Sunday 10 December 2017

Shevuot 12: Sacrificial Leftovers, Inner/Outer Goats, Tshuva

The rabbis discuss whether or not the leftovers from daily communal offerings can be used as offerings for surplus communal offerings.  Some rabbis wonder about specifics - can birds be used as surplus communal offerings?  

The Gemara makes note of the inner and outer goats. The inner goat is believed to atone fro a person who purposefully enters the Temple in a state of ritual impurity.  The outer goat's sacrifice atones for transgressions of positive mitzvot.

It should be remembered that we are discussing ancient forms of tshuva, repentance.  How do we truly atone for our errors, whether those are purposeful or unintentional; communal or private?  The details are important when it comes to tshuva, for we must know specifically how we can right our wrongs.  However, the details of sacrifice seem so very far from modern atonement that it is difficult to follow and grab on to those details.  

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