The offerings of Yom Kippur are the focus of a significant portion of Tractate Yoma, which we studied earlier in the Daf Yomi cycle. Of course, sacrifices are the primary topic under discussion in Tractate Zevachim. In some of these discussions, we learn something about the regular sacrifices from those of Yom Kippur. In others, the reverse is true. And in still others, we learn something about the Yom Kippur rituals alone, which is the case for a beraita cited on toady’s daf:
The sages taught: “And when he has finished atoning for the Sanctuary, and the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he shall present the live goat” (Leviticus 16:20). This verse indicates that if he performed the atonement, he has finished the service, but if he did not perform the atonement, he has not finished. This is the statement of Rabbi Akiva.
Rabbi Yehuda said to him: For what reason do we not say: If he finished, he has performed atonement, but if he did not finish, he has not performed atonement? That if one of any of the blood placements is lacking, it is as though he did nothing.
Leviticus chapter 16 describes the rituals that the high priest performs on Yom Kippur, including a series of sacrifices that are completed before sending a live goat off into the wilderness. These sacrifices provide atonement for himself, his household, the people as a whole and the grounds of the Sanctuary. The Hebrew phrase that the verse uses for “when he has finished atoning,” ve’chilah mikaper, is a unique construction and the beraita shares two different ways to read it.
Rabbi Akiva understands it to mean that once the high priest gets to the point where atonement is achieved, the sacrifices are complete. He is then free to move on to sending away the goat. According to Rabbi Yehuda, ve’chilah mikaper means that the high priest must complete the entire ritual before atonement will be complete. Not seeing the difference? You are not alone. The Gemara asks:
What’s the difference between them?
More often than not, when the Gemara asks this question it is seeking a practical difference — that is, a situation in which the variant readings lead to different practices. This is true in this case as well. Identifying the case helps shine a light on how Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yehuda differ.
One possibility is that Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yehuda disagree as to whether or not failure to pour the blood that remains after the required placements of blood on the altar disqualifies the offering or not. Since Rabbi Akiva holds that the high priest is permitted to send away the goat once atonement is granted, he must believe that atonement is granted once the regular placements of blood are complete. In other words, Rabbi Akiva allows the rituals related to the goat to begin whether or not the leftover blood has been placed on the altar. Rabbi Yehuda suggests that the entire sacrificial ritual, including the placement of the leftover blood, must be complete for atonement to be granted. Failure to properly take care of the leftover blood leaves the ritual incomplete.
The Gemara then offers a second possibility:
One says that interpretation of the meaning (of the verse) is between them.
According to this opinion, there is no practical difference between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yehuda. Both believe that failure to complete any of the placements of blood, including that which remains at the end, disqualifies the sacrifice and prevents atonement. Their disagreement is about how best to explain the words of the verse itself. One says that once atonement has been granted, he is finished. The other says he must finish for atonement to be granted. The difference between these two readings is subtle. The first says that atonement yields completion; the other that completion yields atonement. Given that atonement and completion of the ritual are simultaneous, it makes little practical difference as to which causes which, so we’re left with a difference of opinion about how to explain the verse. The challenge of doing so continues until this day, as a quick glance at the many ways it has been rendered by translators into English will attest.
Most of the time, a disagreement about what differentiates two interpretations of a verse will yield two situations in which the difference makes a difference. But on this rare occasion, the debate is about whether it makes a practical difference or not.
Read all of Zevachim 52 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on November 5, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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