Yoma 68a — the Talmud in English

What is stated below

regarding the bull of the anointed priest, the burning was performed

by means of dismemberment and not by means of flaying

the hide [as the Gemara will prove below].

So too here,

regarding the bull and the goat of Yom Kippur, their burning was performed

by means of dismemberment and not by means of flaying.

And we raise it:

And there

regarding the bull of the anointed priest itself—

from where do we know

that they burned it after dismemberment without flaying?

For it was taught:

It is stated [Leviticus 4:11–12]: “And the hide of the bull and all its flesh, with its head and with its legs,

and its innards and its waste. And he shall take out

the entire bull outside the camp.” The verse

teaches that he takes it out

when it is

whole.

One might

say that also

he burns it whole,

for further in that same verse it is stated: “And he shall burn it.”

This cannot be said. For

it is stated here,

regarding the burning of the bull of the anointed priest [there]: “Its head and its legs.”

And it is stated below,

regarding the burning upon the altar of the burnt offering: “And they shall arrange the limbs, the head and the fat,” and it is further stated [there, verse 13]: “And its innards and its legs he shall wash with water, and he shall burn it upon the altar.”

Just as below—

just as in the case of the burnt offering, the burning was performed

by means of dismemberment, so here

the burning of the bull of the anointed priest was performed

by means of dismemberment.

Or

perhaps it should be said:

Just as below,

the dismemberment of the burnt offering was performed

by means of flaying, so here

the dismemberment of the bull of the anointed priest was performed

by means of flaying.

The verse says

regarding [the bull of the anointed priest]:

“And its innards and its waste”

—from here that he did not flay it.

And immediately the Gemara asks:

What is the proof?

Where did we learn from this verse that he did not flay it?

Rav Pappa said:

It is stated in the verse: “And the hide of the bull and all its flesh … and its innards and its waste. And he shall take out the entire bull … and burn it.” The verse compares the taking out of its innards and its waste [which are stated at the end of the verse] to the taking out of the hide of the bull and its flesh [which are stated at the beginning of the verse]:

Just as

at the time of taking it out,

its waste was within its innards, so

its

flesh was within its hide [that is, he did not flay the hide from the flesh]. And at the time of burning it was likewise, for further in that same verse it is stated: “And he shall burn it.”

[as he had not removed the hide from the flesh]. And it was likewise at the time of the burning, as it is stated later in that same verse, “And he shall burn it.”

We learned in the Mishna:

From when

do those engaged in the burning of the bull and the goat

render impure

the

garments

that are upon them? From when they leave beyond the wall of the Temple courtyard. Rabbi Shimon says: From when the fire catches [when the fire takes hold] in most of them.

The Gemara brings a beraita that explains the reasoning of the Sages:

The Sages taught:

It is stated [Leviticus 16:27–28], regarding the services of Yom Kippur: “And the bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering

he shall take out outside the camp, and burn

them in fire, their hides and their flesh and their waste. And the one who burns them shall wash his garments …”

And there are three camps: the holiest of them all is the camp of the Divine Presence. The second is the camp of the Levites. And the third is the camp of Israel.

And in this verse, “outside the camp” is mentioned only once. This indicates that he takes it out from only one camp, namely, that he took the bull and the goat out of the courtyard, which is the camp of the Divine Presence.

But this cannot be said, for the bull of the communal error is burned outside the three camps. And regarding the bull of the communal error it is stated [Leviticus 4:20]: “And he shall do to the bull [of the communal error] as he did to the bull of the sin offering, so shall he do to it.” And the Sages expounded [Sifra there]: “‘To the bull’—this is the bull of Yom Kippur. From here that the bull of Yom Kippur and the bull of the communal error are equal in their laws.”

And therefore the beraita asks:

Below,

regarding the bull of the communal error,

you assign them—

to the bull of the communal error and to the bull of the anointed priest—a place for their burning outside the

three camps. [And we learned from the above verse that the law of the bull of Yom Kippur is equal to theirs.]

[And we learned from the aforementioned verse that the bull of Yom Kippur has the same law as they do.]

And

if

here [regarding the bull of Yom Kippur]

[in the context of the bull of Yom Kippur,]

you assign them

a place for their burning outside

one camp

alone?!

Rather, certainly the bull of Yom Kippur too was sent outside the three camps.

And

if so, why is it stated

regarding the bull of Yom Kippur

“outside the camp,”

which indicates outside only one camp [namely, outside the camp of the Divine Presence]?

To tell you: once the one who burns it has gone out

outside

one camp [outside the courtyard], immediately

[outside the courtyard,] immediately

they render impure

the

garments.

And this is the source for the words of the Sages in our Mishna, that those engaged in the burning of the bull and the goat render impure the garments that are upon them once they leave beyond the wall of the Temple courtyard.

