פירוש על שבועות 1:7

אחד ישראל ואחד כהנים – this is what he said: [It effects atonement all the same] whether one is an Israelite or whether one is a Kohen or whether one is an anointed priest, the goat that is sent away atones in the rest of the sins and there is no distinction between them.

Introduction Mishnah seven discusses differences between the atonement of Israelites and the atonement of priests.

אלא שדם הפר מכפר על הכהנים על טומאת מקדש וקדשיו – all that the inner goat expiates for the Jewish people (i.e., non-Kohanim), meaning/it is identical with the suspense/doubt of the Israelites depend upon an awareness [of sin] at the beginning but there isn’t awareness at the end, and willful defilement of the Sanctuary and its Holy Things, and similarly the atonement of the outer goat, the bullock of the High Priest that is sacrificed on Yom Kippur which atones for the Kohanim.

[The scapegoat] brings atonement to Israelites, priests, and the anointed high priest alike. What [then] is the difference between Israelites, priests, and the anointed high priest? [None], save that the bullock [offered on the Day of Atonement] brings atonement to the priests for transgressions of the laws of impurity in connection with the temple and holy food. The scapegoat mentioned in the previous mishnah atones for the transgression of all of the members of Israel, including the priests. The one difference between priests and regular Israelites is that priests are atoned for transgressions of the laws of impurity in connection with the temple and holy food by the sacrificial bullock, brought on Yom Kippur. This is learned from Leviticus 16:11, “Aaron shall then offer his bull of sin offering, to make expiation for himself and his household.” “His household” refers to all of the priesthood. However, except for this difference, there is not difference in the atonement process for priests and Israelites.

Rabbi Shimon says: “Just as the blood of the goat that is offered within [the Holy of Holies] brings atonement for Israelites, so the blood of the bullock [offered on the Day of Atonement] brings atonement for priests; and just as the confession of sins pronounced over the scapegoat brings atonement for Israelites, so the confession pronounced over the bullock brings atonement for priests. Rabbi Shimon disagrees with the opinion in the previous mishnah. H learns this by means of an analogy. Israelites receive atonement for transgressions of the laws of impurity in connection with the temple and holy food by the sprinkling of the blood of the inner goat, without the confessional recited on the scapegoat. So too do priests receive atonement for transgressions of the laws of impurity in connection with the temple and holy food by the means of the blood of the sacrificial bullock without the confessional mentioned Leviticus 16:11. Therefore, we must ask, for what sin does the confessional bring atonement? According to Rabbi Shimon the confessional over the bullock acts for priests the same way that the confessional over the scapegoat acts for Israelites. Just as the confessional over the scapegoat brings atonement for all sins for Israelites, so too the confessional over the bullock brings atonement for all sins for priests. This is the disagreement between Rabbi Shimon and the opinion in section one: according to Rabbi Shimon priests receive atonement for most of their sins by the confession over the bullock, while according to the other Sages they receive atonement the same way other Israelites do, by the confession over the scapegoat.

רבי שמעון אומר כשם – that you admit regarding the blood of the inner goat that atones for the Israelites, an expiation without confession, for there is no confession regarding the inner goat, other than the goat which is sent away, so too, the blood of the bullock without any confession atones for the Kohanim on their defilement of the Sanctuary and its Holy Things, one adds for him his confessions of the bullock in place of the confession of the goat that is sent away to expiate for the Kohanim with the rest of the sins, for they have no atonement with the goat that is sent away.