Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Daf Yomi - Yoma 71 - Out of Order

The Gemora states that all the pesukim which are written in the Torah regarding the avodah on Yom Kippur are written in their precise order and must be adhered to except for the possuk which refers to the removal of the ladle and pan from the Kodesh Kodoshim. This is written together with the other avodos that were done with the bigdei lovon, while in truth, the kohen gadol would first change to the golden clothes and later don a new set of bigdei lovon to enter the Kodesh Kodoshim and remove these two utensils.

Rav Chisda explains the reasoning for this. There is a halacha l'Moshe misinai dictating that the kohen gadol must immerse himself in the mikvah five times on Yom Kippur. He did that every time he changed clothing. If there wasn't this additional changing, he would be immersing only three times.

The Chachmas Adam brings from the Vilna Gaon that it would seem odd that the Torah wrote it in this manner and not according to the correct sequence. The Gaon states that it is correct. It is written in Midrash that Aharon was able to enter the Kodesh Kodoshim whenever he wanted (even not on Yom Kippur), providing that he would enter in the same fashion and bring the exact korbonos as Yom Kippur. The Gaon proposes that during the rest of the year, he would do the avodos according to the precise order of the pesukim for there is no halacha l'Moshe misinai that five immersions are required on those days.

There is a question in the mefarshim if other kohanim gedolim (besides Aharon) were permitted to enter in this manner, as well.

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