Talking Talmud

The meal-offerings that are exceptions to the general acceptance of them when offered in error: a sin-offering, and a minhat kena'ot, the "jealousy" offering of the sotah-woman. With verses to establish why the sin-offering is necessarily different, while the sotah-offering is a little more complicated, and dependent also on some logic. But wait - there's another offering that ca...

Where are the most sacred offerings brought? And the less sacred offerings? That is, the northern and southern parts of the Temple courtyard, respectively. And what happens if the offering were brought in the wrong part of the courtyard? Also, what happens if one's intent is not for a grain-offering, but an animal sacrifice, for example? Or not for the right grain-offering? Intent is evident i...

Shifting away from the animal sacrifices of Tractate Zevahim to grain-offerings and the particulars of offering from grain. The first key aspect of a grain-offering is removing a fistful of grain from it, and the parallel is drawn between the handling of it and that of the blood that was collected from animal sacrifice for the altar. Opening with a new mishnah, of course: If that fistful were take...

More on private altars - beginning with whether a nighttime slaughter on a private altar was permitted. Plus, other details of the nature of the particulars of the acts on the altars. Also, issues of intent (back to pigul!) on the public altar in an era when there were private altars too. Plus, the effort to derive the laws about the private altars from the known laws about bird offerings and thei...

More on the altars outside and prior to the Temple - from Gilgal to Nov & Givon, and Shilo (when private altars weren't allowed). The Gemara explains that a verse in Deuteronomy that speaks of "menuchah" (rest) and "nachalah" (inheritance) should be applied to Shilo and Jerusalem, or perhaps the reverse. Also, investigating the claim that there were no grain-offerings a...

What offerings were made in the wilderness, after leaving Egypt? In Gilgal? What verses spurred Rabbi Shimon's opinion to say only some few sacrifices were made at Gilgal? The Pesach offering was made, of course. Note that the Children of Israel left Egypt without having been circumcised for years and years - until they then did circumcise themselves, with implications for their religious live...

When the Children of Israel stopped for some time at Gilgal, when private offerings were allowed. But what offerings did they actually bring? And which were simply not done then? Also, a deep dive into the sacrifices brought by a nazir. Plus, what it takes for an offering to be voluntary.

Which animals were allowed to be sacrificed altogether? Male, female, blemishes and not, etc. But what about a treyfa (an animal that was going to die within the year)? Plus, the Gemara probes the implications from this status to the animals that boarded Noah's ark. Distinguishing between "clean" and "unclean" animals may have been unclear before the giving of the Torah, bu...

A dispute over whether one is liable for slaughtering a premature guilt-offering outside of the Temple - a very specific case. Also, if what you slaughter isn't fit to be a Temple offering to begin with, for example, than there's no liability. Plus, offerings that were allowed to be brought outside of the courtyard (or, rather, the Tabernacle) because it hadn't yet been established as...

On blemished animals, premature animals, an animal and its offspring - any of these offered outside of the Temple would not make the person offering them liable, but they still violate a negative commandment. With some dispute over premature animals. Plus, the people who aren't ready to bring their offering - not the animal being unready, but the person who needs to bring it have no yet finish...

On slaughtering the red heifer "outside of the pit" has to mean more than "outside of the Temple," as this offering was always made outside of the Temple. So what is the concern here? The Gemara provides a few suggestions. Also, a sidestep away from the dispute between R. Yochanan and Resh Lakish on the daf about the concern of impurity in the land - and whether there might be...

Ending chapter 13: On the case that a sin-offering is lost, replaced, and then the first one is found - to what may it be compared? A question that itself is called into question. And what is happened to the animal that is not offered as the sin-offering, when it is not yet disqualified as an offering anyway? The parallel is made to suggest a burnt-offerring, though that has its own challenges. Al...

When the remnants of an offering's blood are brought outside of the Temple - that's a liability for violating offering outside of the Temple. This aspect of the blood is considered essential to the offering - with many subsequent implications (and subject to dispute). Also, a new mishnah - on melikah of the birdsa and also slaughtering - when the action taken outside the Temple is problema...

