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Week 142 - Wednesday - 14 August 2002

ZEVAHIM: CHAPTER 5: MISHNAH 3

Public and private sin-offerings - these are the public sin-offerings: 1: the he-goats of the New Moons and of the Festivals - their slaughtering is at the north and the collection of their blood is in a service vessel at the north, and their blood requires four applications on the four horns. How so? He ascended the ramp, turned to the circuit and came to the south-eastern horn, north-eastern, north-western and south-western. The remainder of the blood he poured out over the southern base. And they were eaten within the hangings, by male priests, prepared in any fashion, a day and a night, until midnight.

Kehati

The two preceding mishnahs dealt with sin-offerings whose blood was sprinkled in the Inner Sanctuary, before the veil and on the golden altar (that of the bullock and he-goat of the Day of Atonement was sprinkled also between the staves in the Holy of Holies); these are known as the "inner sin-offerings." Our mishnah deals with the sin-offerings whose blood was sprinkled on the outer altar in the Temple Court, thus known as the "outer sin-offerings." The nearby illustration of the outer altar will facilitate the comprehension of the sacrificial ritual, and especially the procedure of the blood sprinkling on the outer altar.

We also offer a brief exposition of its structure as specified in Tractate Middot 3:1.

The altar consisted of three superimposed square layers. The bottom layer, or the "base" (yesod) stood out one cubit high and one cubit wide. The protrusion, however, rather than encompassing all the sides of the altar, measured 32 cubits on the west side, projecting by one cubit southward, and 32 cubits on the north side, projecting by one cubit eastward. The base did not protrude on the rest of the southern and eastern sides (though this opinion is not accepted by all, it is agreed that the base did not protrude on the south-western corner). The middle layer of the altar measured 30 by 30 cubits and was 5 cubits high. The protruding part (beyond the edge of the top layer), which was one cubit wide and five cubits high, known as the "circuit" (sovev) surrounded the entire altar. The superior part measuring 28 by 28 cubits and 3 cubits high, was known as the "altar" (mizbe'ah). There were four "horns of the altar" (karnot hamizbe'ah) at its four corners, measuring one cubic cubit each, raising the total height of the altar to ten cubits: the base one cubit, the "circuit", five cubits, the "altar" three cubits, and the "corners" one cubit. At mid-level, five cubits above ground, i.e., four cubits above the base, a one handbreadth's wide red line (hut hasikra) surrounded the altar (see 2:1 above). A ramp on the south side of the altar provided access to it. The ramp was 32 cubits long and 16 cubits wide. Two smaller ramps ran along either side, one on its right (on the east side) which led to the circuit, and one on its left used for descending to the base. See sketch:

1. the base; 2. hut hasikra - the red line; 3. the circuit (sovev); 4. the corners of the altar; 5. the south-western horn (top) serving for the water and wine libations (see Zev. 6:2); 6. the two narrow snout-like outlets on the south-western corner of the base below, through which the blood flowed onto the western and southern parts of the base, and thence through the Temple Court sewer into the Kidron Valley (Mid. 3:3); 7. the tapuah (ash-heap) in the middle of the altar (Tamid 2:2); 8. the ramp; 9. a subsidiary ramp for descending from the circuit to the base; 10. a subsidiary ramp for ascending to the circuit. (Sketches by courtesy of Y.H. Blumental, from his booklet Mishpat Hakorbanot).

Public and private sin-offerings - these are the public sin-offerings, i.e., the "outer" sin-offerings (see Introduction) the he-goats of the musaf - additional - sacrifices of the New Moons and the musaf he-goats of the Festivals (Num. 28:11-39) - their slaughtering - that of all public and private sin-offerings is at the north side and the collection of their blood is in a service vessel at the north side; we learn through a binyan av analogy that the ritual of all sin-offerings is performed at the north side (Bartenura) –

and their blood requires four applications - sprinklings - on the four horns of the outer altar.

How so - what procedure did the priest follow in the blood sprinkling on the four horns?

He ascended the ramp - holding in his hand the vessel which contained the blood, turned right to ascend the subsidiary ramp to reach the circuit - as explained in the introduction; the priest stood on the circuit which enabled him to apply the blood with his finger on the corners of the altar (see Lev. 4:30) –

and came to the south-eastern corner – the ramp lying on the south side of the altar, the priest, when turning right, first reached the south-eastern horn upon which he sprinkled the blood; he then continued along the circuit until he reached the north-eastern horn upon which he sprinkled the blood, and went on to do so on the north-western horn, and finally he performed this act on the south-western horn.

