TalmuDigest

For the week ending 18 December 2010 / 10 Tevet 5771

Zevachim 37 - 43

by Rabbi Mendel Weinbach zt'l
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  • How many applications of blood on the altar are required
  • Blessings on eating meat of sacrifices
  • Words whose pronunciation differs from the spelling
  • Blood application on the two altars
  • Pigul caused by improper thought while applying blood
  • Status of blood remaining after application to altar
  • How a missing application affects the service
  • The importance of performing details of Yom Kippur service in the order they appear in the Torah
  • If pigul applies when the improper thought was present in only half of the service
  • When pigul does not apply at all

Blessings on Sacrifices

  • Zevachim 37a

Which blessings were made in the time of the Beit Hamikdash that cannot be made today?

When a Jew ate the meat of a sacrifice he performed a mitzvah and he therefore made a blessing before doing so.

Since the blessing had to specifically refer to the mitzvah at hand, if one ate the meat of the korban Pesach he had to mention in his blessing that we were commanded by G-d to eat the Pesach, while if he ate the shlamim sacrifice he would say that we were commanded to eat the zevach (the slaughtered sacrifice).

Although one normally ate the meat of a single sacrifice on Pesach eve, there could arise a situation in which he ate both the korban Pesach and the shlamim known as the "14th day chagigah" which accompaniedthekorban Pesach if the company was too large for it to provide meat for all its members.

If he made a blessing on either one of these two sacrificial meats, maintains Rabbi Akiva, he must make a different blessing on the other one. Although both are sacrifices they differ in the way their bloods are applied to the altar. While the blood of the korban Pesach is ceremonially poured at the base of the altar, the blood of the shlamim is sprayed on the altar wall. This difference in the service separates the two sacrifices and necessitates a different blessing for each.

What the Sages Say

"The difference between a community sinning and only the kohen gadol sinning is compared to the difference between a majority of a human king's subjects acting against him or only a minority of them."

  • The Yeshiva of Rabbi Yishmael - Zevachim 41b

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