Zevachim 38

התם חד קרא כוליה לגופיה וחד לסככה אתאי הלכתא וגרעתה לשלישית ואוקימתה אטפח

The Gemara answers: There, one of the five indicated by the verse is needed entirely for the mitzva itself, i.e., to teach the basic halakha that one must dwell in a sukka. And another one of the five is needed to teach that a sukka, as is indicated by its name, must have a covering [sekhakha]. Accordingly, there are three left, alluding to the requirement that a sukka must have three walls. The Gemara adds that the halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai comes and reduces the size of the third wall, teaching that it need not be complete, and sets its minimum length at only one handbreadth.

אלא מעתה וטמאה שבעים שבעים אהני קרא ואהני מסורת ארבעים ותרין בעיא למיתב

The Gemara raises yet another objection: If that is so, that both the vocalized and the consonantal texts are taken into account, consider the case of a woman who gives birth to a female child. Concerning this woman the verse states: “But if she bear a female child, then she shall be impure two weeks [shevu’ayim], as in her menstruation” (Leviticus 12:5). The way that the word is written allows it to be read as shivim, seventy. Why not say that the vocalized text of the Torah is effective, teaching us that the woman is ritually impure for fourteen days, and the consonantal text is also effective, teaching us that she is impure for seventy days, and, therefore, she should be required to sit in a state of ritual impurity for forty-two days, which is the halfway point between fourteen and seventy days?

שאני התם דכתיב כנדתה

The Gemara answers: There it is different, and the consonantal text is disregarded entirely, as it is written: “As in her menstruation,” and a menstruating woman is impure for one week. Evidently, the verse is speaking in terms of weeks, and is not alluding to the number seventy at all.

ותנא מייתי לה מהכא וכפר וכפר וכפר מפני הדין

§ The Gemara further analyzes the opinion of Beit Hillel that even in the case of a sin offering, if the priest placed the blood on the altar with one placement, he facilitated atonement. And a tanna cites proof for this from here, as it was taught in a baraita: The verse states with regard to the sin offering brought by a king: “And the priest shall make atonement for him” (Leviticus 4:26), and with regard to the goat brought as a sin offering by an ordinary person: “And the priest shall make atonement for him” (Leviticus 4:31), and with regard to the sheep brought as a sin offering by an ordinary person: “And the priest shall make atonement for him” (Leviticus 4:35). The repetition of this term is due to a logical inference.

שיכול והלא דין הוא נאמרו דמים למטה ונאמרו דמים למעלה מה מתן דמים האמורים למטה שנתנן במתנה אחת כיפר אף דמים האמורים למעלה שנתנן במתנה אחת כיפר

As one might have thought to say: Could this not be derived through logical inference as follows: It is stated that blood is placed below the red line, and it is stated that blood is placed above the red line. Just as with regard to the blood concerning which it is stated that it is placed below the red line, when the priest placed it on the altar with one placement he facilitated atonement, so too, with regard to the blood concerning which it is stated that it is placed above the red line, when the priest placed it on the altar with one placement he facilitated atonement.

או כלך לדרך זו נאמרו דמים בפנים ונאמרו דמים בחוץ מה דמים האמורים בפנים חיסר אחת מן המתנות לא עשה ולא כלום אף דמים האמורין בחוץ חיסר אחת מן המתנות לא עשה ולא כלום

Or perhaps, go this way, turning away from the previous explanation and toward this explanation: It is stated that blood is presented on the inner altar, i.e., with regard to a sin offering of the community or of the High Priest; the blood of these offerings is sprinkled on the incense altar that is inside the Sanctuary. And it is stated that blood is presented on the external altar, i.e., with regard to the sin offering of an ordinary person, which is offered on the outer altar that is in the courtyard. Just as with regard to the blood concerning which it is stated that it is presented on the inner altar, if the priest omitted one of the placements he has done nothing, i.e., the offering is not valid, so too, with regard to the blood concerning which it is stated that it is presented on the external altar, if the priest omitted one of the placements he has done nothing.

