Riddles of the Week

Riddles of the Week (For answers, see below)

1. In this week’s parsha we have the mitzvah of kisuy hadam [covering the blood of a slaughtered animal]. The halachah is (Yoreh Deah 28:21) that if one doesn’t have any earth to cover over the blood (i.e. it is Yom Tov and he didn’t dig up any beforehand or he is in a place where there is no earth), he shouldn’t shect, as he won’t be able to perform the mitzvah of kisuy hadam.
   
   The question is, the Mordechai (Halachos Ketanos, Hilchos Tzitziz 944, cited in Beis Yosef, Orach Chaim 13) rules, that if one of the strings on one’s tzitzis snap on Shabbos, the garment can still be worn. The Mordechai explains, that the Torah never forbade wearing a four cornered garment, rather, when wearing a four cornered garment there is a mitzvah to attach tzitzis. On Shabbos it is not possible to do so, and one is onus [in a circumstance beyond his control], therefore, the garment may be worn without tzitzis. The question is, why don’t we say the same thing by kisuy hadam, if one has no earth, he should shect, and if there is no earth he is onus?
2. How is it possible that a person becomes tomei [impure] and is able to become tahor [pure] without having to wait for sunset?
3. In this week’s parsha we learn about the avodah of Yom Kippur, and we learn about the shnei seirim, two goats. The seir la’Hashem was shechted and offered up as a korbon to Hashem and the seir le’Azazel was sent to Azazel. The pasuk says: ונשא השעיר עליו את כל עונתם אל ארץ גזרה ושלח את העיר במדבר – “The he-goat shall bear upon itself all their iniquities, away to a precipitous ground that is cut off, and from there he shall send the he-goat down into the wilderness” (16:22).
   
   The Targum Yonasan (translated into Lashon HaKodesh) writes on this pasuk: ויעלה השעיר על הרי בית הדורי וידחפנו רוח סופה מלפני ה' וימות – “The goat was taken up to the mountain of Beis HaDuri, and a special wind came from in front of Hashem and blew it and it died”.
   
   From the Targum Yonasan we see that the goat was blown off the mountain with a special wind. The Medrash Pitron Torah (cited in Toras Shlomah) also writes:ומשלוח אותו המדברה והיתה רוח תקח אותו אל ארץ גזרה – “He sent it towards the wilderness, and the wind took it to a precipitous ground”.
   
   The question is, it says in Yoma (67a): ודחפו לאחריו והוא מתגלגל ויורד – “The chosen person pushed it backwards and it rolled and went down”. We see that it was pushed off the mountain, if so, what was the need for a special wind?
4. In this week’s parsha we learn, that after the Kohen did the avodah:ופשט את בגדי הבד אשר לבש בבאו אל הקדש והניחם שם - “He shall take off the linen garments which he has put on again when he went in the Sanctuary, and he shall leave them there” (16:23). Rashi comments: From the words “he shall leave them there”, we see that the garments should be buried, and they shouldn’t be used ever again for the Yom Kippur avodah. The big question is, why not? Why shouldn’t the Kohen Gadol’s garments be used again next year?