When the Yom Kippur service may continue with the reading of the Torah TB Yoma 68

Today we finish the sixth chapter of our massekhet and begin the seventh chapter with daf TB Yoma 68. According to the Mishna when the scapegoat reached the beginning of the wilderness, the High Priest could continue with the Yom Kippur service. But how would the High Priest know when the scapegoat reached the beginning of the wilderness?! The scapegoat was 3 miles outside of Jerusalem and the High Priest was in the temples courtyard. Even if modern technology existed like cell phones back then, I doubt very much whether the rabbis would permit their use to inform the High Priest he may continue. The Mishna on daf TB Yoma 68b suggests three different solutions how the people who were escorting the scapegoat would let the High Priest know he may continue with the Yom Kippur service.

“They said to the High Priest: The goat has reached the wilderness. And how did they know in the Temple that the goat reached the wilderness? They would build platforms [dirkaot] all along the way and people would stand on them and wave scarves [sudarin] to signal when the goat arrived. And therefore they knew that the goat reached the wilderness.

"Rabbi Yehuda said: Why did they need these platforms? Didn’t they already have a reliable indicator? From Jerusalem to Beit Ḥiddudo, the edge of the wilderness, where the mitzva of dispatching the goat was performed, was a distance of three mil. Since the nobles of Jerusalem walked a mil to escort the dispatcher and returned a mil, and waited the time equivalent to the time it takes to walk a mil, they knew that the goat reached the wilderness. There was no need for the platforms.

"Rabbi Yishmael says: Didn’t they have a different indicator? There was a strip of crimson tied to the entrance to the Sanctuary, and when the goat reached the wilderness and the mitzva was fulfilled the strip would turn white, as it is stated: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they will become white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).” (Sefaria.org translation)

Rabbi Yishmael’s explanation must have been said before what we learned on TB Yoma 67a “The Sages taught: At first they would tie this strip of crimson to the opening of the Entrance Hall of the Temple on the outside. If the strip turned white they would rejoice, as this indicated that their sins had been atoned for. If it did not turn white they would be sad and ashamed. When the Sages saw that people were overly distressed on Yom Kippur, they established that they should tie the strip of crimson to the opening of the Entrance Hall on the inside, since only a few could actually go in to see it. And they would still peek and see: If it turned white, they would rejoice, and if it did not turn white they would be sad. Therefore, the Sages established that they should tie half of the strip to the rock and half of it between the goat’s horns, so that the people would not know what happened to the strip until after the conclusion of Yom Kippur.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Once the High Priest learned that he could continue with the Yom Kippur service the first Mishna of the seventh chapter teaches that he read from the Torah those portions relating to the Yom Kippur service.

“The synagogue attendant (חַזַּן הַכְּנֶסֶת-who we would call him/her the shamash or sexton today) takes a Torah scroll and gives it to the head of the synagogue (רֹאשׁ הַכְּנֶסֶת-who we would call the president of the synagogue today) that stood on the Temple Mount; and the head of the synagogue gives it to the deputy High Priest, and the Deputy gives it to the High Priest, and the High Priest stands and receives the scroll from his hands. And he reads from the scroll the Torah portion beginning with the verse: “After the death” (Leviticus 16:1-parashat Akhrei Mot) and the portion beginning with the verse: “But on the tenth” (Leviticus 23:26-parashat Emor), and furls the Torah scroll and places it on his bosom and says: More than what I have read before you is written here. The Torah portion beginning with the verse: “And on the tenth,” from the book of Numbers (29:7-parashat Pinkhas), he then reads by heart.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The Jerusalem Talmud learns of the mitzvah to read the Torah from the verse “And Moses did as the LORD had commanded him.” (Leviticus 16:34) in order to fulfill both the actual Yom Kippur service and reading the command to do so.