10
votes
Accepted
How to determine who offered the second Korban Tamid of the day?
The gemara on Yoma 26a explains that there was just one lottery that covered both services:
א"ר יוחנן אין מפייסין על תמיד של בין הערבים אלא כהן שזכה בו בשחרית זוכה בו ערבית
Rabbi Yoḥanan said: ...
- 6,467
10
votes
Accepted
What is the purpose of the goat for Azazel, as opposed to conventional offerings?
In Guide for the Perplexed 3:46 Rambam writes:
The goat [of the Day of Atonement] that was sent [into the wilderness] (Lev. xvi. 20, seq.) served as an atonement for all serious transgressions more ...
- 49.1k
8
votes
Accepted
Why is Masechta Yoma not entitled more clearly after Yom Kippur like other masechtos reflecting the relevant yom tov
According to the gemara in Rosh Hashanah 21a, Yom Kippur was known in Babylon as "Yoma Rabbah" - The Great Day:
"רַב נַחְמָן יְתֵיב בְּתַעֲנִיתָא כּוּלֵּיהּ יוֹמֵי דְּכִיפּוּרֵי ...
- 24.8k
7
votes
What is the purpose of the goat for Azazel, as opposed to conventional offerings?
The Sefer HaChinuch explains (§95) that the two goats of Yom Kippur are symbolic for the choice presented to a sinner – the goat for Hashem representing one who repents, and the goat for Azazel ...
- 34.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Are we supposed to know which transgressions are light or severe?
Bartenura in Yoma explains (based on the gemara to this mishnah) that ‘light’ commandments here means all positive mitzvot as well as negative mitzvot which are able to be subsequently ‘fixed’ (lav ...
- 41.7k
6
votes
Accepted
Why do they offer food and drink to the one leading the goat for Azazel, instead of replacing the person if he can't complete the task?
The Yerusalmi Yuma [6/3] writes that from the word איש עתי [in the singular form] we understand that the goat cannot be sent with two people.
- 6,123
5
votes
Accepted
Why make the Kohen burning the Para Aduma rabbinically impure?
The Ritva asks this very question on Yuma daf 2a and answers it.
לפיכך בשעת שריפתה היו נוגעין בו כדי לטמאו: ואף על גב דטומאה זו אינה אלא מדרבנן הא אית בה הכירא לצדוקין שיודעין היו דלדידן טהרת ...
- 11.4k
5
votes
How could anybody confuse moonlight and sunlight?
When I'm sick during the winter (happens a lot unfortunately), I daven vasikin at home. I use the myzmanim + cell phone clock method, but also have a window nearby with the shades open. I've noticed ...
- 9,116
5
votes
Why is וחי בהם taught in the context of one of its exceptions?
Adapting from here:
Panim Yafos (by the Baal Hahaflaah) and Pnei Dovid (by the Chida): to teach us that (according to Tosafos) even with arayos, where there's no maaseh, יהרג ואל יעבור doesn't apply.
...
- 7,781
5
votes
Why is Masechta Yoma not entitled more clearly after Yom Kippur like other masechtos reflecting the relevant yom tov
The Maharsha (Rabbi Shmuel Eliezer Eidels) (quoted here, p. 2) answers in his work Chidushei Agadot that all you have to say is "the day" and it can be understood to mean Yom Kippur as this ...
- 47.8k
5
votes
Why is Masechta Yoma not entitled more clearly after Yom Kippur like other masechtos reflecting the relevant yom tov
So BS"D I just stumbled across the Bnei Yissascher, cheilek 2, maamar 8, os 2 (last paragraph) which asks this exact question!
He writes there:
והנה תמצא גם בתורה שבעל פה, המסכתא המדברת מענין ...
- 30.1k
4
votes
Does Teshuva protect from punishment or not?
Perhaps an answer:
There is punishment for the sin, which is for the rebellion against G-d. This is immediately shielded by repentance.
Then, there is the process of complete atonement, which is ...
- 902
4
votes
Accepted
Differential Pikuach Nefesh according to Shmayah and Avtalyon?
In the course of a wide-ranging teshuvah about pikuach nefesh on Shabbos, the Tzitz Eliezer quotes several explanations:
(from Kapei Aharon) According to one view (R' Shimon ben Menasya), it might be ...
- 7,781
4
votes
Accepted
Where did the sages get the idea of tying a crimson cord to the goat sent to Azazel?
It's explicitly connected to that verse.
מִנַּיִן שֶׁקּוֹשְׁרִין לָשׁוֹן שֶׁל זְהוֹרִית בְּרֹאשׁ שָׂעִיר הַמִּשְׁתַּלֵּחַ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ישעיה א) אִם יִהְיוּ חֲטָאֵיכֶם כַּשָּׁנִים כַּשֶּׁלֶג ...
- 9,116
4
votes
Why was the order of the incense offering so important?
