daf bit: Yoma 62

[cellio]

The torah commands that on Yom Kippur the high priest casts lots over two goats, one to be sent away with the people's sins ("for Azazel") and the other to be offered on the altar. The mishna says that the goats must be identical in appearance and value and that they must be bought at the same time. (But if any of that doesn't happen, it's still valid.) Now, what happens if one of the goats then dies prematurely? If this happens before the lots are cast they buy another goat; if it happens after the lots are cast, they buy two more goats and start over. But this leaves us with an extra goat; what happens there? The other goat of the original pair is put out to pasture until it acquires a blemish (which renders it unfit for the altar), at which point it is sold with the proceeds going to the temple. This is because once it has been designated for temple use it can't be put to some other purpose. (62a)

Comments

[cellio]

An animal (or anything else, like money, incense, firewood...) that has been designated for a specific, holy use must be used for that if at all possible. If something prevents that from happening (like, here, the death of the other goat in the pair), then you basically have to get as close as possible -- in this case, the money from the (eventual) sale will fund other communal offerings.

The question about whether they can keep the goat blemish-free and use it the next year is interesting. I can't remember if there's a specific age requirement. I also suspect, but don't know, that if ti could be "reused" at all, it could be used in its original year -- there seems to be something about it having had a lot cast on it that means you can't just say "never mind, try again". In other words, the lots (for Azazel and for God) are cast over two goats each year; this goat has already had one of those lots assigned to it, so next year they wouldn't be able to recast that lot, but the torah says the high priest casts lots over two goats.

Um, following that?

[dvarin.livejournal.com]

I think so? Basically you can't redo a lot-casting, so a previous cast sticks to the goat making it ineligible to participate again. (It occurs to me that this eliminates one source of human interference: "Hm, BigImportantPerson contributed Goat A, but it got cast for Azazel, can we find some excuse to do that over again?")

Though one might try to argue that "Given to God/Azazel on YK year 3708" and "Given to God/Azazel on YK year 3709" are different lots. The first one can't be redone, but applying the second one isn't "redoing" because it wasn't done in the first place.
Though it sounds like the text just says "for God" and "for Azazel"? so a close interpretation couldn't distinguish by year like that probably.