The New World
The essay explores why the אִישׁ עִתִּי who leads the שָׂעִיר הַמִּשְׁתַּלֵּחַ becomes tamei — a paradox the Midrash attributes to the Yetzer Harah's challenge and answers with the word חֹק — and why he becomes tamei already upon leaving the walls of Yerushalayim. Drawing on Rav Hutner's teaching that תְּשׁוּבָה is a בְּרִיָּה חֲדָשָׁה created through the שֵׁם הֲוַי׳ (אֲנִי הוּא לְאַחַר שֶׁיֶּחְטָא הָאָדָם), the author explains that Yom Kippur's avodah carries an element of חֹק because teshuva operates by its own logic beyond human categories. Simultaneously, the derasha from the same words that the avodah must follow the prescribed order teaches that this supra-rational gift is accessible only through the path the Torah sets out.
Medrash