Yoma 32 a, b

The rabbis want to understand exactly when the High Priest immerses, sanctifies his hands and feet, and changes his clothing, which might be golden or linen garb.  In order to do this, they have to know which services are performed on Yom Kippur and when in the day those services happen.  They must determine whether sanctification is linked to immersion, whether they occur independently, or whether they are only sometimes connected.  The rabbis wonder whether immersion is always required when moving from a inner service (in the Holy of Holies) to an outer service.  They look to the biblical directions given to Aaron as guidance.  I can follow their questions and their considerations, but I cannot repeat them back without a visual aid.  To have a maps of the Temple where I could diagram the actions of the High Priest would be incredibly helpful at this point.

The rabbis question the nature of atonement.  Perhaps the linen garb is most appropriate at services when the High Priest is attempting to maximize his humility.  Of note is the sacred quality attached to both garments, the golden and the linen.

At the end of amud (b), Rabbi Yochanan, Reish Lakish and other rabbis discuss another word in the past Mishnah, "keretz".  They decide that this word means "killing" in reference to the sheep brought to the High Priest for slaughter on Yom Kippur morning.  As we have learned, the High Priest kills the sheep by cutting the majority of the windpipe and the gullet.  Another priest completes the slaughter so that the High Priest can collect and then sprinkle the sheep's blood on the walls.

But doesn't the High Priest have to do every service on Yom Kippur?  Is it necessary for another priest to complete the slaughter, or has the High Priest done his job once the majority of the windpipe and gullet have been cut?  Reish Lakish points out that Torah law says nothing that requires another priest to complete the slaughter.  And thus we know that an animal can be slaughtered with only a hairbreadth's cut beyond half of it's windpipe and gullet.  In the case of a bird, only one of those two organs must be severed at all.

If the windpipe is only half-severed, I would imagine that an animal could continue to breathe.  So an animal could be alive as its blood is drained...?  How barbaric.  This is not the Judaism that I have learned; the Judaism that teaches that animals are slaughtered quickly and with as little pain as possible.

Now, to be honest, I have known that there are problems with my naive understanding of shechita.  And today's daf does not describe slaughter for food, but specifically slaughter for offering on Yom Kippur in the Temple.  Regardless, this disregard and disrespect for animals, who were created by G-d (according to traditional thought), is repulsive to me. I simply cannot accept that we are meant to behave with such cruelty.

Which brings me to another question: the rebuilding of the Temple.  The more I learn, the more I hope that the Temple is not rebuilt any time soon.  Fundamentalist Jews might use the rebuilding of the Temple to reopen sacrificial services.  In my opinion, even the coming of Moshiach is not worth the revival of these repugnant practices.  Anyhow, wouldn't the coming of Moshiach signify the elimination of such brutality?