Yoma, Chapter 6, Mishnah 4. In the previous Mishnah we described how the ish ha'iti, in the language of the Torah, who was appointed for this task, would begin to take the goat and lead it out to Azazel. Our Mishnah continues by describing the arrangements for the journey from the Beis HaMikdash out to the wilderness.
The ramp made for the ish ha'iti:
"V'chevesh asu lo" - they made a ramp for the ish ha'iti outside Jerusalem, running across the valley, in the direction of the journey to the wilderness. And why? "Mipnei haBavlim shehayu metalshim bis'aro, v'omrim lo: tol vatzei, tol vatzei" - a group of people would pull out the hair of the ish ha'iti and press him to leave with the goat as quickly as possible, since the goat was carrying away their sins.
Since this was their practice, and the ish ha'iti would run into them along the way, they sought to get him out beyond their reach. They therefore made a ramp, a sort of bridge, by means of which he could leave the Beis HaMikdash for the wilderness without encountering people.
The escort of the distinguished men of Jerusalem and the ten booths:
"MiYakirei Yerushalayim hayu melavin oso ad sukkah harishonah" - the distinguished and prominent men of Jerusalem would escort him as far as the first booth. From here on the Mishnah explains the matter of these booths: small structures built along the road to Azazel that served as rest stations.
"Eser sukkos miYerushalayim v'ad tzok" - ten booths were built from Jerusalem until the cliff, that same cliff from which he would push the goat off. In each booth there were people who had come there before Yom Kippur and spent their fast day in that place, and as we will see in the next Mishnah, the people of each booth would escort the ish ha'iti on the next stage of his journey.
The Mishnah adds the measure of the distance: "Tish'im ris, sheva umechetzah l'chol mil":
Ris - a measure of distance on the ground.
Seven and a half ris - in every single mil.
Mil - two thousand amos.
From the calculation it emerges that dividing ninety ris by seven and a half yields twelve, so the distance from Jerusalem to the cliff was twelve mil.
In summary: in this Mishnah we learned about the ramp that was made for the ish ha'iti outside Jerusalem, in order to remove him from the reach of the Babylonians who would pull out his hair and press him with "tol vatzei"; about the escort of the distinguished men of Jerusalem as far as the first booth; and about the ten booths that were built from Jerusalem until the cliff along a stretch of ninety ris, which are twelve mil.
In the next Mishnah we will discuss how the people of each and every booth escorted the ish ha'iti on the continuation of his journey to the cliff.