על מועדי הכפרה במגילת המקדש

This paper examines three units from the Temple Scroll in which appointed times of atonement are specified: the anointment of the high priest, the Day of Atonement, and the Festival of Wood. Because of the many lacunae in these three units, the discussion focuses on restoration of the missing lines and words, grounded in a deep analysis of the biblical background. Accordingly, this article includes detailed consideration of both the biblical and the sectarian rulings relating to these three appointed times (מועדים). The first two of these "appointed times" are based on, but also depart from, the biblical model. By adding another guilt-offering (חטאת) bull brought by the people to the one that should be brought by the priest according to Exodus 29, the Temple Scroll's author creates a correspondence between the anointment of the high priest and the Day of Atonement. As opposed to the biblical guilt-offering, for the Temple Scroll the guilt-offerings serve not as a source of blood but rather as a sign of shame and repentance. Moreover, in the Temple Scroll atonement is achieved not through the death of a high priest, as in the Bible, but by the two sacrifices that the priests and the people bring upon the anointment of the new high priest. Comparison of the Day of Atonement in the Pentateuch and in the Temple Scroll reveals a comparable shift in the role assigned to the חטאת sacrifices. There is also an alteration in the role of the two burnt-offering rams brought by the priests and the people. Whereas the biblical rams are part of a process of purgation, in the Temple Scroll they are a tool for sanctifying the outer altar. Unlike the two previous appointed times of atonement, the six-day Festival of Wood – during which two tribes bring six burnt-offerings on each day – has no biblical background. The Temple Scroll instead reworked the Aramaic Levi Document, adapting its detailed instructions regarding sacrifices, while commanding the burning of the burnt-offerings brought by the tribes. Levi (representing the priests) and Judah (representing the people), the two tribes of the first day, are ordered to bring, in addition, two guilt-offerings, as on the Day of Atonement. According to the Temple Scroll, both days share the requirement to bring two guilt-offerings, whereas according to Rabban Simeon Ben-Gamliel, in reality, the common ground shared by the two days was the public expression of joy in the Temple court.