Yoma 30 - May 11, 29 Iyar

Study Guide Yoma 30

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In the Temple, one who urinates, needs to wash his hands and feet. Why? One cannot read Shema if one has excrement on one’s body in its place. The gemara tries to understand this halakha as the Torah was not given to the angels! If one leaves a meal to go to the bathroom or to talk to a friend outside for a long period of time, does one need to wash again upon returning to the meal? If so, does one need to do it in front of everyone so that they don’t suspect him of not washing? On what does this depend? One needs to go to the mikveh before entering the azara of the Temple. On Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol would dip in the mikveh five times and would wash his hands and feet ten times. Four of the five dippings were done in the azara in the Beit HaParva, but the first was done outside, above the water gate. Why does one need to go to the mikveh before going into the azara? Ben Zoma and Rabbi Yehuda debate this issue and whether it is by Torah law or rabbinic. What is the practical difference between their opinions? Rabbi Yehuda says in another braita that the leper doesn’t need to go to the mikveh on the 8th day of his purification process as he has gone the evening before. How does his opinion here fit with his opinion in his debate with Ben Zoma? From those who disagree with Rabbi Yehuda in the latter braita, it becomes clear that there is a third approach that only a leper needs to go to the mikveh before entering the azara. Why?