Yoma 70 a, b

Today's daf covers the Gemara on two issues opened in our last Mishna.  These are about Torah scrolls and about the eight blessings.  It moves on to a new Mishna and Gemara regarding the order of the Yom Kippur rituals.  Overall a long and interesting daf.

We learn that the High Priest memorizes the Torah portion that he recites.  We also learn that the scroll is not to be furled in front of a congregation.  Why not?  Out of respect for the congregants who are waiting to hear the Torah read.  This is where we learn that a different Torah is used whenever there are two Torah portions to read that are far from each other.  A second scroll must be already furled to the proper spot.  And when Shabbat coincides with both Chanukah and Rosh Chodesh, we will need to use three Torah scrolls.   Finally, we know that the scroll must be put aside if an error is found.  When we use more than one scroll, we want to ensure that the community does not believe that there is an error in the first scroll.  Thus one person cannot read from two scrolls - we need a second person in these circumstances.

We are told that there are eight blessings, but a simple count suggests that there could be nine or ten or seven blessings depending on whether we believe that the blessings are combined, or not counted, etc.  The rabbis argue over which prayers are connected with each other and which prayers are redundant or not special for Yom Kippur and thus they do not count.  The rabbis use proof texts to demonstrate the indisputable truth of their opinions. 

A new Mishnah specifically lays out the order of the service.  According to this Mishna, Yom Kippur seems like one long day of disrobing, immersing, drying, dressing in gold or linen robes, doing a ritual, and then repeating the process.   At the end of this incredibly long day, this Mishna tells us that he is surrounded by people as he walks home.  At home, the High Priest prepares a feast.   It is tough to imagine the High Priest preparing a feast at that point.  Others must have been home preparing while he was leading prayers.  But the Talmud tells us that he was the one who makes the feast - an interesting description.

How much of what we are reading is a set of assumptions?  Like that assumption that we just read: everyone must know that "he makes a feast" refers to all that is "his" - his wife, mother, etc. Tomorrow's daf should tell us whether or not the rabbis pick up on this particular question.  In other circumstances, the rabbis try to point out those assumptions.  We'll soon find out...

Based on today's daf, it seems clear that the Jewish people are given a number of contradictory instructions about how to perform the rituals specific to Yom Kippur.  It is interesting to watch the rabbis attempt to figure this out.  In the end, they were figuring out a theoretical practice, as the Temple was already destroyed and thus these rituals involving offerings were simply imaginings based on found texts.