Yoma 88 a, b

We are not allowed to bathe on Yom Kippur.  However, we are allowed to immerse in a regular fashion if that is required in order to pray: in the times of the Talmud, that included women who were menstruating, new mothers, zavim/zavot and men who had seminal emissions, among others. Much of this immersion was done in the evening, and so the immersions on Yom Kippur would wait until after ne'ila and the evening service.  In the modern Jewish world there is no set time for immersion.  However, we are told that the rabbis searched for the proper time for required immersions on Shabbat.

An interesting thought about immersion: we learn that those who had the name of G-d written on their skin were obliged to take extra effort to cover that writing so that it did not smear or smudge. Why were people writing G-d's name on their skin?  We know that tattoos of G-d's name are not permitted (Mishna Makkot Perek III Ch.6) as they were permanent.  But writing G-d's name on one's body - in what context might this have occurred?  

The current halacha regarding a seminal emission on Yom Kippur is shared in Steinsaltz's notes: if the emission is wet, it is to be wiped off.  If it is dry or dirty, only that part of the body should be washed. Even if his usual custom is to immerse after an emission and before prayer, he is not to immerse on Yom Kippur.

Boy, do these rabbis ever enjoy talking about semen.  They end Masechet Yoma with a number of different personalities chiming in about what it means when one witnesses a seminal emission just before Yom Kippur.  It is a sign of good things to come?  Of a bad year?  Is it foretelling a lack of lust or 'hunger' on Yom Kippur and thus an easier fast and a better judgement?  If he dies over the year, perhaps G-d offered him the seminal emission to ease his fast on this, his final year.  

I also wonder about the decreasing importance of male ritual impurity over the generations.  Certainly males continue to have seminal emissions, both voluntary and involuntary.  Why would the requirement for immersion not apply to them?  Women continue to immerse following our monthly ritual impurity.

The very end of our masechet is an interpretation of Isaiah 53:10 as said by Rav Dimi: "Seeing semen on Yom Kippur is a sign that one will live a long life, grow, and raise others."  By rights, seeing menstrual blood should offer women the same promise.  Both involve witnessing evidence of the stuff of potential life.  Why must women's ritual impurity continue to carry the burden of 'dirtiness' when men can 'wipe it off' and move on?  

Yoma has offered us much to think about regarding Yom Kippur, from the antiquated and the mundane to the ephemeral.  A beautiful and illuminating text to learn.