Zevachim 86b (פו:) — the Talmud in English

And we answer:

No, it is necessary

for the ruling of the Mishna only in the case of

chariri

—meat that is hard because of the fire that prevailed throughout it, but which did not become charcoal; rather, it is like wood that is dry inside. It is only in these cases that the law differs between pieces that fell off before midnight, which must be returned, and pieces that fell off after midnight, which need not be returned.

And the Gemara explains:

From where are these matters

—the distinction between pieces that fell off before midnight and those that fell off after midnight—derived?

Rav said: One verse says: “It is the burnt offering upon its firewood on the altar

all night

all night

until morning” [Leviticus 6], with regard to the law of

and he shall burn

which is the subject of the verse; its meaning is that the burning must continue throughout the night.

And one verse

namely, that same verse itself,

says, ‘all night’

also with regard to

and he shall remove

the ashes: The mitzva of removing the ashes is likewise to be performed during the night. This is because the verse “and he shall remove the ashes” must necessarily refer to what is stated immediately above it, “all night,” since it does not say: “And the koen shall put on his linen garment in the morning and remove [the ashes].” If so, there is a contradiction here: On the one hand, the mitzva of burning must continue throughout the night, while on the other hand, the removal of the ashes of the burning must also be performed during the night. How can both be fulfilled? Rather, the verse must be interpreted to say:

Divide

the night:

Half of it

is designated

for burning,

since the burning is not considered complete until the material becomes ashes,

and half of it for removal,

since even these hard pieces are fit for removal from that time onward, and are already called ashes.

However, it is obvious that since the removal of the ashes must be performed with ashes and not with meat, anything that has not become ashes must be returned if it falls off, even after midnight. [Therefore, when we learned here that there is something designated both for burning and for the removal of the ashes, it must refer to chariri that hardened but did not yet become charcoal. Regarding this, the verse states that before midnight they are still subject to the mitzva of burning, whereas after midnight they are designated for removal. Consequently, if they fell from the altar before midnight, they must be returned, since they are still designated for burning; but if they fell after midnight, when they are already fit for removal, they are not returned, since they are no longer subject to the mitzva of burning.]

Rav Kahana raises an objection

to Rav’s statement that the night is divided in half, half for burning and half for the removal of the ashes—implying that before midnight is not the time for removing the ashes, even in the case of material that has already become ashes: We learned:

Every day

he would

remove ashes from the altar

and take from it a full coal-pan of ashes

from

the time

when the rooster crowed, or shortly before it or shortly afterward. On Yom Kippur

he would remove the ashes

at midnight

of the night.

On the Festivals,

when there were many offerings and much ash, and it was necessary to bring it up to the ash heap in the middle of the altar in order to arrange the pyre and prepare it for the morning daily offering, he would remove the ashes already

during the first watch

of the night, which is before midnight.

And

now,

if it enters your mind

that the mitzva of removing the ashes

from midnight

is

by Torah law

and may not be performed earlier, then

how do we perform it earlier

on the Festivals, removing the ashes already during the first watch? And we answer:

Rabbi Yohanan said:

It is indeed true that chariri are not fit for removal before midnight, as Rabba expounded from the verse teaching that the completion of chariri is determined by midnight. What we find here concerning removal before midnight refers to a case in which the material has been completely consumed, and we learn this from an additional exposition. And it is as follows:

From the implication of the statement ‘all night,’ do I not know that

the mitzva of burning is

until morning?

If the verse were understood only according to its plain meaning, as teaching us that limbs may be placed upon the altar and burned until morning, it should have written only “all night,” and we would have understood on our own that this means until morning. If so,

what is the purpose of stating “

until

the

morning”?

Rather, this phrase comes only with regard to the mitzva of removing the ashes. Thus the verse says, “until morning—and he shall remove,” meaning, he shall remove the ashes before morning, to tell you:

Give a morning to the morning of the night

—that is, regarding the existing morning, which is dawn, add an additional period before it, which is also considered morning with regard to the removal of the ashes. Since no measure of time is specified for this, everything is determined according to the needs of the moment.

Therefore

the Sages said:

Every day, from the time when the rooster crowed is sufficient

for performing the removal of the ashes. But

on Yom Kippur, because of the weakness of the High Priest,

since the entire service rests upon his shoulders, the removal is performed earlier,

at midnight

of the night.

And on the Festivals, when there are many offerings,

and because

Israel comes early

to the Temple to bring their offerings, the removal is therefore performed already

during the first watch. As the latter clause teaches

of this beraita:

The rooster had not yet crowed before the courtyard was filled with Israelites.

It was stated

with regard to what we learned in the Mishna concerning limbs that hardened through the fire but had not yet become charcoal: Their time for burning is until midnight, while the time for their removal is from midnight onward:

They interpreted

those limbs

before midnight

as still being subject to the mitzva of burning and therefore requiring return,

and

he

returned them after midnight.

Since they were not on the altar at midnight—the determining time that renders them fit for removal and removes from them the status of items designated for burning—their status was not established as being for removal. Consequently, they remained subject to the law of burning. The amoraim now disagreed as to when the status of removal becomes established for them: