In a sense most of the conclusions of our study of the hattat are incorporated in our interpretation of the day of Atonement ceremony in the previous Chapter. So here we shall outline those conclusions more systematically in accordance with the problems posed at the beginning of the study, which can be classified largely into two areas: 1. the basic function of the hattat; 2. the rationale of the variety of ritual types. 1. חטאת should be translated, as Barr and Milgrom suggest, ‘purification