Zevachim

this agreeing with R. Huna's dictum in Rab's name, viz.: If a guilt-offering was transferred to pasture and one then slaughtered it without a specified purpose, it is valid as a burnt-offering. 1 ONE WHO OFFERS UP THE FLESH OF A SIN-OFFERING [. . . WITHOUT, IS NOT LIABLE]. Our Rabbis taught: How do we know that he who offers up the flesh of a sin-offering, or the flesh of a guilt-offering, or the flesh of most sacred sacrifices, or the flesh of lesser sacrifices, or the remainder of the ‘omer, or the two loaves, or the Shewbread, or the residue of meal-offerings, [without], is not liable? Because it says, ‘[Whatsoever man . . . that offereth] a burnt-offering’: as a burnt-offering is eligible for offering up,2 so everything which is eligible for offering up [on the altar entails liability].3 How do we know that also he who pours [the oil on the meal-offering], or mingles [it with flour], or breaks up [the meal-offering cakes], or salts [the meal-offering], or waves [it], or presents [it opposite the south-west corner of the altar], or sets the table [with the Shewbread], or trims the lamps, or takes off the fistful, or receives the blood, without, is not liable? Because it says, ‘that offereth a burnt-offering or sacrifice’: as offering up completes the service, so everything that completes the service [entails liability].4 BEFORE THE TABERNACLE WAS SET UP [etc.] R. Huna5 son of R. Kattina sat before R. Hisda, and recited [the text], And he sent the young men of the children of Israel, [who offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto the Lord].6 Said he to him: Thus said R. Assi: And then they ceased.7 Now, he thought to refute him from our Mishnah, when he heard him teach in R. Adda b. Ahaba's name: The burnt-offering[s] which Israel sacrificed in the wilderness did not require flaying and dismembering; whereupon he refuted him from a Baraitha, which had a bearing upon the whole [of his teaching]. For it was taught: Before the Tabernacle was set up bamoth were permitted and the service was performed by the firstborn, and all were eligible to be offered, viz., animals, beasts, birds, male and female, unblemished or blemished; clean, but not unclean;8 and all offered burnt-offerings, and the burnt-offering[s] which Israel offered in the wilderness required flaying and dismembering; and gentiles are permitted to do thus in these days?9 It is a controversy of Tannaim. For it was taught: And let the priests also, that come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves:10 R. Joshua b. Karhah said: This intimated the separation of the first born.11 Rabbi said: This intimated the separation of Nadab and Abihu.12 On the view that this meant the separation of Nadab and Abihu, it is well: hence it is written, This is that the Lord spoke, saying.’ ‘Through them that are near unto Me I will be sanctified’.13 But on the view that it meant the retirement of the firstborn, where was [this warning] indicated?14 In the text, And there I will meet with the children of Israel; and [the Tent] shall be sanctified by My glory [bi-kebodi]:15 read not bi-kebodi, but bi-kebuday [My honoured ones]:16 this the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, but they did not know [its meaning] until the sons of Aaron died.17 When the sons of Aaron died, he [Moses] said to him: ‘Oh my brother! Thy sons died only that the glory of the Holy One, blessed be He, might be sanctified through them’.18 When Aaron thus perceived that his sons were the honoured ones19 of the Omnipresent, he was silent, and was rewarded for his silence, as it is said, And Aaron held his peace.20 And thus it says of David, Be silent before the Lord, and wait patiently [hith-hollel] for Him:21 though He casts down many slain [halalim] of thee, be silent before Him. And thus it was said by Solomon, [There is . . .] a time to keep silence, and a time to speak:22 sometimes a man is silent and is rewarded for his silence; at others a man speaks and is rewarded for his speaking. And this is what R. Hiyya b. Abba said in R. Johanan's name: What is meant by the text, Awful is God out of thy holy places [mi-mikdasheka]?23 Read not mi-mikdasheka but mimekuddasheka [through thy consecrated ones]: when the Holy One, blessed be He, executes judgment on His consecrated ones, He makes Himself feared, exalted, and praised. [To return to the original discussion:] Yet the burnt-offering is a difficulty?24 — It is a controversy of two Tannaim. For it was taught, R. Ishmael said: The general laws were stated at Sinai,25 while the details were stated at the Tent of Meeting.26 R. Akiba said: The general laws and the details were stated at Sinai, repeated in the Tent of Meeting, and a third time in the plains of Moab. 27 The master said: ‘All were eligible to be offered’. How do we know this? — Said R. Huna, Because Scripture saith: And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean animal [behemah] and of every clean fowl, [and offered burnt-offerings on the altar].28 Animal [behemah] and fowl [bear] their plain meaning; beast [hayyah] is included in animal [behemah]. had been sacrificed as a guilt-offering), it counts as having been slaughtered for its own sake, and therefore he is liable. libations or burns incense or the fistful removed from a meal-offering, without, is liable. foot of Mount Sinai (ibid. v. 4). Tabernacle was set up. Revelation. verse now separated them and forbade them to approach the mountain. holds that henceforth only the children of Aaron might act as priests, while R. Joshua b. Karhah maintains that the service was still performed by the firstborn. would be sanctified through His honoured ones (the priests), but they did not understand the allusion. peace-offerings (Ex. XX, 21). were not flayed and dismembered.