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Week 142 - Thursday - 15 August 2002

ZEVAHIM: CHAPTER 5: MISHNAH 5

The peace-offerings of the congregation and the guilt-offerings - these are the guilt-offerings: the guilt-offering for robbery, the guilt-offering for me'ilah, the guilt-offering because of a betrothed bondmaid, the guilt-offering of a nazir, the guilt-offering of a metzora, the guilt-offering of suspense - their slaughtering is at the north, the collection of their blood is at the north, their blood requires two applications which are four, and they are eaten within the hangings by male-priests, prepared in any fashion, a day and a night until midnight.

Kehati

The peace-offerings of the congregation - the two lambs offered up with the Two Loaves on the Shavuot Festival, thus (Lev. 23:19-20): "...and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace-offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits (bikkurim) for a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs, they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest"; why need it be stated "they shall be holy.."? Since the private peace-offerings are classified as minor holy sacrifices, the Torah informs us that public peace-offerings are kodesh kodashim - most holy (thus Rashi ad loc.). The Gemara derives this from (Num. 10:10): "...over your burnt-offerings and over your sacrifices of your peace-offerings" - i.e., just as a burnt-offering is kodesh kodashim, so also are public peace-offerings kodesh kodashim, as mentioned at the beginning of this chapter; and the guilt-offerings - the Torah expressly declares them to be kodesh kodashim (Lev. 7:1): "And this is the law of the guilt-offering; it is kodesh kodashim - most holy" –
these are the guilt-offerings: the guilt-offering for robbery - offered up by a person who on oath denied the claim of a litigant, but later retracted and admitted to it, thus (Lev. 5:21-25): "if a person sin and commit a trespass against the Lord, and lie to his neighbor in that which was delivered to him to keep, or in a loan, or in a thing taken away by violence...and has sworn falsely... then it shall be because he has sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away...or that which was delivered him to keep...he shall restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more to it...and he shall bring his guilt-offering to the Lord, a ram without blemish out of the flock." This is called the asham gezelot - guilt-offering for robbery - since all the listed misdeeds are accounted gezelah (robbery), i.e., the misappropriation of one's fellow's property;

the guilt-offering for me'ilah - brought for abusing Temple property by deriving benefit from it or removing it from the holy precincts, thus (Lev. 5:15-16): "If a person commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance...then he shall bring for his guilt to the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flocks"; the guilt-offering because of a betrothed bondmaid - if a man cohabited with a but partly freed bondmaid (harufah) who was betrothed to a Hebrew servant, thus (Lev. 19:20-21): "And whoever cohabits with a woman that is a bondmaid, designated to a man...and he shall bring his guilt-offering to the Lord ..a ram for a guilt-offering"; the guilt-offering of a nazir due when he regains ritual cleanness after becoming unclean by contact with a corpse while a nazirite, thus (Num. 6:9-12): "And if any man die suddenly by him, and he has defiled the head of his consecration, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing...and he shall bring a lamb of the first year for a guilt-offering;

the guilt-offering of a metzora due after recovering from his tzara'at and becoming clean, thus (Lev. 14:12): "And the priest shall take one he-lamb, and offer it as a guilt-offering"; the guilt-offering of suspense due when one is in doubt as to the commission of an offense for which, if committed deliberately one incurs the karet penalty, and if unwittingly, a sin-offering is due, e.g., he ate one of two pieces of fat, one of which was shuman which is permitted and the other helev, i.e., of the forbidden kind, and he does not know which he ate, thus (Lev. 5:17-18): "And if a person sins, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the Lord, though he know it not, yet he is guilty, and shall bear his iniquity. And he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, according to the valuation, for a guilt-offering, to the priest – their slaughtering - i.e., that of the above enumerated - is at the north side, thus (Lev. 7:2): "In the place where they slaughter the burnt-offering shall they slaughter the guilt-offering,"

the collection of their blood is at the north side, as explained in mishnah 1 - their blood requires two applications which are four (ibid.) and its blood he shall sprinkle round about the altar," which indicates that, like the burnt-offering, the guilt-offering requires two sprinklings - one on the north-eastern and the other on the south-western corner, whence the blood spreads onto all the four sides of the altar, and they are eaten within the hangings - i.e., in the Temple Court - by male priests - thus regarding the guilt-offering (Lev. 7:6) "Every male among the priests shall eat of it, it shall be eaten in the holy place, it is most holy." From the textual closeness of the public peace-offering to the sin-offering (Lev. 23:19): "And you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for sin-offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace-offerings" we learn that, like the sin-offering, the peace-offering may only be eaten within the hangings (i.e., in the Temple Court) by male priests. However, the requirement of four sprinklings is not learned from the sin-offering, since the latter is the only offering which requires four sprinklings,

prepared in any fashion whether roasted, cooked etc., a day and a night, until midnight - as explained in mishnah 3.