נראה למי דומה דנין חוץ מחוץ ואין דנין חוץ מבפנים או כלך לדרך זו דנין חטאת וארבע קרנות מחטאת וארבע קרנות ואל יוכיח חוץ שאין חטאת וארבע קרנות

The Gemara analyzes the two possibilities: Let us see to which of the two cases the blood of an animal sin offering is more similar. It can be claimed: We derive a halakha stated with regard to the external altar from a halakha stated with regard to the external altar, but we do not derive a halakha stated with regard to the external altar from a halakha stated with regard to the inner altar. Or, go this way: We derive a halakha stated with regard to a sin offering whose blood is to be placed on the four corners of the altar from a halakha stated with regard to a sin offering whose blood is to be placed on the four corners of the altar. But a sin offering consisting of a bird, which is not a sin offering whose blood is to be placed on the four corners of the altar, cannot serve as proof to the halakha concerning an animal sin offering, whose blood is to be placed on the four corners of the altar.

תלמוד לומר וכפר וכפר וכפר (מפני הדין) וכפר אף על פי שלא נתן אלא שלש וכפר אף על פי שלא נתן אלא שתים וכפר אף על פי שלא נתן אלא אחת

Since both of the above inferences are reasonable, neither can serve as the source of the halakha. Therefore, the verse states: “And the priest shall make atonement,” “And the priest shall make atonement,” “And the priest shall make atonement,” for a total of three times. The verses are interpreted as follows: “And the priest shall make atonement,” even if he placed only three placements. Subsequently: “And the priest shall make atonement,” even if he placed only two placements, and then: “And the priest shall make atonement,” even if he placed only one placement. This interpretation is the source of Beit Hillel’s opinion.

והאי מיבעי ליה לגופיה אמר רבא בר אדא מרי אסברה לי אמר קרא וכפר ונסלח זו היא כפרה זו היא סליחה

The Gemara challenges: But each of these verses is necessary for itself, to teach that atonement is achieved for each of the sins through its respective sin offering. Rava said: Bar Adda Mari explained this matter to me: The verse states with regard to each of these sin offerings: “And the priest shall make atonement…and he shall be forgiven” (Leviticus 4:26, 31, 35). This is atonement and this is forgiveness; they are one and the same. Since it would have sufficed to say: “And he shall be forgiven,” the superfluous mentions of the phrase: “And the priest shall make atonement,” serve to teach that the priest facilitates atonement even if he has not performed all the placements.

אימא וכפר אף על פי שלא נתן אלא שלש למעלה ואחת למטה וכפר אף על פי שלא נתן אלא שתים למטה ושתים למעלה וכפר אף על פי שלא נתן למעלה אלא למטה

The Gemara asks: But even if these phrases are superfluous, do they necessarily indicate that a priest who omitted placements has nevertheless facilitated atonement? Why not say that these phrases serve to teach that if the priest placed all the placements he facilitated atonement even if the placements were placed in the wrong place? And expound the verses as follows: “And the priest shall make atonement,” even if he placed the blood on the altar with only three placements above, on the corners of the altar, and one below, on the lower portion of the altar; “And the priest shall make atonement,” even if he placed the blood with only two placements above and two below; “And the priest shall make atonement,” even if he did not place the blood above at all, but only below.

אמר רב אדא בר יצחק אם כן ביטלת תורת ארבע קרנות ואי רחמנא אמר ליבטלון

Rav Adda bar Yitzḥak says: If so, that the priest facilitates atonement even if he placed all the placements below, you have abolished the requirement of four corners that is stated with regard to the sin offering (see, e.g., Leviticus 4:34), as the four corners are on the upper portion of the altar. The Gemara is puzzled by Rav Adda bar Yitzḥak’s claim: But if the Merciful One states that this is so, let this requirement be abolished.

אמר רבא איזהו דבר שצריך שלש הוי אומר אלו קרנות

As Rav Adda bar Yitzḥak’s claim was rejected, Rava said there is a different reason why the previous claim cannot be accepted: What is the item that requires three repetitions of “and the priest shall make atonement,” i.e., to what are these verses referring? You must say that these are the corners of the altar. The Torah must teach that the priest facilitates atonement even if he did not place the blood on three of the four corners. But in order for the verses to teach that all four placements can be placed below, the phrase “and the priest shall make atonement” would have to be written four times.

