During the Yom Kippur service, the High Priest pronounced the Name of God ten times, and, as one of the miracles, his voice was heard far away from Jerusalem – up until Jericho, which is ten “parsah,” or over twenty miles away. He pronounces the name three times in the first confession, three times in the second, another three – during the confession while sending a goat to Azazel, and once – during the lottery. Similarly, the goats in Jericho sneezed from the smell of the incense in Jerusalem, and women in Jericho did not have to perfume themselves because of this fragrance.
Earlier, we described how the High Priest would snatch the lot from the lottery box and place each lot on the designated goat. If he omitted the procedure, the service would become invalid. Since the Torah said, “And Aharon will place the lots,” the absence of this would become a show-stopper – these are the words of Rabbi Yannai. However, Rabbi Yochanan disagrees: in his opinion, the High Priest designates the goat on which the lot falls, and his words alone are sufficient. Thus, even if they omitted the lots altogether, the service would still be valid. All would agree that the lot's actual placement on the goats is not essential and could be skipped – although it is a mitzvah to do it.
Art: The road to Jericho by George Lambert
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