The remainder of the blood - left in the vessel after the sprinklings - he poured out over the southern base - there were two narrow apertures on the south-western corner of the base, one on the western and the other on the southern side, where the residual blood was poured out. As taught in the preceding mishnahs, whereas the remains of the inner sin-offerings were poured out over the western base, i.e., into the western hole, those of the outer sin-offerings went into the southern hole. This procedure we learn, by comparing the descent of the priest who carries thus the residual blood, with his exit from the inner Sanctuary while carrying the residual blood - i.e., just as when leaving the inner Sanctuary he poured out the residual blood over the western base nearby, thus (Lev. 4:7): "and he shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt-offering, which is at the door of the Tent of Meeting," i.e., on the western side which is near the Inner Sanctuary, so must he also, when descending from the base, pour out the residual blood on the southern base nearby, which adjoins the ramp (Zev. 53a).

And they - the edible parts of the sin-offerings - were eaten within the hangings of the Sanctuary Court, thus (Lev. 6:19): "in the holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the Tent of Meeting." In the Temple of Jerusalem the walls of the court replaced the hangings. The reference to "within the hangings" teaches us that the flesh of the sin-offerings may be eaten anywhere within the hangings, even beyond the actual Court, e.g., in the chambers located on non-sacred ground but opening into the holy area; not so "their slaughtering is in any part of the Temple Court" (see below mishnah 6) which singles out the Court and excludes the chambers (Tiferet Yisrael), by male priests - who alone may partake of the flesh of the sin-offering, thus (Lev. 6:22) "All the males among the priests shall eat of it, it is most holy," -prepared in any fashion - whether roasted or cooked, etc. unlike the pesah sacrifice which requires roasting, a day - when slaughtered - and a - the following

night, until midnight - the Gemara (Zev. 36a) derives this from (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." In this context (Ber. 1:1) we learn that "all the (offerings) that must be consumed on the same day, the time allowed is until dawn. Why then did the Sages state, "until midnight? To remove one from transgressing" (lest one eat it after dawn, and thus incur the karet penalty on account of notar).

ZEVAHIM: CHAPTER 5: MISHNAH 4

The burnt-offering - most holy - its slaughtering is at the north, the collection of its blood is in a service vessel at the north, and its blood requires two applications which are four, it requires flaying and cutting into pieces and total consumption by the fire.

Kehati

The burnt-offering is classified as most holy - although the Torah does not, as in the case of the sin-offering and guilt-offering, state explicitly, "it is most holy," we are taught that the burnt-offering likewise belongs to this category seeing that it is slaughtered and its blood collected in the same place as are the sin-offering and the guilt-offering. Hence whoever derives any benefit from it is guilty of me'ilah, and taking the flesh out of the Temple Court disqualifies it,

its slaughtering is at the north side, thus (Lev. 1:11): "And he shall slaughter it on the side of the altar northward," the collection of its blood is in a service vessel at the north side, for the reason explained in mishnah 1 of this chapter,

and its blood requires two applications which are four – thus regarding the burnt-offering (ibid. ibid. 5) "and they shall sprinkle the blood round about the altar." As expounded in Torat Kohanim: "And they shall sprinkle" - we might assume a simple sprinkling; hence it states "round about." Should he then invest it around like with a thread? Hence it states, "and they shall sprinkle" (the plural implies multiple sprinkling). How so? Two sprinklings which are four, i.e., the priest stands on the (Temple Court) floor and sprinkles the blood below the hut hasikra - red line, once on the north-eastern and once on the south-western corner, and since he sprays the corner copiously, the blood spreads to both sides, thus covering the four flanks of the altar. This is the meaning of "two applications (one onto the north-eastern corner and the other onto the diagonally facing south-western corner) which are four" (the blood covering the four walls of the altar). And why these two corners specifically? Because the south-eastern corner was without a base (see introduction to the preceding mishnah), and the first sprinkling of the burnt-offering must be over the base (Zev. 51a), and it requires flaying and cutting into pieces - (Lev. 1:6): "And he shall flay the burnt-offering, and cut it into its pieces" and total consumption by the fire - all the cut pieces - and the fats were burnt in the fire upon the altar, thus (ibid. ibid. 8-9): "And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall lay the parts, the head and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar. And its inwards and its legs he shall wash in water and the priest shall burn all on the altar"; however, the hide belonged to the priests. As to the residual blood, the burnt-offering, and all the other sacrifices share the law governing the outer sin-offering whose blood was poured out over the southern base. Since this rule regarding the outer sin-offerings is stated in the preceding mishnah, it is not repeated regarding the other sacrifices (for an alternative explanation see Tosafot Zev. 53b).

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