Zevachim

HE WENT UP THE ASCENT, TURNED TO THE SURROUNDING BALCONY,1 AND PASSED ON [SUCCESSIVELY] TO THE SOUTH-EAST, THE NORTH-EAST, THE NORTH-WEST, AND THE SOUTH-WEST CORNERS. THE RESIDUE OF THE BLOOD HE POURED OUT AT THE SOUTHERN BASE. THEY WERE EATEN WITHIN THE HANGINGS,2 BY MALE PRIESTS, PREPARED IN ANY FASHION,3 THE SAME DAY AND NIGHT, UNTIL MIDNIGHT. GEMARA. How did he do it?4 — R. Johanan and R. Eleazar [disagree]. One maintained: He applied it within a cubit in either direction.5 The other maintained: He applied it6 with a downward movement on the edge of the horn. On the view of R. Eleazar son of R. Simeon who said that its [blood] is applied essentially on the very horn [of the altar],7 there is no dispute at all.8 They differ on Rabbi's view:9 One master holds that a cubit in either direction is also against the horn; while the other master holds: Only at the edge, and no further. An objection is raised: How was the blood of the public and the private sin-offerings applied? He went up the ascent, turned to the surrounding balcony, and passed on to the south-east horn, where he dipped his right finger — i.e., the index finger of his right hand — into the blood in the bowl, and supported it with his thumb on this side and his little finger on the other,10 and applied it with a downward movement against the edge of the horn until all the blood on his finger was gone, and thus [he did] at every horn? — This is what he means: Its regulation is [that it be applied] at the edge; yet if he applies it within a cubit in either direction, we have no objection. 11 What was [this allusion to] Rabbi and R. Eleazar son of R. Simeon? — As it was taught: The upper blood is applied above the scarlet line, and the lower blood is applied below the scarlet line: that is Rabbi's view. R. Eleazar son of R. Simeon said: This holds good only of a burnt-offering of a bird; but in the case of an animal sin-offering, its [blood] is applied essentially on the very horn.12 R. Abbahu said: What is Rabbi's reason? Because it is written, And the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward there shall be four horns.13 Now, was the altar [only] four cubits?14 — Said R. Adda b. Ahaba: [It means,] And the place of the horns was four [cubits].15 Did the horns occupy four cubits?16 — Say rather: The limits of the horns were four [cubits].17 We learnt elsewhere: A scarlet line encompassed it about the middle, to distinguish between the upper and the lower bloods. Whence do we know it? — Said R. Aha b. R. Kattina, Because it said: That the net may reach halfway up the altar:18 thus the Torah prescribed a barrier to distinguish between the upper and the lower bloods. THE RESIDUE OF THE BLOOD etc. Our Rabbis taught: At the base of the altar19 means the southern base. You say, the southern base; yet perhaps it is not so, but rather the western base, and the undefined is learnt from the defined?20 You can answer: We infer his coming down the ascent from his exit from the hekal: as his exit from the hekal was to the nearest side, so his coming down the ascent was to the nearest side.21 It was taught, R. Ishmael said: In both cases22 the western base [is meant]. R. Simeon b. Yohai said: In both cases the southern base [is meant]. As for him who maintains that both [were poured out] at the western base, it is well: he holds that the undefined is learnt from the defined.23 But what is his reason who holds that the southern base [is meant] in both cases? — Said R. Assi: This Tanna maintains that the whole altar stood in the north.24 Another version: The whole entrance stood to the south.25 with his finger on the horns of the altar. For other sacrifices he stood on the pavement and dashed the blood from the vessel on to the altar. from the actual corner; similarly with the other corners. finger below’ — a rather difficult procedure. the horns. Rabbi says that the upper blood, i.e., the blood which is sprinkled on the horn, can be sprinkled anywhere above the scarlet line. tent of meeting (ibid., 7). Now, as one entered from the door he came first to the western base: this is therefore regarded as defined, and the question is: Why not learn v. 30, where it is undefined, from v. 7, where it is defined? him. So also when he came down the ascent with the residue of the outer blood, after having applied the blood on the south-west corner he poured it out at the southern base, this being nearest to him. immediate side would be the southern. It may also mean that it stood in the north of the Temple court, five cubits of it facing the door, and one of these five cubits was the southern base, which one would face as he came out of the door.