The Rambam Sefer Avodah, Halachot Yom Hakippurim, Chapter 1, Halacha 7 explains this specific improper action was something that the tzedukim insisted on. Any change in the avodah would invalidate it. ...
- 42.9k
3
votes
Why wasn't Rabbi Akiva made nasi?
See Maharsha to Yoma there (ד"ה תלויה):
נראה דנקט מאחוריו דלא הוה איצטריך ליה אלא לאשמועינן דלא איירי אלא בדופי שאינו נגלה ומפורסם כ״כ דוגמת אחוריו וכמו דופי ממשפחת האם דומיא שפרש״י דופי של ...
- 7,781
3
votes
What is the purpose of the goat for Azazel, as opposed to conventional offerings?
Ramban writes about this in his commentary to Vayikra 16:8.
Rather than translate the whole piece, I will link to this summary and analysis by R. Ezra Bick.
Some key quotes:
The Ramban begins by ...
- 41.7k
3
votes
Accepted
why are bad thoughts worse than actual sin?
The simple sense would be as the Rambam describes it (Hilchos Teshuva 7:3)
ואלו העוונות, קשים מאותן שיש בהן מעשה, שבזמן שאדם נשקע באלו, קשה הוא לפרוש
These sins [anger, hatred, jealousy, etc. as ...
- 31.8k
3
votes
How was the world created through the even shesiya?
Art Scroll Talmud Yomah 54b1 note 9 explains that the even shesiyay is symbolic of the purpose of the world and the ideal on which it is founded (Meiri). Notes 10, 12, and 25 cite Rashi, that it was ...
- 42.9k
3
votes
Seeing the Kohen Gadol or seeing the burning of the bull in the Mikdash?
It would seem that the key is the Gemara (Yoma 70a) on this Mishnah. Most of these quotes can be found on Sefaria, and for the one that can’t, I’ve provided a link to HebrewBooks.
הרואה כהן גדול ...
- 34.1k
3
votes
Gemara seems to ignore the Masoret
R. Yom Tov Asevili in his commentary there explains that it means that there is no indication from the words themselves. But once we have the Masoretic notes the doubts are indeed resolved.
נראה ...
- 49.1k
2
votes
Masheches Yuma or Yoma?
Yoma. (However, the Jastrow’s vocalization is not all-authoritative, neither is תרגום אונקלוס for Babylonian Aramaic vowels).
As far as I know, the vowel חולם in Hebrew often becomes a קמץ in Aramaic, ...
2
votes
Do any Rishonim or Achronim view Rava’s opinion of Mordechai as a negative one?
This is definitely not a strange read of the pshat of the Megillah...
In terms of the reading of Rava in this way, Shlal David (Esther 4:5) understands it to be so (Hebrew follows, emphasis mine):
...
- 20.9k
2
votes
How big was the Lishkas HaGazis?
The source for the pictures that are giving us trouble here is the Rambam at the end of meseches Midos in Peirush HaMishmayos. He draws (the original manuscript is extant) the Lishkas Hagazis entirely ...
- 3,463
2
votes
Halachic differences in the Yom Kippur avodah between piyutim
This article (Hebrew) discusses what seems to be a difference of opinion between the various piyyutim, namely whether the various lotteries discussed in Yoma Chapter 2 in fact took place on Yom Kippur,...
- 41.7k
2
votes
why are bad thoughts worse than actual sin?
R. Yeshaya di Trani explains in Tosafot Rid (there) that קשו doesn't mean worse. Rather it means that thinking about sin causes more lust for the sin than committing the sin itself. As noted by R. ...
- 35.4k
2
votes
Did the Avos light the menorah?
The Talmud in Avoda Zara 8a tells this interesting story
ת"ר: לפי שראה אדם הראשון יום שמתמעט והולך, אמר: אוי לי, שמא בשביל שסרחתי עולם חשוך בעדי וחוזר לתוהו ובוהו, וזו היא מיתה שנקנסה עלי מן ...
- 2,104
2
votes
Accepted
Why does it matter if the Kohen Gadol has never read the order of Yom Kippur himself before? (Yoma 1:3)
Since he has to read it on Yom Kippur, he must learn it in order to say it properly. Thus, he must practice to insure that he does not make mistakes and not be yotzei the the avodah.
- 42.9k
1
vote
Did the Avos light the menorah?
The Maharal MiPrague (Netzach Yisrael 46) understands the text allegorically (as is generally the case with medrash). The Maharal explains that the rabbinic commandment of eruv tavshilin represents ...
- 17.7k
1
vote
Did the Avos light the menorah?
It would seem from the Chidushei Agadata of the Maharsha on this section that Avraham Avinu only kept those Rabbinical Mitzvot that have some Asmachta - some hint or basis - in the Torah.
Since ...
- 42.8k
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