- Shoving off the cliff is tantamount to shechitah
The Gemara on Daf 63b asked why the Torah needed to teach that a שעיר לעזאזל cannot be premature, and two answers were given. On this Daf, Rava says it is needed כגון שהיה לו חולה בתוך ביתו – in a case in which the one who sold the goat to the Temple had a seriously ill person in the house, ושחט אמו ביום הכפורים – and he slaughtered the mother of this goat on Yom Kippur in order to feed that person. The passuk is coming to teach that the offspring of that goat may not be used as the שעיר לעזאזל, since it is not permitted to be shechted until the next day, due to the prohibition of shechting a mother animal and its son on the same day. In this sense, it is considered premature. The Gemara objects to this answer. "לא תשחטו" אמר רחמנא והא לאו שחיטה היא – The Torah said only: you shall not “shecht” an animal and its offspring on the same day, and this, referring to shoving the goat off the cliff, is not shechitah? The Gemara answers that they say in the West, referring to Eretz Yisroel, דחייתו לצוק זו היא שחיטתו – Shoving the goat off the cliff is tantamount to shechitah.
מחלוקת אם בעלי חיים נידחין
The Mishnah on Daf 62a stated that if a goat died after the lots were cast, the Kohen Gadol must bring another pair and cast lots upon them, and if the one 'for Azazel' died, he should say "Let the one upon which the lot 'for Azazel' fell, take its place” והשני ירעה עד שיסתאב – and the second goat should then be left to graze until it becomes blemished. The Gemara brings a machlokes here regarding which goat is called the “second” one. Rav says, שני שבזוג ראשון יקרב – the second goat of the first pair should be offered, שני שבזוג שני ירעה – the second goat of the second pair shall graze. Rebbe Yochanan says; שני שבזוג ראשון ירעה שני שבזוג שני יקרב – the second goat of the first pair should graze, and the second goat of the second pair should be offered. The Gemara explains that Rav holds בעלי חיים אינן נידחין – living things do not become permanently rejected from the mizbayach. Once the goat for Azazel was replaced, the first goat "for Hashem" becomes valid again. Rebbe Yochanan holds: בעלי חיים נידחין – living things can become permanently rejected. When the goat "for Azazel" died, its mate became permanently disqualified and the goat from the second pair must be used.
- Support for Rava and Rebbe Yochanan
Rava said a precise reading of our Mishnah accords with Rav, while a Baraisa accords with Rebbe Yochanan. The Mishnah taught that he should say that "If the one for Hashem died, let the one upon which the 'lot for Hashem' take its place.” This implies that only the dead goat "for Hashem" is replaced, while the other one "for Azazel" remains ready to be offered. The Baraisa that supports Rebbe Yochanan, says that when the passuk states, referring to the Azazel goat, "יעמוד חי" ולא שחבירו מת – It shall be stood alive, it implies: but not that its fellow goat died. If the goat for Hashem died, the original Azazel goat is no longer fit for service. The Gemara asks how the words, “it shall be stood alive” imply this ruling, and answers "יעמד חי" ולא שכבר עמד – The words “shall be” stood alive, in the future tense, imply that it stands now for the first time, and not that it stood previously.