ZEVAHIM: CHAPTER 5: MISHNAH 6

The thank-offering and the nazir's ram are of the lesser holy things, their slaughtering is in any part of the Temple Court, their blood requires two sprinklings which are four, and they are eaten in the whole city, by any person, prepared in any fashion, a day and a night, until midnight. So, too, the parts that are separated from them, except that the parts that are separated are eaten by the priests, their wives, their children and their bondservants.

Kehati

This chapter has so far dealt with kodshei kodashim - most holy sacrifices. Henceforth, to the end of the chapter, it deals with kodashim kalim - sacrifices of lesser sanctity. Our mishnah opens with the thank-offering and the nazirite's offering governed by the same rules as the peace-offering, except that, like the kodshei kodashim, they may be eaten only one day and a night, whereas peace-offerings may be eaten two days and one night, as the next mishnah explains.

The thank offering - thus (Lev. 7:12-13): "If he offer it for a thanks-giving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil..." and the nazir's ram which the nazir offers up at the end of his separation, thus (Num. 6:13-14): "And this is the law of the nazir, when the days of his separation are fulfilled...and he shall bring his offering...and one ram without blemish for a peace-offering," are of the lesser holy things - to which the laws of me'ilah do not apply, as explained in Tractate Me'ilah –

their slaughtering is not confined to the north side but is allowed in any part of the Temple Court as with the peace-offerings, regarding which it is written (Lev. 3:8): "...and he shall slaughter it before the Tent of Meeting," i.e., anywhere in the Tent's vicinity is fit for slaughtering;

their blood requires two sprinklings which are four since, as in the case of burnt-offerings, it is written regarding peace-offerings (Lev. 3:2): "...and Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood on the altar round about,"

and they are eaten in the whole city of Jerusalem, thus (Lev. 10:14): "And the wave breast and heave shoulder you shall eat in a clean place." It is queried: Does this imply that they ate the former (sacrifices mentioned, e.g., the he-goats and the meal-offerings) in an unclean place? Rather, those which are most holy must be eaten in a holy place, whereas these though their consumption is not confined to within the hangings they nevertheless must be eaten within the "Camp of Israel" which is clean insofar as metzoras were kept out of it. Hence we know that lesser holy things may be eaten anywhere in the city (of Jerusalem) (Rashi's Torah commentary ad loc.; Zev. 55b),

by any person - including non-priests, thus regarding peace-offerings (Lev. 7:34): "For the wave breast and the heave shoulder I have taken of the children of Israel from off the sacrifices of their peace-offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priests and to his sons," hence the remaining flesh belongs to the owners. It is likewise written (Deut. 12:18): "But you must eat them before the Lord your God, in the place which the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter and your manservant and your maidservant," - prepared in any fashion - whether roasted, cooked, etc. a day and a night, until midnight - thus (Lev. 7:15): "And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offering for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered, he shall not leave any of it until the morning." As expounded by the Sages (Zev. 36b): "the sacrifice of his peace-offering" includes the nazir's peace-offering, hence they must be eaten on the day they are slaughtered and the following night. However, as a precautionary measure the Sages set the time limit "until midnight," to prevent the transgression of the law of notar (see mishnah 3 above). So, too,-- the law regarding the thank-offering and the nazir's ram likewise applies to the parts that are separated from them - i.e., the breast, shoulder and thanksgiving loaves given to the priests, and the parts that are separated from the nazir's ram - the boiled shoulder, the breast, thigh, one unleavened cake and wafer; these also may be eaten in any part of the city one day and a night except that the parts that are separated are eaten by the priests, their wives, their children and their bondservants, thus (Lev. 10:14): "And the wave breast and heave shoulder you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you."

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