Study Yoma folio 19B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מי איכא מידי דאנן לא מצינן למעבד, ושלוחי דידן מצו עבדי? הכי קאמרי ליה: משביעין אנו עליך על דעתינו ועל דעת בית דין.
is there any matter that we are unable to perform and our agents are able to perform? The role of the agent is to perform a task on behalf of the one who commissioned him. The agent cannot perform a task that the one who commissioned him is unable to perform. Since it is prohibited for Israelites to enter the priests’ courtyard and to perform the sacrificial rites, clearly the priests are not agents representing the Israelites. The language of the Mishnah in which the court Elders address the High Priest as their agent apparently contradicts that understanding. The Talmud answers: This is what they say to him: We administer an oath to you according to our understanding and the understanding of the court, cautioning him that he cannot rationalize violating the oath by claiming that he took the oath based on his own interpretation. He is bound by the understanding of the court. The Mishnah does not address the nature of the High Priest’s agency.
הוא פורש ובוכה והן פורשין ובוכין וכו׳. הוא פורש ובוכה — שחשדוהו צדוקי, והם פורשין ובוכין — דאמר רבי יהושע בן לוי: כל החושד בכשרים לוקה בגופו.
§ The Mishnah continues: After this oath, he would leave them and cry and they would leave him and cry. The Talmud explains: He turned aside and cried due to the indignity that they suspected him of being a Sadducee; and they turned aside and cried, as R' Yehoshua ben Levi said: One who suspects the innocent of indiscretion is afflicted in his body. The High Priest might in fact be beyond reproach and they may have suspected him falsely.
וכל כך למה? שלא יתקן מבחוץ ויכניס, כדרך שהצדוקין עושין.
The Talmud asks: And why were the Elders so insistent that the High Priest take an oath? The Talmud explains: So that he would not prepare the incense and light it outside in the Sanctuary, before entering the Holy of Holies, and bring the coal pan with the incense already burning on it into the Holy of Holies in the manner that the Sadducees did. Since the High Priest is alone inside the Sanctuary and there is no way to ascertain whether he is in fact performing the service in the proper manner, the Elders insisted that he take an oath to perform it according to their instructions.