he removed the spoon and the coal-pan from the Holy of Holies.

c. The burnt-offering ram of the High Priest, the burnt-offering ram of the people, and the additional offerings and the afternoon daily offering—in golden garments.

It follows that the priest needed to change into different sacred garments only three times: [a] the first time, golden garments for the service of the daily offering; [b] the second time, white garments for all the services performed inside; [c] the third time, golden garments for the afternoon daily offering and offerings performed outside.

Thus, there were only three immersions and six sanctifications.

And since we have learned through the halakha given to Moses at Sinai that there were five immersions and ten sanctifications, it necessarily follows that the removal of the spoon and the coal-pan did not take place together with the other inner services, but afterward, between the offering of his ram and the ram of the people and the afternoon daily offering [and the additional offerings]. And this was their order:

a. The morning daily offering—in golden garments, as stated above.

b. The services involving the inner bull and goat, and the incense in the coal-pan—in white garments. [He did not remove the spoon and the coal-pan with them.]

c. The burnt-offering ram of the High Priest and the ram of the people—in golden garments.

d. Here the High Priest returned to attend to the spoon and the coal-pan inside, and removed them in white garments.

e. The additional offerings and the afternoon daily offering—in golden garments.

Rav Ḥisda’s statement indicates that they learned through the halakha given to Moses at Sinai that there were five immersions and ten sanctifications. The Gemara cites a beraita concerning this:

It was taught: Rabbi Yehuda said: From where is it derived that the High Priest immersed five times and performed ten sanctifications on that day?

The verse states: “And Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting, and he shall remove the linen garments, and he shall immerse his flesh in water in a sacred place, and he shall don his garments

those being the eight garments that he wore throughout the year, some of which contained gold,

and he shall go out and perform.”

You learn

from here

that whenever one changes from a service

performed inside

to a service

performed outside,

an immersion is required.

For here we learn that he immersed his flesh in water before donning the golden garments and going out to perform the outer services. From here they learned that whenever one changes from an outer service to an inner service, an immersion is also required.

And below the beraita explains that there were five services [that is, five times that he entered a new place in order to perform the services of the day], which accounts for five immersions.

Rabbi said,

the Sages learned the five immersions and ten sanctifications from another verse:

From where is it derived that the High Priest immersed five times and performed ten sanctifications on that day?

As it is stated

[Leviticus 16:4], at the beginning of the order of the Yom Kippur services, when the priest came to don the white garments:

“He shall don the sacred linen tunic, the linen trousers shall be upon his flesh, he shall gird himself with a linen sash, and he shall wrap himself with a linen turban; they are sacred garments, and he shall immerse his flesh in water and don them.”

You learn

from here

that whenever one changes from a service

performed outside in golden garments

to a service

performed inside in white garments,

an immersion is required.

And it says,

the verse cited above:

“They are sacred garments”; all the garments were thereby equated with one another.

Below, the Gemara explains this matter.

And

both Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi learned from the fact that the Torah requires immersion for every service performed with a change of place that altogether there are five immersions, because

there are five services

that involve both a change of place and a change of garments: [

a]

The morning daily offering—

in golden garments [

outside]. [

b]

The service of the day—

in white garments [

outside and inside, involving the bull and the goat whose blood is brought inside, and the incense] . [

c]

The ram of the High Priest and the ram of the people—

in golden garments [

outside]. [

d] Removal of the

spoon and coal-pan—

in white garments [

inside]. [

e]

The afternoon daily offering in golden garments [

outside] .

And from where is it derived that each immersion requires two sanctifications?

The verse states: [

the verse cited above by Rabbi Yehuda]: “And he shall remove the linen garments, and he shall immerse his flesh in water in a sacred place, and he shall don his garments.” According to Rabbi, this verse is superfluous, since Rabbi learned the requirement of immersion from another verse [“They are sacred garments, and he shall immerse his flesh in water and don them”], as stated above.

Therefore, Rabbi expounded that this immersion is not an immersion but a sanctification of the hands and feet. And they expound the word “and he shall immerse” as referring both to the removal that precedes it and to the donning that follows it—as though it were written:

“And he shall remove and sanctify,” “and he shall sanctify and don.”

Thus, there are two sanctifications for each immersion.

Rabbi Eliezer, son of Rabbi Shimon, says: [

He disagrees with Rabbi and holds like Rabbi Yehuda, that the verse “and he shall remove … and he shall immerse … and he shall don” speaks of immersion and not of sanctification.

And from where is it derived that each immersion requires two sanctifications?]

A kal va-chomer: Just as with

the services of the entire year, which are

a case in which

the priest

is not required to immerse

by Torah law before the service [but only by rabbinic law, according to Rabbi Yehuda above, 30a], nevertheless

he is required to perform a sanctification.

A case in which immersion is required [

the Yom Kippur service], is it

not certainly required to perform a sanctification?!

If

you might say:

Just as there,

during the rest of the year, he performs

one sanctification

only,

so here,

on Yom Kippur, he should perform

one sanctification

only!

The verse states: [

the verse cited above by Rabbi Yehuda]

“And Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting and shall remove the linen garments that he donned.”

What does the verse mean

what does it come to teach us by saying

“that he donned”?

These words appear to be superfluous, since

does a person remove [

can a person remove anything else]

except

that

which he donned

previously?!

Rather, the phrase “that he donned” teaches us

to equate the removal

mentioned at the beginning of the sentence

with the donning

mentioned at its end:

Just as

with

donning, the priest is required

the priest

to perform a sanctification, so too removal—

requires a sanctification!

And now the Gemara returns to explain each matter in the words of the beraita:

We learned in the beraita:

Rabbi Yehuda said: From where is it derived that the High Priest immersed five times and performed ten sanctifications on that day?

The verse states: “And Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting … and he shall immerse his flesh in water in a sacred place.” Thus

it is

learned that whenever one changes from one service to another, an immersion is required.

And we raised an objection: Indeed,

we find

that the verse requires immersion when he changes

from white garments to golden garments, [

which is what the verse discusses].

But when he changes

from golden garments to white garments—

from where

do we know that he must immerse?