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Shevuos 1:6-7

Shevuos 1:6

The inside goat of Yom Kippur and Yom Kippur itself atone for willful violation of the laws of ritual impurity vis-à-vis the Temple and its sacrifices. For violating other laws of the Torah – major or minor, willful or unintentional, known or unknown, obligations or prohibitions, those for which one incurs kareis (spiritual excision) and those for which one incurs capital punishment – the scapegoat atones for all of these.

Shevuos 1:7

The scapegoat atones for Yisroelim (Israelites), kohanim, and for the anointed Kohein Gadol (High Priest). The difference among these is that only the blood of the bull atones for the kohanim for ritual impurity regarding the Temple and its sacrifices. Rabbi Shimon says that just like the blood of the goat that is sprinkled inside atones for Yisroelim, the blood of the bull atones for kohanim, and just as the confession recited over the scapegoat atones for Yisroelim, the confession recited over the bull atones for kohanim.

Author: Rabbi Jack Abramowitz