Zevachim 53b — the Talmud in English

The school of Rabbi Ishmael taught in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai:

The disciples of Rabbi Ishmael would recite that Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai says:

Both this and that have a western foundation,

in accordance with Rabbi Ishmael.

And your mnemonic is,

so that you should not exchange the version:

“Draw the men,”

the disciples of Rabbi Ishmael, who are numerous,

“to the man,”

to Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, to state his words as the words of their master.

Mishna:

The olah is holy of holies

and the practical consequence is that its flesh becomes disqualified through going outside the Temple courtyard, and one commits misuse of consecrated property through it even during the animal’s lifetime, and it becomes disqualified through the touch of one who has immersed that day and one lacking atonement.

Its slaughter is in the north, and the receiving of its blood is in a service vessel in the north,

and its blood requires two placements

on two opposite corners of the altar

which are four,

through which the blood reaches the four directions of the altar, and in the Gemara it will be explained how he does this.

And it requires

the olah

the flaying

of its hide,

and the cutting

into limbs,

and

it ascends upon the altar

entirely for the fires,

for all of it is burned upon the fire on the altar.

Gemara:

And we raise a difficulty concerning it:

An olah: for what reason did he teach it

in the Mishna that it is

holy of holies,

which he did not teach with regard to the other offerings of highest sanctity?

And we answer:

Because it is not written concerning it

explicitly

“It is holy of holies,”

and nevertheless it is holy of holies, since all of it is for the Most High [and there is no offering of highest sanctity like this. For with a sin-offering and a guilt-offering, which are offerings of highest sanctity, it is written explicitly concerning them that they are offerings of highest sanctity, and yet they are eaten].

We learned in the Mishna:

“And its blood requires two placements

which are four.”

And we raise a difficulty concerning it:

How does he perform

the two placements so that they reach the four directions of the altar?

Rav said:

He would make four separated placements. At first he would

place

the blood by throwing it onto one side of the corner, and afterward he would

return and place

it by means of another throw on its other side, and from there he would proceed to the opposite corner [diagonally] and place it on one of its sides, and return and place it on its other side. Thus, he would make four separate placements on the four sides of the altar, with the first two placements made at one corner and the last two at the corner opposite it [diagonally].

And Shmuel said:

One placement in the shape of a gamma

[and that is like the shape of our final kaf] he would

place

at one corner, and one placement in the shape of a gamma he would make at the opposite corner. Thus, he would throw only two throws, except that these two throws at the two opposite corners would split, by the force of the throwing, into four separate placements on the four sides of the altar.

And we say that this dispute between Rav and Shmuel, whether he gives the blood in four separate placements or in two placements that split through the force of the throw into four, is

in accordance with a dispute between tannaim.

As it is taught:

One might have thought that he should throw it

the blood

in one throw

alone;

the verse says,

“And they shall throw the blood upon the altar

around.”

And in one throw it is impossible to throw around the altar.

If [the verse says] “around,” one might have thought that he should encircle it

the altar with the blood

like a thread

that goes around the entire altar;

the verse says, “And they shall throw it.”

And by throwing it is impossible to encircle it like a thread, except by dipping the finger in the blood and encircling the altar with the blood that is on the finger, around it.

How then

can the two verses be fulfilled, both “around” and “and they shall throw it,”

in the shape of a gamma?

He shall give

two placements,

each one by a throw, at two opposite corners,

which are four.

It follows that there is here both throwing and “around” to the four directions of the altar.

Rabbi Ishmael says: “Here ‘around’ is stated, and below

with regard to a sin-offering

‘around’ is stated. Just as there, separation and four placements,

for on the four upper corners he gives four placements separated from one another,

so here,

although it is at two corners, nevertheless

separation and four placements

are required. And this is in accordance with Rav, who places on one side and returns and places on the other side.

Lest you say:

If so, just as below

with regard to a sin-offering,

four placements

upon

four corners

above,

so here,

with an olah, a guilt-offering, and peace-offerings, let us say

four placements upon four corners.

Your answer is:

You said: An olah requires

that its blood be given on the altar opposite

the foundation,

so that beneath the place where its blood is given on the wall of the altar there will be a foundation,

and the southeastern corner did not have a foundation

beneath it. Therefore, it is impossible to say that with it there is a placement on all four corners ממש. Accordingly, he gives at two corners in a manner that causes [the blood] to reach all four directions.

And we raise a difficulty concerning it:

What is the reason

that the southeastern corner did not have a foundation beneath it?

Rabbi Elazar said:

Because it was not in the portion of the Predator,

namely, Benjamin, concerning whom it is stated, “A wolf he shall tear,” and Jacob prophesied concerning him, “In the morning he shall devour.” The Aramaic translation explains that the altar would be built in his portion. That corner was not in his portion; therefore, there was no foundation there.

For Rav Shmuel bar Rav Yitzhak said: “The altar ‘eats,’

occupies space

in the portion of Judah

in width

of one cubit.

For a width of one cubit along the length of the altar, on its eastern and southern sides, which ought to have had a foundation, was in the portion of Judah [apart from one cubit at the northeastern corner and one cubit at the southwestern corner, which were not in the portion of Judah].

Rabbi Levi bar Hama said that Rabbi Hama bar Rabbi Hanina said: A strip extended from the portion of Judah,

which was on the eastern side of the altar,

and entered the portion of Benjamin,

for all the rest of the surroundings of the altar, including the altar itself, was in the portion of Benjamin, apart from an area of a strip one cubit wide that extended from the east toward the south of the altar, until before the last cubit at the southwestern corner.

And Benjamin the righteous

would gaze with the holy spirit, for it was destined to be,

and he would grieve over it every day, to take it.