Zevachim 53a — the Talmud in English

He ascended

the priest

by the ramp

with the blood-bowl in his hand,

and turned [

by means of the small ramp leading]

to the “surrounding walkway,”

and when he reached the place of the surrounding walkway, he turned to the right, as it proceeds to explain.

The “surrounding walkway” was the place where the width of the altar was reduced by the measure of one cubit on each side, and thus a place of passage was formed upon which the priests would go around when they came to place the blood of sin-offerings upon the horns of the altar. The height of the surrounding walkway was five cubits above the base, which were six cubits above the ground. And the top of the altar was three cubits higher than the surrounding walkway. At the four corners at the top of the altar, the horns projected upward, the area of each horn being one cubit by one cubit.

And he came

first

to the southeastern horn,

at which he first encountered when turning to his right. For the ramp stood in the south of the altar, and it follows that one who ascended the ramp faced north, with his right side toward the east. And since we hold that “all turns that you turn shall be toward the right,” he had to turn right, in the direction of the east, and the first horn that he encountered was the southeastern horn, and he placed upon it with his finger the first placement of blood.

And after he placed the blood upon the southeastern horn, he continued to go around the altar, with his face turned toward the altar. Therefore, his next turn to the right was a turn toward the northern side of the altar, until he reached the horn

northeastern,

and placed upon it the second placement of blood. And from there he continued, with his face turned toward the altar, and turned toward his right side, toward the western side of the altar, and went until he reached the horn

northwestern,

and placed some of the blood upon it, and from there he turned right and reached the fourth horn,

southwestern,

and placed some of the blood upon it.

The remnants of the blood—

he would pour

upon the southern base

of the altar.

And they are eaten

the meat of the sin-offerings

within the curtains

of the courtyard of the Tabernacle, and in the Temple, within the wall of the Temple courtyard.

And they are eaten

by male members of the priesthood

alone.

And their eating is

in every

form of

food,

whether roasted or cooked.

And the time for eating them is

for a day and a night

until

midnight.

By Torah law, their time for eating is until morning; however, the Sages decreed that they be eaten only until midnight, so that they would not come to stumble if they ate them on the following day and become liable for karet because of the prohibition against eating notar.

Gemara:

And we inquire concerning this law of the placing of the blood of a sin-offering:

How does he perform

the finger-placement upon the horn?

And we answer: They disagree concerning it,

Rabbi Yohanan and Rabbi Elazar.

One said:

The place of placing the blood upon the horn is not specifically at the point of the horn; rather, he

places

upon the altar wall in the area adjacent to the point of the horn,

one cubit this way

from one of its sides,

and one cubit this way

from its other side [that is, upon one of the two sides of the horn].

And one said: He performs the sin-offering rite [

the placing of the blood of a sin-offering is called this, as in the wording of the verse, “the priest who performs the sin-offering rite with it”]

and descends opposite the point of the horn.

And the Gemara explains their dispute:

According to Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon, who said

that the mitzva of the placement is upon the horn projecting above the top of the altar, and not upon the walls of the altar, as in the wording of Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon, “

it itself [

that is, the principal mitzva of placing the blood of a sin-offering]

is performed only upon the body of the horn,” everyone agrees

that he places upon the entire projecting horn, and not specifically at the point of its angle, since the entire area of the projecting horn is called “horn.”

When they disagree

are Rabbi Yohanan and Rabbi Elazar whether he is obligated to place upon the point of the horn, or whether he may place upon the cubit adjacent to the point of the horn,

according to Rabbi,

who deemed it valid to place some of the blood also upon the altar wall beneath the projecting horn, which is also called “horn” [provided that it is above the red line]. And they disagree concerning the meaning of that “horn” on the walls of the altar—

One master holds

that he may place upon

one cubit this way and one cubit this way

from the point of the angle, because that entire cubit on the altar wall located beneath the projecting horn, which is aligned

opposite the “horn”

above it,

is also a “horn.”

And one master holds—

opposite the point, yes; beyond that, no,

because only the point of the angle of the altar walls is called “horn” [apart from the horn projecting above at the top of the altar, and no more].

He raised an objection

from that which was taught in a beraita:

“The sin-offering of the community and of an individual: how

is the order of placing its blood?”

He would ascend the ramp and turn to the surrounding walkway, and he would come

first

to the southeastern horn, and dip his right finger,

with the finger

skilled [

which is the finger adjacent to the thumb, with which one can perform a task independently, without requiring the assistance of the other fingers, such as extending and dipping]

of the

hand

of the right hand,

and with his dipped finger he took

from the blood in the bowl, and he pressed [

drew] the blood

with his thumb [

with his thumb]

upward, and with his little finger downward,

so that all the blood would fall upon the altar.

And he performed the sin-offering rite and descended opposite the point of the horn, until he emptied all the blood in his finger. And so

he would do

with each and every horn.

And if so, it is proven from this beraita that he places the blood upon the point of the horn, and this is a difficulty for the one who says one cubit here and one cubit there!?

And we answer:

This is what

the tannay of the beraita

said:

It is a

mitzva

to place the blood of the sin-offering, ab initio,

upon the point; but if he performed it upon one cubit this way and one cubit this way, we have no concern with it,

to invalidate it, and it is valid after the fact.

And now we explain:

What is Rabbi’s position and what is the position of Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon,

where do we find that they dispute this?

For it was taught: The upper bloods,

of the offerings whose blood is placed above,

are placed

upon the wall of the altar beginning

from the red line and above,

including the blood of a sin-offering, which is placed above the red line.

The lower bloods

of offerings whose blood is placed below

are placed from the red line and below—

the words of Rabbi.

Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon says: With what matter are these words stated,

that upper bloods are valid to be placed upon the wall of the altar above the red line?

With regard to a bird burnt-offering,

in which “horn” was not stated.

But with regard to an animal sin-offering,

in which “horn” is written,

it itself [

the principal mitzva] of the placing of its blood

is performed only upon the body of the horn [

projecting from the top of the altar].

Rabbi Abbahu said: What is the reason of Rabbi?

For it is written in Ezekiel [chapter 43], in the description of the altar: “

And the altar-hearth [

this is the name of the altar in the Book of Ezekiel]

four cubits. And from the altar-hearth upward, four.”

And we inquire concerning this verse: Is it the measure of the height or the width of the altar

that is four cubits!?

Rav Adda bar Ahava said: The place of the horns

is

four

cubits, since each horn is one cubit by one cubit.

And we raise a difficulty: Is

the place of the horns

“

four

cubits,” a wording that is understood as though the horns occupy an area of four by four cubits, whereas they occupy only two by two? And from this we prove:

Rather, say—

the domain of the horns

is

four.

That is, the entire area from the top of the horn downward upon the wall of the altar, until the red line, is fit for the placing of the blood of an animal sin-offering; and this area, from the top of the altar until the red line, has a height of four cubits, in accordance with the words of Rabbi.

We learned there:

A red line

encircles

the altar around

at the middle

of its height,

to distinguish between the upper bloods and the lower bloods.

And we inquire concerning it:

From where are these matters

that the altar is divided in two with regard to the place of the bloods?

And we answer:

Rav Aha bar Rav Ketina said: As it is stated, “And the net shall extend to the middle of the altar,”

and we derive from the fact that we see that the Torah was particular concerning half of the altar—

the Torah provided a partition to distinguish between the upper bloods and the lower bloods.

We learned in the Mishna:

The remnants of the blood

were poured upon the southern base.

The Sages taught: “

To the base of the altar”

stated with regard to the pouring of the remnants of the blood of an external sin-offering—

this is the southern base.

You say this is the southern base, or is it only the western base, and one should derive the concealed from the explicit,

from the internal sin-offerings, concerning which “at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting” is explicitly stated, which is the western base!?

You have said: Let him derive its descent from the ramp

with the remnants of the blood in his hand

from his exit from the Sanctuary

with the remnants of the blood in his hand.

Just as at his exit from the Sanctuary

he pours the blood upon the western base, which is

adjacent to it

at the place of his exit,

so too, at his descent from the ramp

he shall pour upon the southern base, which is

adjacent to it

at the place of his descent, since the ramp was in the south of the altar.

It was taught: Rabbi Ishmael says: This one and that one,

the remnants of the blood of the internal sin-offerings and the external sin-offerings, shall be poured upon

the western base.

Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai says:

This one and that one upon

the southern base.

And we inquire concerning it:

Granted, according to the one who says that this one and that one are upon the western base,

it is understandable, for he

holds: Let him derive

the blood of the external sin-offerings, which is

concealed,

since it was not stated where the remnants are to be poured,

from the explicit,

from the blood of the internal offerings, concerning which it was stated, “to the base of the burnt-offering at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,” which is the western base.

But according to the one who says that this one and that one are upon the southern base,

it is difficult:

what is the reason?

But it is written concerning the pouring of the remnants of the internal bloods, “to the base at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,” which is the western base!?

And we answer:

Rav Asi said: This tannay holds that the entire altar stands in the north

of the courtyard

of the Temple,

and it follows that when the High Priest exits from the entrance of the Sanctuary with the remnants of the blood of the internal sin-offering, he first encounters the southern base of the altar, and not the western base. Consequently, the verse that says to place the blood upon the base “at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting” is speaking of the southern base; and from here we also learn with regard to external sin-offerings that they shall be poured upon the southern base.

Alternatively,

the entire

entrance

of the Sanctuary

stood in the south

of the altar

of the Temple,

for the entire altar was north of the entrance of the Sanctuary, and it follows that one exiting from it encounters the south of the altar. [And according to this alternative wording, it is the same as the first wording, except that it uses a different expression.]