Mishnayot! Mishnah 1 - More on grain-offerings, when the offering is brought outside of the Temple courtyard - when the kohen's fistful has not been removed prior to the offering - that isn't a complete offering. But what if it is (the fistful of grain has been removed), and then it is offered incorrectly? Mishnah 2 - When the fistful and the levonah (frankincense) is offered outside, perh...

Two mishnayot! 1 - Circumstances of liability for offerings outside of the Temple and what happens those offerings are then invalidated. Plus, the return of pigul and notar as disqualifications. 2 - Moving on to the grain offering - a list of different circumstances of a grain offering, where it is brought outside of the Temple. Also, various other ways these offerings can go wrong, including deal...

On the case of one who is ritually impure and eats from the sacrificial foods, whether they are pure or impure, may or may not be liable for the violation. Except that Rabbi Yosi HaGalillee says that person would only be liable if the food he ate was pure. Also, a new mishnah: The stringency of slaughtering outside of the Temple and the offering up there, as well as its leniency. Plus, what happen...

After we've established how we know that slaughtering outside of the Temple violates a prohibition and likewise offering outside of the Temple, there's an investigating of the offerings that are meant to be burnt and offered in various places. Also, a focus on Rabbi Yishmael's and Rabbi Akiva's views regarding sprinkling the blood outside the Temple, and moving into discussion of o...

Chapter 13! On offering sacrifices in locations that are not specified, and therefore also prohibited for sacrifices. The new mishnah raises the cases of offering outside the Temple. With a difference of approach between Rabbi Yossi HaGalilee and the sages. Plus, a ritually pure person who ate that which was impure would be exempt from a sin-offering, and the mishnah provides the explanation why....

When the bulls and he-goats are taken out to get burned and they render the people who handle them impure, what happens if the carcasses need to be brought back through the courtyard? Plus, the question of multiple people carrying a carcass - but the carcass can leave the courtyard before the "back" carriers would be out of the courtyard. And then it boils down to a verse... Also, when a...

More on the hides that would go to the kohanim, unless disqualification gets in the way -- but that really depends on when the disqualification takes place, including before or after the sprinkling of the blood of that offering. Also, specific offerings where the meat was not eaten - "internal sin-offerings," for which the blood was brought on the inner altar - and they were burned at Be...

Two mishnayot: Mishnah 1 - When the burnt offering is disqualified, the kohanim won't get the hide of the offering, depending on when the disqualification took place, and why it's been disqualified (for example, not brought in the name of the right offering - which would not fulfill the person's obligation in bringing that offering, but the kohanim would get the hide). The Gemara focus...

On kings and whether Moses was one - with the argument that he was not king, and also that he was, but without being the progenitor of a dynasty of kingship. Which leads to a discussion of monarchic dynasties - and the lack thereof, including King Saul. Also, how kohanim who are unfit for the service of a given day do not eat from that day's offerings... except that the shares of meat given th...

The Gemara addresses the acute mourning of Aharon (Aaron) in the Torah when Nadav and Avihu die on the altar, when they bring the "strange fire" - and, among other offerings, a sin-offering was brought too - and Moshe (Moses) rebukes Aharon for burning the sin-offering among them. How much does Aharon's conduct inform the practices-to-be of kohanim in a state of acute mourning in the...

Rabbi Shimon's position of the acute mourner and the Pesach offering - and ways of resolving the apparent contradictions in his respective positions. Specifically, must the kohen become impure for the death of a close relative or does he have permission to do so? A clear dispute. But the need for a "met mitzvah" - perhaps that is not disputed, and the kohen must become impure for the...

On kohanim who weren't eligible to eat from the sacrificial meats - beginning with a t'vul yom, one who has immersed in the mikveh for purity, but the sun has not yet set, so he isn't pure yet, for the purposes of eating from the offerings. [What's What: Mishmarot] Plus, the question of a "ba'al mum" - the degree to which even the "blemished" kohen is still...