Yoma 67a — the Talmud in English

Because the distance between Jerusalem and the cliff of Azazel was

ninety ris,

[a name for a measure of distance], and

seven and a half

ris make

one mil.

It follows that ninety ris are twelve mil, and a person is permitted to move away from his place on Shabbat only one mil, which is [two thousand cubits], the Shabbat limit. Therefore, they made ten booths along the way. The last booth stood at a distance of ten mil from Jerusalem. [And the inhabitants of each and every booth accompanied him for the distance of one mil.] It follows that the inhabitants of the last booth accompanied him to a distance of eleven mil from Jerusalem. And he would walk the final mil alone. And the one sitting in the last booth would stand at a distance and observe his actions.

And at each and every booth

those who sat in them

would say to him

to the High Priest [when he arrived there]:

Here is food and here is water,

and if you have become weak from the fast and the journey, you can eat and drink.

And they would accompany him from booth to booth.

Except for the last of them

[that were in the booths],

who did not reach the cliff with him, but stood at a distance

a distance of one mil from his booth,

and observed his actions

of the one who escorted him.

And

what would

the one who escorted him

do

on the cliff?

He would

divide the strip of crimson wool

[wool dyed red] into two parts.

Half of it was tied

[he tied it]

to a rock. And half of it was tied

[he tied it]

between his two

horns.

of the goat.

And they pushed him backward, and he

would

roll and descend, and the

goat

would not reach halfway down the mountain before it

already

became

crushed into

limb after limb.

And after he pushed the goat,

he came and sat beneath the last booth

which was two mil distant from the cliff of Azazel. And they permitted him to go out more than two thousand cubits, because he was afflicted and weak, and, furthermore, because he was afraid to remain alone in the wilderness once it grew dark.

It is stated [Leviticus 16:26]: “And the one who sends the goat to Azazel shall wash his garments.” From here, the garments of the one who sent it became impure and he was required to wash them, [that is, to immerse them in a ritual bath].

And from when

does the one who sent it

render impure

the

garments

that he is wearing?

From when he goes outside the wall of Jerusalem.

Rabbi Shimon says: From the time of his pushing it off the cliff.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: There were ten booths [from] Jerusalem to the cliff.

The Sages taught:

There were ten booths and twelve mil

from Jerusalem to the cliff,

the words of Rabbi Meir

[and as we learned in our Mishna].

Rabbi Judah says: There were nine booths and ten mil

between Jerusalem and the cliff.

Rabbi Yose says: There were five booths and ten mil. And

the inhabitants of the booths could accompany him

all of them

[all ten mil]

by means of

making

an eruv

of limits on the eve of Yom Kippur.

Rabbi Yose said: Elazar my son told me

in a jocular manner concerning my words:

if

they walked the entire way

by

means of an eruv,

they did not need five booths. Rather,

I can make even two booths and

they would be able to walk by means of them

ten mil.

That is, they would distance the first booth four mil from Jerusalem. And the distinguished people of Jerusalem would walk two mil by means of an eruv.

And the people of the first booth would place one eruv at the end of the measure of one mil toward Jerusalem, and they would be able to walk two mil to the place where the distinguished people of Jerusalem had accompanied him. And they would place an additional eruv at the end of one mil toward Azazel. And they would be able to walk two mil in the direction of Azazel. It follows that altogether they accompanied the one who sent him six mil.

And two mil remained until Azazel. They would place the second booth in the middle of them, and its inhabitants would establish one eruv toward Jerusalem and a second eruv toward Azazel. It follows that they would be able to walk toward him two mil [until the place where the inhabitants of the first booth had accompanied him], and accompany him through all four of the mil that remained until Azazel.

According to whom does it go,

according to whose view is

that which was taught:

And they accompany him from booth to booth,

except for the last of them, who did not reach the cliff with him, but stood at a distance and observed his actions?

According to whom —

according to Rabbi Meir,

who holds that there were twelve mil and ten booths. And the last one accompanied him only to the end of eleven mil. But according to Rabbi Judah [that there were nine booths and ten mil], and according to Rabbi Yose [that there were five booths and ten mil, and they traversed all of them by means of an eruv], the last one reaches the cliff.

We learned in the Mishna:

At each and every booth

those who sat in them

would say to him, “Here is food and here is water,”

and if you have become weak from the fast and the journey, you can eat and drink.

A tanna

in a beraita

taught: A person who sent

the goat

for this

[to eat and drink] never needed it, and they said this to him

only

because

one who has bread in his basket

and does not eat

is not comparable to one who has no bread in his basket.

We learned in the Mishna:

What would

the one who sent him

do

at the top of the cliff?

He would divide the strip of crimson wool

into two parts; half of it was tied to a rock, and half of it was tied between his two horns.

And we raise an objection: Why did he need to divide the strip of crimson wool?

Let him tie all of it to the rock.

He should tie all of it to the rock and see it when it whitens!

And we answer:

Since

the performance of the

mitzva

was

with the goat,

which had to be pushed backward, the Sages were concerned that if he tied the strip to the rock,

perhaps it would whiten early and his mind would be settled. Perhaps the strip would whiten before the pushing of the goat, and he would rejoice that the sins of Israel had whitened, and forget to attend to the goat and push it. Therefore, they ordained that he tie half of it between its horns after he had already tied half of it to the rock. And since he would finish with this strip, he would naturally observe it, and not the strip on the rock; therefore, even if it happened that it whitened before he pushed the goat, he would not forget to push it, since his eyes were directed toward the goat.

Perhaps the thread would turn white before the goat was pushed, and he would rejoice that the sins of Israel had turned white, forgetting to attend to the goat and push it. Therefore, they ordained that he tie half of it between the goat’s horns after he had already tied half of it to the rock. Since he would finish with this thread, he would naturally observe it rather than the thread on the rock. Therefore, even if it happened to turn white before he pushed the goat, he would not forget to push it, since his eyes were directed toward the goat.

And we raise an objection:

Let him tie all of it

Let him tie the entire strip only

between its horns

of the goat! And why did he divide the strip and tie half of it to the rock?

And we answer:

Sometimes he would bend its head and not be aware of it —

sometimes the goat would fall backward and its head would be bent and concealed behind its body, and he would not be able to see whether the strip had whitened. Therefore, he tied half of it to the rock. [And he tied its other half between its horns, as above].

The Sages taught:

At first, they would tie a strip of crimson wool on the outside of the entrance to the Hall,

if

it whitened,

all the people

would rejoice,

and if

it did not whiten, they would be distressed and ashamed.

They instituted that they should tie it on the entrance

of the

Hall on the inside,

and all the people would not see it,

but they would still peer and see:

if

it whitened, they would rejoice,

and if

it did not whiten, they would be distressed.

They instituted that they should tie half of it to the rock

and half of it between its horns

[and they would not tie it at the entrance to the Hall].

Rabbi Nahum bar Pappa said in the name of Rabbi Elazar Ha-Kappar: At first, they would tie a strip of crimson wool at the entrance

of the

Hall on the inside, and when the goat reached the wilderness, it would whiten, and they would know that its mitzva had been performed.

As it is stated

[Isaiah 1]:

“Though your sins be like scarlet

[like red wool],

they shall become white like snow.”

We learned in the Mishna:

The goat would not

reach

halfway down the mountain

before it became limb after limb.

It was raised as a question before them:

A question was asked of the members of the academy:

Those limbs, what is their status with regard to benefit

—is it permitted to derive benefit from them?

And they disagreed about this,

Rav and Shmuel —

one said: They are permitted, and one said: They are forbidden.

And we explain their reasons: