Yoma 6:1 - 6:2

שני שעירי. במראה – both of them are white or both of them are black.

ובקומה ובדמים – Three verses are written (Leviticus 16:5,7,8): “And from the Israelite community he shall take two he-goats…,” “Aaron shall take the two he-goats…,” “And he shall place lots upon the two goats…” And since [the word] “he-goats” implies two, what does the thrice-time repetition of “two” come to teach us? But that they should be equivalent in appearance and in height and in worth/value.

ויאמר אם של שם מת – this is how it should be explained: If the [goat designated] for “the LORD” died, this one, upon which the lot “for the LORD” has come will stand in its place. ואם של עזאזל מת – he should say, this one [upon which the lot “for Azazel” has come will stand in its place] etc.

והשני – if [the goat] “for Azazel” died and now there are two goats “for the LORD,” one that remains from the first pair and one from the second pair, and with one of them, they have been atoned, the second should be put out to pasture. And similarly, if [the goat] “for the LORD” had died, and behold, there are two [goats] “for Azazel,” the one should be sent away into the wilderness and the second one should be sent out to pasture. And it is the second one of the second pair that should be sent out to pasture until a defect occurs to, but the second [goat] of the first pair is what should be offered, if it is “to the LORD, ” or it should sent to the wilderness if it is “for Azazel,” for animals (dedicated for sacrifices) cannot be removed forever from sacred use (as long as the obstacle lies not in their physical unfitness – See Talmud Yoma 64a), and if they reach a point of time of being ritually unfit, one can repair it when you pair it with another animal.

שאין חטאת צבור מתה – for when they derive that sin-offerings die, it is regarding an individual that they derive it. And the goats of Yom Kippur are community sin-offerings, as it is written (Leviticus 16:5): “And from the Israelite community he shall take [two he-goats for a purification offering and a ram for a burnt offering].” But sin-offerings that die, he should bring it into one house and leave it there until it should die.

ועוד אמר ר"י נשפך הדם – of the he-goat “for the LORD”, let the one to be sent to the wilderness die, for it does not become a marked-off place of blood and in all of the Divine Services that are performed in white clothing, whether inside or outside, [the word] “statute” is written regarding them to invalidate an act by an omission, and one must bring other blood and it is impossible other than through a lottery, and since he holds that animals [dedicated for sacrifice] can be removed forever from sacred use, the first he-goat that was to be sent away to the wilderness should die.

מת המשתלח – even though the sending out is not indispensable (i.e., to invalidate an act by an omission), according to everyone, when it is written, “statute” to be indispensable for the things that the Kohen does in white clothing, or on things that are done “through a designated man”(Leviticus 16:21), nevertheless, we derive from the Biblical verse, as it is written (Leviticus 16:10): “[while the goat designated by lot for Azazel] shall be left standing alive before the LORD to make expiation with it [and to send it off to the wilderness for Azazel],” until when is it necessary for the goat to be sent to the wilderness to be left standing alive? Until the time when the blood of its fellow [goat] is sprinkled; but if it dies prior to that, the atonement of the blood is worthless, and therefore requires compensation. But without a lottery, it is impossible and it needs two – the first is superseded, and everyone admits that with slaughtered animals that are superseded.

בא לו אצל שעיר – after he completed the sprinkling of the blood of the bull and the goat, the Kohen comes near the he-goat that is to be sent off into the wilderness in the place where he placed it, corresponding to the place where it is to be sent off (i.e., the Eastern Gate; see Mishnah Yoma, Chapter 4, Mishnah 2).