אימא וכפר אף על פי שלא נתן אלא אחת למעלה ושלש למטה

The Gemara asks further: Even so, it is possible to interpret the three repetitions of the phrase “and the priest shall make atonement” as referring to the location of the placements, without abolishing the requirement of corners, as one can say: “And the priest shall make atonement,” even though he placed the blood on the altar with only three placements above and one below; “And the priest shall make atonement,” even though he placed the blood with only two placements above and two below; “And the priest shall make atonement,” even though he placed the blood with only one placement above and three below.

לא מצינו דמים שחציין למעלה וחציין למטה ולא והתנן הזה ממנו אחת למעלה ושבע למטה

The Gemara answers: This entire line of inquiry can be rejected, as we do not find a case involving blood, half of which is placed above the red line and half of which is placed below it. One either places all the blood on the lower half of the altar, as in the case of most offerings, or all of it on the upper half of the altar, as in the case of sin offerings. The Gemara asks: And is there really no case of that sort? But didn’t we learn in a mishna (Yoma 53b): The High Priest took the blood of the bull into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled from the blood one time upward and then seven times downward? Apparently, part of the blood of an offering can be sprinkled upward, toward the upper part of the Ark Cover, and part can be placed downward, toward the lower part of the Ark Cover.

כמצליף מאי כמצליף מחוי רב יהודה כמנגדנא

The Gemara rejects this: That is not a case where half the blood is sprinkled upward and half is sprinkled downward. Instead, that sprinkling was like a matzlif. The Gemara explains: What is the meaning of like a matzlif? Rav Yehuda demonstrated with his hand; it means like one who whips. One who whips another does not strike repeatedly in one place but directs one lash beneath the other.

הזה על טהרו של מזבח שבע פעמים

The Gemara further asks: And is there really no case of that sort? But didn’t we learn in a mishna (Yoma 58b) about the Yom Kippur service: After the High Priest sprinkled blood on the four corners of the incense altar, he sprinkled blood seven times on tohoro of the altar.

מאי לאו אפלגיה דמזבח כדאמרי אינשי טהר טיהרא דיומא אמר רבא בר שילא לא אגילוייה דכתיב וכעצם השמים לטהר

What, is it not referring to the middle of the side of the altar, as people say: Clear noon [tihara], that is the middle of the day? Accordingly, the root tet, heh, reish denotes the middle; in the one case, the middle of the day, and in the other case, halfway up the altar. Now, since the blood was sprinkled on the altar seven times, inevitably some of the blood landed above the midpoint and some of it landed below the midpoint. Rava bar Sheila said: No, that is not the meaning of tohoro. Rather, tohoro means on the revealed part, i.e., the top, of the altar, as it is written: “Like the very clear [latohar] sky” (Exodus 24:10). Tohoro is referring to the top of the altar when it has been revealed, after the ashes of the incense are cleared and the pure gold is visible.

והאיכא שירים שירים לא מעכבי

The Gemara asks again: Is there not a case where some of the blood is presented above the red line and some of it is presented below? But there is the remainder of the blood, which is poured on the base of the altar even in the case of a sin offering, the main blood of which is placed on the upper portion of the altar. The Gemara answers: The pouring of the remainder of the blood on the base of the altar is not indispensable for atonement. Blood that is indispensable for atonement is in no instance presented half above the red line and half below it.

והאיכא שירים הפנימים דאיכא דמאן דאמר מעכבי בחד מקום קאמרינן

The Gemara continues this line of questioning: But there is the remainder of the blood of the inner sin offerings, the main blood of which is sprinkled on the inner altar. The remainder of the blood of these offerings is poured on the base of the external altar, and there is one who says that this pouring of the blood is indispensable for atonement. The Gemara explains: When we said that there is no blood, half of which is presented above and half below, we said this with regard to one place, i.e., the same altar. The blood of inner sin offerings is sprinkled on the inner altar, while the remainder of that blood is poured on the base of the external altar. There is no case of blood, half of which is presented above and half of which is presented below on the same altar.

