Tamid 31a — the Talmud in English

2. And when he came to flay the lamb from its skin,

he would not break its leg

for the purpose of flaying [as the butchers do: they break one leg and make a hole in the other leg, and insert the first through the hole of the second. And they hang the animal by its crossed legs and flay it]. Because if he did so, when he cut the right leg the entire animal would fall to the ground, since that leg was inserted into the other leg and they were hanging crossed together .

Rather, they pierced

the lamb

below its hock

[the knee], in its two hind legs.

And he hung

the two legs

on it

[in these holes], on the hooks that were on the pillars. And from then on, even if he cut the right leg, the animal would still remain hanging by its left leg.

He was

beginning to flay from above, from the side of the legs, and

he flayed and descended until he reached the breast!

The animal was thereby entirely flayed, except for the place of the breast and below it toward the head .

And when he

reached the breast

and stopped the flaying,

he cut the head

with its skin,

and gave it to the one who had merited it

to bring it up to the ramp, since the head does not require flaying. And its cutting from the body precedes all the limbs, because it precedes them in burning.

Afterward

he cut the

four

feet

[the lower part of the leg] that had already been flayed,

and gave them to the one who had merited them!

For he could also already cut the feet of the hands, since they too had already been flayed .

And afterward

he completed

[finished]

the flaying

entirely, by flaying the breast, which had not previously been flayed.

Afterward,

he tore

[opened]

the heart ,

and removed its blood !

Afterward

he cut the hands

[their upper part, from the elbow and above],

and gave them to the one who had merited them

to bring them up.

He ascended

with the knife

to the right leg and cut it, and gave it to the one who had merited it. And

the

two

testicles

he gave him

with it!

The lamb was now hanging only by its left leg. Therefore he did not cut the leg earlier, as long as the lamb was still heavy with all its limbs .

Afterward,

he tore it

the lamb along its entire length,

and it was found entirely exposed before him!

And from then on he could see the inside of the lamb well, more than he would have seen had he torn it while the leg was still attached to it.

He took the fat

[the suet],

and gave it

on the head that was already in the hand of the priest who had merited it. And they

placed it on top of the place of slaughter of the head.

Because the priest carried the head with the place of slaughter on top. And it is a manner of honor to cover the place of slaughter, which was soiled with blood.

He took the entrails

[the small intestines],

and gave them to the one who had merited them

to bring them up, in order

to wash them

with water from the filth in them .

And the stomach,

because it contains much filth,

they washed it in

the chamber called

“the House of Washing,”

and not in the courtyard, because they did not wish to remove all the refuse in the courtyard.

And

they did not establish a measure for washing it. Rather,

they washed it as much as necessary,

until it was thoroughly cleansed of the refuse within it.

But

the entrails,

whose filth was not so abundant,

they washed three times.

And the place of their washing was

on the smaller of the marble tables ,

which

were

in the House of Slaughter.

That is, on the smaller table among those tables. And they did not wash them in the House of Washing together with the stomach, so that they would not become soiled by it, since its filth was abundant.

And after he gave the entrails to the one who had merited them —

he took the knife and separated

[detached] with it

the lung from the liver, and

the

finger of the liver

[the small part of the liver, namely the “appendage of the liver,” which is offered in all offerings together with the suet]

from the liver,

because they were not offered together with it: the lung was offered with the throat [the neck], the liver with the flank, and the finger of the liver with the tailbone and the kidneys.

And he did not

move

the lung, the liver, and the finger of the liver

from their place,

after separating them from one another. Rather, he left the lung attached to the throat [the neck], the liver attached to the flank, and the finger of the liver attached to the tailbone, until the time of their dismemberment arrived.

Afterward,

he pierced

[separated with a knife]

the breast

from the flanks and ribs , and took it

and gave it to the one who had merited it!

[And cutting the breast is called “piercing,” because the breast covers the ribs, and when it is taken away, something like a hole and window is made in the animal.]

He ascended

with the knife

to the flank

of the lamb,

the right one. And he would cut

it

and descend until

its end, along

the spine. And he would not touch

with the knife

the spine

and cut it together with the right flank. Rather, he cut it close to the spine, leaving it attached to the left flank, because the liver was attached to the right flank. And if he attached the spine to it as well, he would make it excessively heavy.

And he would cut the flank

until

he

reached between the two

ribs

the

that were soft, adjacent to the neck, which he would leave in their place and not take together with the flank.

And at the beginning of cutting the flank, he would leave the two last ribs, adjacent to the lamb’s tail, in their place, and not take them with it.

He cut off

He cut

the right flank

and gave it to the one who had merited it.

And also

the liver

was

hanging from it,

and it was offered with it.

And afterward,

he came to the throat

[the neck], where he had already

left

earlier [at the time of cutting the flank]

two ribs on this side

[on the right].

And two ribs on this side

[on the left] he now cut together with it.

He cut

the throat

and gave it to the one who had merited it. And

also

the windpipe, the heart, and the lung were hanging from it,

and were offered with it.

Afterward,

he came to the left flank

to cut it.

And he left in it two soft ribs above

toward the tail, which he did not cut with it.

And

likewise

two soft ribs below

toward the neck were not cut with it, for they had already been taken with the throat.

And this is how he would leave with its companion,

on the right flank, the two lower and upper ribs, as stated above.

Thus he left

outside the flanks eight ribs:

two and two above,

on the right and on the left,

and two and two below,

on the right and on the left.

He cut

the left flank,

and gave it to the one who had merited it. And

also

the spine

was attached

to it. And

also

the spleen was hanging from it.

And they were offered with it together.

And

that flank

was

the

larger

of the flanks because of the spine attached to it.

But

the flank

on the right

was

called “larger,”

because

the liver was hanging from it.

And because they hung on it the liver, which was not part of the body of the flank, it was called “larger.”

Afterward,

he came to the tailbone

[the tail] of the lamb.

He cut it and gave it to the one who had merited it.

And they gave it together with

the fat tail, the finger of the liver, and the two kidneys

[and four ribs], and they were offered

with it.

He took

from the stand

the left leg,

which remained last of all the animal’s limbs,

and gave it to the one who had won it.

It was found that

all the priests who had won the bringing up of the limbs of the tamid to the ramp

were standing in a row, with the limbs in their hands.