The SQA Daf – Shavuos 9 

by Rabbi Yair Hoffman
What Happens When Someone Becomes Impure?
1. [Q] According to Rabbi Yishmael, if someone didn’t know they were impure at first but later found out they ate holy food while impure, they need to bring a special sacrifice. But then what’s the purpose of the goat sacrifice that’s offered outside on Yom Kippur?
2. [A] That goat sacrifice is for cases where the person never knew they were impure – not before or after.
3. [Q] But wait – aren’t the goat sacrifices on Festivals and Rosh Chodesh (New Month) already covering that situation?
4. [A] Rabbi Yishmael follows Rabbi Meir’s view that all these goat sacrifices (Yom Kippur, Festivals, and Rosh Chodesh) provide the same kind of forgiveness for Temple impurity.
5. [Q] So what’s the point of comparing the outer goat to the inner goat of Yom Kippur?
6. [A] To teach us this: Just like the inner goat only forgives Temple impurity (not other sins), the outer goat also only forgives Temple impurity (not other sins).
7. [S] The Mishnah stated: For someone who never knew they were impure (either before or after), the goats offered on Festivals and Rosh Chodesh provide forgiveness. This is Rabbi Yehudah’s opinion.
8. [S] Rav Yehudah explained in the name of Shmuel: Rabbi Yehudah bases this on the verse: “And one goat for a sin offering to God.” This means the goat forgives a sin that only God knows about.
9. [Q] But don’t we already use this verse for something else? Rish Lakish taught that the phrase “to God” for the Rosh Chodesh goat means it provides forgiveness for God making the moon smaller!
10. [A] If that was the only meaning, the verse could have just said “for God” instead of “to God.” The wording suggests it’s teaching both ideas.
11. [Q] But maybe it’s only teaching about the moon?
12. [A] If so, it could have said “sin offering of God.” Since it says “to God,” it must be teaching both things.
13. [Q] Could the Rosh Chodesh goats forgive other sins too?
14. [A] Rabbi Yishmael’s school taught that since both the Yom Kippur outer goat and the Rosh Chodesh goat happen at fixed times, they work the same way: just as the Yom Kippur goat only forgives Temple impurity, so does the Rosh Chodesh goat.
15. [Q] How do we know this applies to Festival goats too?
16. [S] We can’t simply apply the same logic here. We can’t compare Festival goats to Rosh Chodesh goats because Rosh Chodesh happens more often. And we can’t compare them to Yom Kippur goats because those have greater forgiveness power.
17. [S] You might wonder why we didn’t have this problem when comparing Rosh Chodesh goats to Yom Kippur goats. That’s because the Torah directly mentions forgiveness for Rosh Chodesh goats, and we were just figuring out its limitations. But for Festival goats, we’d be creating a whole new rule without enough support.
18. [A] Instead, Rabbi Chama son of Rabbi Chanina pointed out: The Torah could have just said “a goat” but it says “and a goat.” This extra “and” connects Festival goats to Rosh Chodesh goats. This teaches us that just as Rosh Chodesh goats forgive cases where someone never knew they were impure, Festival goats do the same.
19. [Q] When Rabbi Yehudah said Rosh Chodesh and Festival goats forgive someone who never knew they were impure, does this only apply if the impurity will never be discovered? Or does it also apply if someone might find out later, since right now only God knows about it?
20. [A] An old teaching clarifies: According to Rabbi Yehudah, both Festival and Rosh Chodesh goats forgive cases where there was no awareness at the beginning or end, even if someone might discover the impurity later.
21. [S] The Mishnah continued: Rabbi Shimon says Festival goats provide forgiveness, but not Rosh Chodesh goats. [Rosh Chodesh goats are for a different case – when a pure person accidentally ate impure holy food.]
22. [S] Rabbi Elazar explained Rabbi Shimon’s reasoning: The verse says, “And He gave it to you to bear the sin of the congregation.” This refers to the Rosh Chodesh goat. We connect this to the High Priest’s headplate through the repeated phrase “the sin.” Just as the headplate deals with impure sacrifices, the Rosh Chodesh goat deals with impure food.
23. [Q] But if we’re connecting these two things, shouldn’t we say that just as the headplate only makes impure offerings acceptable, the Rosh Chodesh goat should only do the same (and not forgive any actual sin)?
24. [A] The verse specifically says “the sin of the congregation.” This shows the Rosh Chodesh goat does forgive a sin – and which sin is specified by the connection to the headplate.
25. [Q] Since we connected these two, couldn’t the Rosh Chodesh goat do both jobs – forgive someone who ate impure food AND make impure offerings acceptable (especially when the headplate is broken)?
26. [A] The verse says “the sin” (singular) – it can only handle one sin, not two.
27. [Q] Then let’s flip it – couldn’t the headplate do both its own job AND what the Rosh Chodesh goat does? This would be useful for impurity that happens between one Rosh Chodesh and the next.
28. [A] The verse says “And it shall bear…” meaning only the Rosh Chodesh goat can bear this particular sin, nothing else.
29. [S] Rav Ashi explained it clearly: For Rosh Chodesh, the verse mentions “sin of the congregation” – meaning it deals with people’s sins, not problems with offerings. For the headplate, it mentions “sin of the holy things” – meaning it deals with problems in the offerings, not people’s sins.
30. [Q] How do we know that Festival goats forgive cases where someone never knew they were impure?
31. [A] Rabbi Chama son of Rabbi Chanina pointed out: The Torah could have just said “a goat” but it says “and a goat.” This extra “and” connects Festival goats to Rosh Chodesh goats. This teaches us that just as Rosh Chodesh goats deal with holy things, Festival goats also deal with holy things (specifically cases where someone never knew they were impure).
32. [Q] Why can’t Festival goats do the same job as Rosh Chodesh goats (forgive a pure person who accidentally ate impure holy food)?
33. [A] Again, the verse says “the sin” (singular) – each sacrifice can only handle one type of sin, not multiple types.
34. [Q] Why can’t Festival goats do the same job as the Yom Kippur outer goat?
35. [A] Because the verse says “once a year” – meaning that particular forgiveness can only happen on Yom Kippur, not at other times.
36. [Q] So what exactly do Festival goats forgive? They can’t be for cases where someone knew they were impure both before and after (that requires a personal sacrifice). They can’t be for cases where someone knew at the beginning but not the end (that’s handled by the inner goat of Yom Kippur). They can’t be for cases where someone didn’t know at the beginning but knew at the end (that’s handled by the outer goat of Yom Kippur).
37. [A] The only possibility left is that Festival goats forgive cases where someone never knew they were impure – neither before nor after.