Translation:Mishnah/Seder Moed/Tractate Yoma/Chapter 6/8

Hebrew Text
אמרו לו לכהן גדול, הגיע שעיר למדבר.

ומנין היו יודעין שהגיע שעיר למדבר.

דרכיות היו עושין, ומניפין בסודרין ויודעין שהגיע שעיר למדבר.

אמר רבי יהודה, והלא סימן גדול היה להם, מירושלים ועד בית חדודו שלשה מילין.

הולכין מיל, וחוזרין מיל, ושוהין כדי מיל, ויודעין שהגיע שעיר למדבר.

רבי ישמעאל אומר, והלא סימן אחר היה להם, לשון של זהורית היה קשור על פתחו של היכל, וכשהגיע שעיר למדבר היה הלשון מלבין, שנאמר, (ישעיה א) אם יהיו חטאיכם כשנים כשלג ילבינו.

English Translation
 They said to the High Priest: "The goat has reached the wilderness." But how was it known that the goat had reached the wilderness? They would make towers [along the way], and raise signal flags so that it would be known that the goat had reached the wilderness.

Rabbi Yehudah said: And didn't they have an obvious way to tell [when it had reached the wilderness]? It is three miles from Jerusalem to Beit-Hadudo. [Those who accompanied the scapegoat to the first booth] had walked one mile [to the booth], and had returned one mile. They spent enough time [in the booth] for one to walk another mile. [Thus by the time they had returned to Jerusalem] it would be known that the goat had reached the wilderness.

Rabbi Ishmael said: But there was yet another way for them to tell. A strip of crimson cloth would be tied to the gate of the Temple, and when the goat had reached the wilderness, the strip would blanch, as it is written: “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isa 1:18 JPS) 

Explanation
משנה יומא ו ח