Study Yoma folio 40B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
״יעמד חי לפני ה׳ לכפר עליו״, עד מתי יהיה זקוק לעמוד חי? עד שעת מתן דמו של חבירו — דברי רבי יהודה. רבי שמעון אומר: עד שעת וידוי דברים.
The verse states: “But the goat on which the lot came up for Azazel should be stood alive before YHWH, to make atonement over him, to send him away for Azazel into the wilderness” (Leviticus 16:10). The verse indicates that the goat must remain alive until a certain time. Were it to die beforehand, it would have to be replaced. Until when is the goat for Azazel required to stand alive? Until the time of the application of the blood of its counterpart, i.e., the goat for God; this is the statement of R' Yehuda. R' Shimon says: It must remain alive until the time of the verbal confession over it.
במאי קא מיפלגי? כדתניא: ״לכפר״ — בכפרת דמים הכתוב מדבר, וכן הוא אומר: ״וכלה מכפר את הקדש״. מה להלן — בכפרת דמים, אף כאן — בכפרת דמים, דברי רבי יהודה.
With regard to what do they disagree? As it was taught in a baraita: The verse states that the goat should remain alive “to make atonement” (Leviticus 16:10). This indicates that it must remain alive until it effects atonement. R' Yehuda and R' Shimon dispute which atonement the verse is referring to. The verse speaks of atonement through the application of the blood of the sin-offering goat. And similarly it states: “When he has made an end of atoning for the Sanctuary, and the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he should present the live goat” (Leviticus 16:20). Just as there the reference is to atonement through blood, so too here the verse is referring to atonement through blood. This is the statement of R' Yehuda.
רבי שמעון אומר: ״לכפר עליו״, בכפרת דברים הכתוב מדבר.
R' Shimon says: “To make atonement over it”; the verse speaks of atonement through speech, i.e., the verbal confession that is recited over it.