תניא רבי אליעזר בן יעקב אומר בית שמאי אומרים שתי מתנות שבחטאת ואחת שבכל הזבחים מתירות

§ The mishna teaches that according to the opinion of Beit Shammai, in the case of a sin offering two placements facilitate atonement, while with regard to other offerings a single placement is sufficient. Beit Hillel disagree and say that even in the case of a sin offering one placement suffices after the fact. With regard to this issue, it is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya’akov says: Beit Shammai say that two placements in the case of a sin offering, and one placement in the case of other offerings, they render the offering permitted for eating since these actions facilitate atonement after the fact, despite the fact that blood was not placed on all four corners of the altar.

ומפגלות בית הלל אומרים אחת שבחטאת ואחת שבכל הזבחים מתרת ומפגלת

And similarly they render the offering piggul. That is to say, if the priest placed two placements of the blood of a sin offering or one placement of the blood of any another offering, intending to eat or burn the offering beyond its designated time, the offering is piggul. Beit Hillel say: One placement in the case a sin offering, and likewise one placement in the case of all the other offerings, if done with proper intent, renders the offering permitted for eating and, if done with improper intent, renders the offering piggul.

מתקיף לה רב אושעיא אם כן ליתנייה גבי קולי בית שמאי וחומרי בית הלל

Rav Oshaya objects to this: If so, let this halakha be taught in the fourth chapter of tractate Eduyyot alongside the other rare cases of Beit Shammai’s leniencies and Beit Hillel’s stringencies. According to Beit Hillel, a sin offering is piggul even if the priest intended to partake of it beyond its designated time even while performing a single placement, whereas Beit Shammai maintain that the offering is piggul only if he had this improper intent during two placements.

אמר ליה רבא כי איתשיל להתירא איתשיל דהוו להו בית שמאי לחומרא

Rava said to Rav Oshaya: When this question was initially asked, and the Sages stated their opinions concerning the matter, it was asked with regard to the permission to partake of the sin offering. In other words, the dispute arose as a result of an inquiry into the other relevant halakha, i.e., whether the priests may partake of a sin offering, the blood of which was placed only one time. In this case it is Beit Shammai who are more stringent, as they permit the meat of a sin offering only after two placements have been placed. For this reason, this case was not listed among the other leniencies of Beit Shammai and stringencies of Beit Hillel.

אמר רבי יוחנן שלש מתנות שבחטאות אינן באות בלילה ובאות לאחר מיתה והמעלה מהן בחוץ חייב

§ Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Despite the fact that, according to the opinion of Beit Hillel, the last three placements in the case of a sin offering are not indispensable to the atonement, they may not be performed at night, because the blood is invalidated at sunset. And these three placements may be performed after the death of the owner. If the owner of the offering died before any of the blood was placed on the altar, the blood may not be placed, and the offering is burned as a disqualified offering. But if he died after one placement, the priest may perform the other three placements, as he has already facilitated atonement by means of the first placement. And as it is a mitzva to perform these three placements on the altar, one who offers this blood up on an altar outside the Temple is liable to receive karet, the punishment received by one who offers a sacrifice outside the Temple.

אמר רב פפא יש מהן כתחלתו ויש מהן כסופו

Rav Pappa says: There are some respects in which the blood of the last three placements of a sin offering is treated like the blood presented at the outset, i.e., like the blood of the first placement, and there are some respects in which the blood of the last three placements is treated like the blood presented at the end, i.e., like the remainder of the blood of a sin offering.