And we explain the words of the beraita:

We learned in a beraita: “Below [with regard to the bull of the communal error], you assign them three camps, etc.”

And we raise it:

And there,

regarding the bull of the communal error,

from where do we know—

from where do we know that its burning was performed outside the three camps?

And we answer:

For it was taught:

It is stated [Leviticus 4:12], regarding the bull of the communal error of the anointed priest:

“And he shall take out the entire bull

outside the camp,” that is,

outside the three camps.

And the beraita asks: Indeed,

you say outside the three camps,

but from where do you have grounds to say so?

Or

perhaps

it is not

as you say,

but rather

the intention of the verse is

outside one camp

alone!

And the beraita answers:

When

the verse

says regarding the bull

of the communal error of the

assembly [there, verse 21]: “And he shall take out the bull

[there, verse 21]: “And he shall take the bull

outside the camp.”

There would be no need for the verse to state this,

there is no need to say this,

for it was already stated

further in the verse

“And he shall burn it as he burned the first bull”

[and the first bull is the bull of the anointed priest, which was mentioned in the preceding verse]. Since regarding the first bull it was stated “outside the camp,” it is self-evident that the bull of the assembly too was burned outside the camp! Why then did the verse need to repeat and say “outside the camp”?

By force, the intention of the verse is

to assign it a second camp,

to say that their burning was performed also outside the second camp, which is the camp of the Levites.

And when

the verse

says

in the passage of the ritual of offerings [Leviticus 6:4], concerning the taking out of the ashes from the outer altar when the ashes were plentiful: “And he shall take out the ashes to

outside the camp” with regard to the

matter of the

ashes, there would be no need for the verse to state this,

there is no need to say this,

for it was already stated

[Leviticus 4:12], regarding the bull of the anointed priest: “And he shall take out the entire bull outside the camp …

to the ash heap.”

And from here it follows that the ash heap was outside the camp. If so, why did the verse need to repeat and say, regarding the taking out of the ashes, “outside the camp”?

By force, the verse comes to say:

Assign it a third camp.

That is, these three matters [a. the bull of the anointed priest; b. the bull of the communal error; c. the taking out of the ashes]—their place is outside the three camps.

The Gemara returns to explain our Mishna: We learned in the Mishna: “And from when do they render garments impure? Once they leave beyond the wall of the Temple courtyard. Rabbi Shimon says: From when the fire catches in most of them.”

And the reason for the words of the Sages was already explained in the aforementioned beraita: Since regarding the bull of Yom Kippur it was stated “outside the camp” only once, this indicates that immediately when he leaves outside the camp of the Divine Presence [the courtyard], he renders garments impure.

And we object:

And

according to

Rabbi Shimon

[who holds that he does not render the garments impure until the fire catches in most of them],

this “outside the camp”

mentioned regarding the bull of Yom Kippur is superfluous! For according to him, the garments of the one who burns it do not become impure [even when he leaves the three camps] until the fire catches in most of them. And

what does he make of it—

what does he learn from this?

And we answer:

He needs it,

this verse comes

for that which was taught

in a beraita:

Rabbi Eliezer says: It is stated here

regarding the bull of Yom Kippur

“outside the camp,” and it is stated below

regarding the red heifer

“outside the camp.”

As it is stated: “And he shall take it out to

outside

the camp and slaughter it before him” [Numbers 19]. And these are learned from one another by means of a gzera shava:

Just as here,

the burning of the bull of Yom Kippur was

outside the three camps

[for we learn the burning of the bull of Yom Kippur from the bull of the communal error].

So too below,

the slaughter of the red heifer, concerning which it is stated “outside the camp,” means

outside the three camps.

And

likewise,

just as below,

in the slaughter of the red heifer we learn from the verses that the one who slaughters it stands

to the east of Jerusalem.

So too here,

the bull and the goat of Yom Kippur are burned

to the east of Jerusalem.

And Rabbi Eliezer, who taught this beraita, necessarily holds in accordance with the view of Rabbi Shimon in our Mishna, that “outside the camp,” which is stated regarding the bull and the goat of Yom Kippur, is superfluous; therefore, they learn a gzera shava from it.

However, according to the Rabbis, “outside the camp” is not superfluous [rather, it comes to teach that the garments of the one who burns it become impure when he leaves the camp of the Divine Presence], and they do not learn from it by means of a gzera shava that the bull and the goat were burned to the east of Jerusalem.

And

if so, the question arises: according to

the Rabbis, where did they burn them?

In which direction of Jerusalem did they burn them?

And we answer: The Rabbis hold

as it was taught

in a beraita:

Where

were the bull and the goat

burned?