You can’t have one without the other TB Yoma 32

Yom Kippur service is described in parashat Akhrei Mot, Leviticus 16:1-32. In between each avodah the High Priest changes his clothes, immerses into the mikvah and, and sanctify his hands and feet by washing them. If you just read the Torah, we would come to the conclusion that the High Priest changes his clothing three times. He would start out with his golden clothing containing eight different pieces of clothing some of them containing gold like the head plate, the tzitz-ציץ which was solid gold. He would remove the golden clothing and put on the linen clothing. After removing the linen clothing, would finish off the day in his golden. This means he would immerse a total of three times into the mikvah and sanctify his hands and feet by washing them a total of six times, one washing each time he takes off the clothing and each time putting them on.

The Mishnah on daf TB Yoma 30a adds two more immersions and for more washings to the total. “Five immersions and ten sanctifications the High Priest immerses and sanctifies his hands and feet, respectively, on the day of Yom Kippur.” (Sefaria.org translation) today’s daf TB Yoma 32 explains how the rabbis knew that there were five immersions and 10 sanctifications.

“Rav Ḥisda said: We learned as a tradition that five immersions and ten sanctifications the High Priest immerses and sanctifies his hands and feet, respectively, on the day of Yom Kippur; and if the service is performed in the order that appears in the Torah, you find only three immersions and six sanctifications. The first immersion is before sacrifice of the daily morning offering; the second is between the daily offering and the rest of the service of the day, including the removal of the spoon and the coal pan from the Holy of Holies. The High Priest immerses a third time between removal of the ladle and the coal pan from the Holy of Holies and the sacrifice of his ram and the people’s ram, which were part of the additional offering and the daily afternoon offering that follow. According to the revised sequence, the High Priest performs a service outside the Sanctuary after placing the spoon and the coal pan in the Holy of Holies, and then he reenters the Holy of Holies to remove those vessels. The High Priest immersed and changed his garments both before entering and after exiting the Holy of Holies, for a total of five immersions.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Rav Ḥisda teaches us that five immersions and ten sanctifications is a tradition that goes all the way back to Moses from Mount Sinai. The order of the changes are from the golden clothing to the linen clothing, back to the golden clothing, back to the linen clothing, and finally back to the golden clothing. This would give us five immersions and 10 sanctifications.

Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi provide scriptural basis to support the numbers five and 10.

“It was taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yehuda said: From where are derived the five immersions and ten sanctifications that the High Priest immerses and sanctifies his hands and feet, respectively, on the day of Yom Kippur? They are derived from the verse that states: “And Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting and he shall remove the linen garments that he put on when he entered the Sanctuary and leave them there. And he shall wash his flesh in water in a sacred place and put on his garments, and he shall go out and perform his own burnt-offering and the burnt-offering of the people” (Leviticus 16:23–24). From this you learned: Anyone who moves from an inner service, in the Holy of Holies, to an outer service, and vice versa, requires immersion. According to the order of the services there are a total of five immersions.

“Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said: From where are derived the five immersions and ten sanctifications that the High Priest immerses and sanctifies his hands and feet, respectively, on the day of Yom Kippur? They are derived from that which is stated: “He shall be dressed in a sacred linen tunic, and with linen trousers next to his flesh, and he shall be girded with a linen belt, and he shall wear a linen mitre; they are sacred garments, and he shall wash his flesh in water and then put them on” (Leviticus 16:4). From this you learned: Anyone who moves from an inner service, in the Holy of Holies, to an outer service requires immersion. And the verse says: “They are sacred garments”; all of the garments are equated to one another. Just as the High Priest immerses when donning the linen garments, so he immerses when donning the golden garments.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Tosefot ד"ה גמירי חמש טבילות asks if the numbers five and 10 go all the way back to Moses as a tradition why do we need verses? If we have verses to support these numbers, why describe it as a tradition stretching all the way back to Moses upon Mount Sinai? Their answer is that we need both. If we only had the verses, we might think that the High Priest could immerse five times in a row and not before each avodah.  If we only had the tradition that stretches back to Moses upon Mount Sinai, we might think that only three immersions were necessary.

The goal simple meaning of the Torah, the p’shat, is to understand the text as it “was once understood by Israelites-before the rabbis of the Talmud began to use the text for fashioning of the great civilization known as Rabbinic Judaism.” (Introduction to Etz Hayim Humash, page xx) But if you want to understand the Torah through Jewish lenses, you need to study the oral Torah as well as the written Torah. You can have one without the other.

Today’s daf also provides us with the five different avodot which will be discussed in much greater detail. Here they are: “And they are five services: The sacrifice of the daily morning offering, performed in golden garments; the service of the day, the sacrifice of the bull and the goat, which is performed in white garments; the sacrifice of his ram guilt-offering and the ram of the people in golden garments. After that he removes the spoon and the coal pan from the Holy of Holies in white garments.He emerges from the Holy of Holies and sacrifices the daily afternoon offering in golden garments.” (Sefaria.org translation)