Yoma 31 - The golden vestments

When the High Priest is doing a service specific to Yom Kippur, he wears pure white vestments with no distinctions of the High Priest. But when he is doing a service that is the same as through all year, he must wear the eight special garments.

Now, in the order of Yom Kippur service, he will be making the daily sacrifice and other services that are the same as throughout the other days of the year, so he dons the "golden vestments" of the High Priest.

He undresses, goes into the mikveh, gets out, and dries himself up, to remove any water and dirt. They bring his golden vestments, and he dons them. Then he sanctifies his hands and feet by washing them from the washbasin. They bring him the daily offering. He makes a cut big enough to validate ritual slaughter but then lets another priest complete the slaughter and receives the blood - because all the services of the day should be done by him. He then throws its blood on the Alter and performs the other morning services such as meal-offering and the burning of the sacrifice's limbs.

If he was old or delicate, they warm up the mikveh for him, on the eve of Yom Kippur, enough to take away the chill.

Art: Abraham and Melchizedek by Juan Antonio de Frías y Escalante (1633-1670)