Shevuos Daf 9 חג השבועות דַף 9

In the Mishnah, Rebbe Yehudah said that the שעירי רגלים and שעירי ראשי חדשים (brought for the מוסף on these days) atone for טומאת מקדש וקדשיו where he had no awareness, neither before nor after his transgression. Shmuel explains Rebbe Yehudah’s source regarding the שעירי ר"ח: the passuk says "ושעיר עזים אחד לחטאת לה'" – and one goat for a chatas “for Hashem,” implying that this שעיר atones for חטא שאין מכיר בו אלא ה' – a sin that no one but Hashem knows of. The Gemara asks that this expression was already darshened by Reish Lakish, who explained why the Torah says "לה'" specifically for שעירי ר"ח: אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא – Hashem said, שעיר זה יהא כפרה על שמיעטתי את הירח – “This goat shall be an atonement for Me, that I reduced the moon during Creation.” It answers that the Torah could have taught Reish Lakish’s derashah by writing "על ה'" – “for” Hashem. By writing "לה'", which carries the connotation of “to” Hashem, it teaches that it atones for sins known only to Hashem. Still, because the Torah did not simply write "חטאת ה'" – Hashem’s chatas, but "לה'", we can also derive Reish Lakish’s derashah.

The Gemara asks, when Rebbe Yehudah said that the שעירי רגלים and שעירי ר"ח atone for טומאת מקדש וקדשיו where there is no awareness (neither before nor after), הני מילי בחטא שאין סופו ליודע – is this only for a sin which is not destined to become known, אבל חטא שסופו ליודע – but a sin which is destined to become known (e.g., someone saw him becoming tamei and entering the Mikdash, and he will tell him), כמי שיש ידיעה בסוף דמי – is considered like one which has awareness at the end, which is atoned by the שעיר הנעשה בחוץ together with Yom Kippur? Or does Rebbe Yehudah hold, even regarding a sin which is destined to become known, השתא מיהא חטא שאין מכיר בו אלא ה' קרינא ביה – now, at least, it is a sin that no one but Hashem knows of, and is atoned for by the שעירי רגלים and שעירי ר"ח? The Gemara quotes a Baraisa in which Rebbe Yehudah says these שעירים even atone for a חטא שסופו ליודע.

In the Mishnah, Rebbe Shimon said that although he agrees with Rebbe Yehudah regarding what שעירי רגלים atone for, he holds that שעירי ראשי חדשים atone for a tahor person who ate tamei kodashim. Rebbe Oshaya says that Rebbe Shimon’s source is the passuk: ואותה נתן לכם לשאת את עון העדה – and He gave it to you to bear the sin of the congregation, which he explains to refer to the שעיר ר"ח brought on that day. He derives a gezeirah shavah (עון עון) from the ציץ, which is "מרצה" (makes acceptable) a korban which was brought in a state of tumah: just as the ציץ is only מרצה on טומאת בשר – the tumah of the [korban’s] meat (or blood, etc.), rather than a tamei person, so too the שעירי ר"ח only atone for טומאת בשר, i.e., a tahor who ate tamei meat of kodashim. We do not say they are מרצה on korbanos brought in a state of tumah, because the passuk says they atone for "עון העדה" – the sin of the congregation, demonstrating that they atone for people’s sins. The Gemara proceeds to derive that each of these does not also perform the atonement of the other.