חוץ ולילה זרות וכלי שרת קרן ואצבע כיבוס ושירים כתחלתן

Rav Pappa elaborates: With regard to liability for presenting blood outside the Temple, and concerning the prohibition against presenting blood at night, and with regard to the disqualification of a non-priest from presenting blood and his liability for death at the hand of Heaven if he presents blood in the Temple, and with regard to the requirement that the blood that is to be presented must first be placed in a service vessel, and that the blood must be placed on the corner of the altar, and that the placement must be performed with the priest’s finger, and concerning the obligation to launder a garment onto which the blood of a sin offering sprayed, and finally with regard to the requirement of pouring the remainder of the blood on the base of the altar, the last three placements are treated like blood presented at the outset, i.e., like the first placement.

ובאות לאחר מיתה לא שריא ולא מפגלא ולא עיילא לגואי כסופן

But these last three placements may be performed after the death of the owner; and they do not render the offering permitted for eating, as that was already achieved by means of the first placement; nor do they render the offering piggul if during these placements the priest intended to eat or burn the offering beyond its designated time; and similarly, they are not governed by the halakha that if the blood enters inside the Sanctuary the sin offering is disqualified. With regard to all these matters the blood of the last three placements is treated like the blood presented at the end, i.e., like the remainder of the blood of a sin offering.

אמר רב פפא מנא אמינא לה דתנן ניתז מן הצואר על הבגד אינו טעון כיבוס מן הקרן ומן היסוד אינו טעון כיבוס הא מן הראוי לקרן טעון כיבוס

With regard to the obligation to launder a garment onto which the blood of a sin offering sprayed, Rav Pappa said: From where do I say that this halakha applies even to the blood of the last three placements? It is as we learned in a mishna (93a): If the blood of a sin offering sprayed directly from the neck of the animal onto a garment, that garment does not require laundering, as the blood had never been received in a vessel. Likewise, if the blood sprayed onto the garment from the corner of the altar after having been placed there, or from the base of the altar after the remainder was poured there, the garment does not require laundering. It may be inferred from here that blood that sprayed from the corner of the altar does not require laundering. But blood that is fit to be placed on the corner, as it has not yet been placed, requires laundering, and the blood of the last three placements is indeed fit to be placed on the corner of the altar.

וליטעמיך מן היסוד אינו טעון כיבוס הא מן הראוי ליסוד טעון כיבוס אשר יזה כתיב פרט לזה שכבר הוזה

The Gemara rejects this proof: But according to your reasoning, one can claim in the same manner that it is only blood that sprayed from the base of the altar that does not require laundering; but blood that is fit for the base of the altar, i.e., what remains of the blood after it has been placed on the corners, requires laundering. This is difficult, as it is written: “And when there will be sprinkled [yizze] of its blood upon any garment” (Leviticus 6:20). The future form of the word yizze serves to exclude this blood sprayed onto the garment from the corner of the altar, as it has already been sprinkled.

הא מני רבי נחמיה דתנן רבי נחמיה אומר שירי הדם שהקריבן בחוץ חייב

The Gemara explains: In accordance with whose opinion is this ruling? It is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Neḥemya, as we learned in a mishna (110b) that Rabbi Neḥemya says: With regard to the remainder of the blood of an offering, which was to be poured at the base of the altar, if one presented it outside the Temple, he is liable. Since Rabbi Neḥemya treats the remainder of the blood as blood with regard to liability for a service performed outside the Temple, he also treats the remainder of the blood of a sin offering as blood with regard to laundering. Accordingly, Rav Pappa’s inference from the previously cited mishna is valid only according to Rabbi Neḥemya, but not according to the majority opinion of the Rabbis, who disagree with him.

אימר דשמעת ליה לרבי נחמיה לענין העלאה מידי דהוי אאיברים ופדרים לענין כיבוס מי שמעת ליה אין

The Gemara challenges the proof even according to the opinion of Rabbi Neḥemya: Say that you heard that Rabbi Neḥemya ruled in this manner with regard to the offering up of the remainder of the blood outside the Temple, just as is the case with regard to limbs and fats. Even though the offering of the limbs and fats is not indispensable for atonement, one who offers them outside the Temple is liable. But did you also hear him say this with regard to laundering, that one must launder a garment sprayed with the remainder of the blood of a sin offering? The Gemara answers: Yes, we also heard Rabbi Neḥemya rule in this manner with regard to laundering.