Zevachim 64a (סד.) — the Talmud in English

And we explain:

This is what it is saying: If he pinches [the bird’s neck] anywhere on the Altar, it is valid; if he drains its blood anywhere on the Altar, it is valid

Since

if he sprinkled but did not drain the blood

it is valid ,

therefore changing the location of the draining does not invalidate the sin-offering any more than failing to drain the blood altogether; and when we said that it is valid, this applies

only if he places

the preceding sprinkling

below the red line.

An additional condition was stated for the sprinkling to be valid: The blood that he sprinkles must be

the life-blood [the stream of blood through which the life departs], and not one of the other types of blood [as explained in the Gemara above, 25a].

[from the flow through which the life departs], and not from other kinds of blood [as explained in the Gemara above, 25a].

We learned in our Mishna:

That southwestern Horn

was

used for three matters below.

The statement that these three matters are performed at the southwestern Horn—where is this derived from?

The bird sin-offering:

The source is

that which we said

above, that we derived it from the meal-offering.

Bringing near

a meal-offering: This is derived

from that which is written: “And he shall bring it near to the Altar,”

as we expounded above.

The remnants of the blood

of external sin-offerings, which are poured out at this Horn: This is derived

from that which is written: “And he shall pour out all the blood at the base of the Altar.”

We learned above [53a] that the verse means that he should pour the blood at the southern base, which is nearest to him when he descends from the ramp, since the ramp stood on the south side; and throughout the southern side there was no base except for the one cubit at the southwestern Horn.

We learned in our Mishna: And that Horn was used

for three matters above: the pouring of the water and the wine, and the bird burnt-offering when it is plentiful in the east.

And we raise a difficulty: From the fact that the Mishna says concerning the bird burnt-offering, which is performed at the southwest,

“when it is plentiful in the east,”

it is evident that

its

proper initial location for pinching the bird burnt-offering is

the east.

And

what is the reason

that the east is its primary location?

Rabbi Yohanan said:

The reason that the bird burnt-offering’s primary location is in the east is

because it is near the ash house,

where the ash was located on the eastern side of the ramp, and where each morning they placed the removal of the ashes. Since it was stated that the crop and feathers [that is, the bird’s digestive tract together with its intestines] of a bird burnt-offering are to be cast to the ash house, the bird burnt-offering was initially performed in the east, which was near the ash house, so that it would be easy to cast the crop and feathers there.

Rabbi Yohanan said: Come and see how great was the strength of the priests

who served in the Temple:

There is no

part

lighter among birds than

that of

the crop and feathers,

and

at times—when many burnt-offerings were performed in the east, and there was not room in the east for all of them, so that some were performed at the southwestern Horn—

when many [bird burnt-offerings] are performed in the east, and there is no room in the east for all of them, and some are performed at the southwestern corner—

the priest would cast them more than thirty

cubits,

and an object so light is very difficult to cast from a distance; yet the priests’ strength was so great that they cast these feathers that far.

The statement that the ash house was more than thirty cubits distant from the southwestern Horn is supported by

that which we learned: He took

the priest who performed the service of removing the ashes

a silver pan, ascended to the top of the Altar, and cleared the coals

that had been made from the wood of the arrangement

to either side

of the Altar.

And

afterward

he took

with the pan

from

the ash of the coals that had been consumed on the arrangement, which were called

the inner consumed coals,

having been thoroughly consumed because they stood close to the fire and had become ash.

And he descended

from the Altar,

reached the floor

at the end of the ramp,

turned his face toward the north

of the courtyard—that is, toward the Altar—

and walked to the east of the ramp

approximately

ten cubits

from the end of the ramp. He was now twenty cubits distant from the top of the Altar, since the ramp was thirty-two cubits long, of which two cubits were above the Altar, and he had moved ten cubits from the end of the ramp toward the Altar. [Based on the explanation of the Sefer Tzon Kodashim.]

He piled

there

the coals on the floor, three handbreadths distant from the ramp—

there was the ash house, and this was

the place where the crop and feathers were placed, and

they likewise placed at this spot

the clearing of the inner Altar and

the clearing of

the candelabrum.

And we raise a difficulty: Why did Rabbi Yohanan say that the priests had to cast the crop and feathers of the burnt-offering, when they stood at the southwestern Horn, only more than thirty cubits, when

these were more than thirty-one [cubits]

the distance of their cast? For from the southwestern Horn of the Altar to the point on the Altar opposite the ash house there were twenty-two cubits—six cubits from the southwestern Horn to the ramp, and the ramp was sixteen cubits wide—and from that point to the ash house there was likewise a distance of twenty-two cubits. He cast diagonally, and we have a principle that when a square cubit is reckoned along a diagonal, it is one cubit plus two-fifths; therefore, twenty-two cubits diagonally are thirty cubits and four handbreadths. Add the three handbreadths by which the ash house was distant from the ramp, and the distance of the burnt-offering’s crop and feathers was thirty-one cubits and one handbreadth. Why, then, did Rabbi Yohanan say that he cast them only more than thirty cubits?

And we explain:

The man’s position,

the place where the priest stood at the time of casting,

he did not reckon. Rabbi Yohanan therefore reckoned only more than thirty cubits, since the place where the priest stood was one cubit.

Rabbi Yoḥanan therefore calculated only more than thirty cubits, since the place where the priest stood was one cubit.

We learned in our Mishna:

All those who ascend to the Altar

ascend on the right and go around the Altar, except for one who ascends for these three [the pouring of the wine and water and the bird burnt-offering]. In those cases, when he ascends to the Altar, he immediately turns to his left and does not go around the Altar.

What is the reason

that these three matters were not given the mitzva to ascend on the right?

Rabbi Yohanan said: The libations

were not given the mitzva to ascend on the right and go around the Altar because they were concerned

lest

the smoke of the Altar

smoke them

while he went around the Altar ; and wine and water that have been smoked are invalid for libations .

And the bird burnt-offering

was not given the mitzva of going around on the right

lest it die

the burnt-offering

from the smoke

of the Altar.

Meytivi:

An objection is raised to Rabbi Yohanan’s statement that they were concerned lest the libations become smoked, and for this reason the priests pouring the libations did not go around the Altar while holding the libations. Was it not stated in tractate Tamid:

He came

the High Priest, who could perform all the priestly services and was not dependent on a lottery like the other priests, and when he came

to go around the Altar, where did he begin? From the southeastern Horn,

and continued around the

northeastern

Horn, and continued around the

northwestern

Horn, and continued around the

southwestern Horn; they gave him wine to pour

and we had thought to say that this circling performed by the priest was while he held the wine, proving that they were not concerned lest the libations become smoked while going around the Altar. This is difficult for Rabbi Yohanan.