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Week 142 - Friday - 16 August 2002

ZEVAHIM: CHAPTER 5: MISHNAH 7

Peace-offerings are of the lesser holy things - their slaughtering is in any place in the Temple Court, their blood requires two sprinklings which are four, and they may be eaten in the whole city, by any person, prepared in any fashion, two days and one night. So, too, the parts that are separated from them, except that the parts that are separated are eaten by the priests, their wives, their sons and their daughters.

Kehati

This mishnah deals with the rites of the peace-offerings. As already mentioned in the introduction to the preceding mishnah, the thank-offering and the peace-offering differ only regarding the time allowed for their consumption.

Peace-offerings are of the lesser holy things which do not involve any transgression on account of me'ilah - their slaughtering is in any place in the Temple Court - thus (Lev. 3:8): "...and he shall slaughter it before the Tent of Meeting." Hence we know that any part of the Temple Court is fit for slaughtering, their blood requires two sprinklings which are four - as explained in the case of the burnt-offering, since regarding peace-offerings it is also written "and...shall sprinkle...on the altar round about" (see preceding mishnah) –

and they may be eaten in the whole city of Jerusalem, by any person - including non-priests, prepared in any fashion as explained above regarding the thank-offering, two days and one night - thus (Lev. 7:16): "But if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten on the same day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the morrow," i.e., on the day of slaughtering, the day after, and the night between, but not the night after the second day, thus (Lev. 19:6)" "It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and on the morrow and what remains until the third day shall be burnt in fire." As the Sages explain: "until the third day" - i.e., it may be eaten in the daytime, but not in the evening before the third day (Zev. 56b).

So, too, the parts that are separated from them - the breast and shoulder of the peace-offerings, given to the priest, may also be eaten in any part of Jerusalem during two days and one night, except that the parts that are separated are eaten by the priests, their wives, their sons and their daughters - as explained in the preceding mishnah.

ZEVAHIM: CHAPTER 5: MISHNAH 8

The firstling, the tithe and the pesah are of the lesser holy things - their slaughtering is in any part of the Temple Court, and their blood requires one sprinkling, provided that he applies it over the base. They differ in their manner of eating: the firstling is eaten by the priests, but the tithe by any person, and these may be eaten in the whole city (by any person), prepared in any fashion, two days and one night; the pesah may only be eaten at night, and may only be eaten until midnight, and may only be eaten by those who enrolled for it, and may only be eaten roasted.

Kehati

The male firstling - the firstborn of a kasher animal, regarding which the Torah enjoins (Num. 18:17-18): "But the firstling of an ox, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat you shall not redeem - they are holy, you shall sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shall burn their fat.. And their flesh shall be yours, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder shall they be yours,"

the tithe of animals, thus (Lev. 27:32): "And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to the Lord" - its consecrated parts (eimurim) were burnt on the altar and the flesh was consumed by the owners. The priests had no part in it, not even the breast and the shoulder, and the pesah sacrifice, offered on the 14th of Nisan the three above-mentioned sacrifices,

are of the lesser holy things - their slaughtering is in any part of the Temple Court - as explained regarding the thank-offering and the nazir's ram (see mishnah 6) - and their blood requires one sprinkling - thus regarding the firstling (Num. 18:17): "..you shall sprinkle their blood upon the altar"; there is no mention of "round about" as in the case of the burnt-offering and peace-offering. This verse likewise applies to the tithe and the pesah offering, since the reference to "their blood" rather than "its blood" places them in the same category in regard to the sprinkling of the blood; hence they, like the firstling, require but one sprinkling, provided that he applies it on those walls of the altar built over the base this is learned from the ritual of the burnt-offering through a gezerah shavah, based on the term zerikah, which appears in the relevant verses; thus, just as the burnt-offering requires sprinkling over the base, thus (Lev. 4:7): "and shall pour all the blood of the bullock over the base of the altar of the burnt-offering," i.e., the blood of the burnt-offering is sprinkled on the wall of the altar over the base, so must also the blood of the firstling, the tithe and the pesah be sprinkled over the base, i.e., not on the east or south side where there was no (protruding) base, (see introduction to mishnah 3 above).

They differ in their manner of eating - the Torah enjoins that the firstling is eaten only by the priests their wives, children and bondservants, like the breast and shoulder of the peace-offerings, concerning which thus (Num. 18:18): "And their flesh shall be yours as the wave breast and as the right shoulder shall they be yours," but the tithe by any person - the owners may eat of it all since the priests have no share in it, as mentioned above,

and they may be eaten in the whole city of Jerusalem, as may all kodashim kalim - by any person - most commentators delete this clause, since the firstling may only be eaten by the priests - prepared in any fashion, two days and one night - since regarding the firstling it is written (ibid.), "And their flesh shall be yours as the wave breast and as the right shoulder," it means that the Torah likened it to the breast and shoulder of the peace-offering, i.e., just as peace-offerings may be eaten during two days and one night, so may also the firstling be eaten two days and one night (Zev. 57a); the tithe is derived through a binyan av from the peace-offering: just as peace-offerings are kodashim kalim and may be eaten two days and one night, so also is the tithe kodashim kalim, and may be eaten during two days and one night (Tosafot ad loc.); the pesah sacrifice may only be eaten at night thus (Ex. 12:8): "and they shall eat the meat in that night," i.e., on the first night of the Pesah Festival, and may only be eaten until midnight - according to the Gemara (Zev. 57b) this represents the view of R. Eleazar b. Azaryah that by Torah law the time limit is midnight, hence our mishnah's reference to "midnight." Thus in a baraita (ibid.): R. Eleazar b. Azaryah says: it is stated here, "and they shall eat the meat in that night," and it is stated elsewhere (ibid. ibid. 12), "And I will go through the land of Egypt in that night," just as there it means by midnight, so does it here mean by midnight,

and may only be eaten by those who enrolled for it - thus (ibid. ibid. 4), "according to every man's eating shall you make your count for the lamb," and may only be eaten roasted - thus (ibid. ibid. 9): "Do not eat of it raw, nor boiled in water, but only roasted with fire."

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