Many Jews know that the only time the Kohen Gadol entered the Holy of Holies in the Beit Hamikdash was on Yom Kippur. Did you also know it was the only time two identical looking goats were brought to the Beit Hamikdash but assigned very different purposes (Mishna Yoma 6:1-2)?

One goat was offered as a korban just like other korbanot. The other goat was led away by another Kohen to go into the wilderness. Both goats had a special role in the Yom Kippur service which helped the Jewish people gain forgiveness from Hashem at the end of the 10 days of teshuvah following Rosh Hashanah.

Did you know that in math there can be equations that look very different but equal the same number? What number do the two following sentences describe? Can you come up with your own sentence which is also the same number?

Sentence 1: Take 12 times 2 and then subtract 5.

Sentence 2: Take 75 divided by 5 and then add 4.

Solution. Both sentences describe the number 19.

Sentence 1 is:

12 * 2—5 = 24—5 = 19

Sentence 2 is:

75 / 5 + 4 = 15 + 4 = 19

I hope you can think of some others. Have a very meaningful Yom Kippur!

Ari Blinder is a math educator living in Highland Park and the owner of Math for the Masses, an innovative math tutoring and consulting company. He can be reached at [email protected].