Zevachim 13 – Errors on Other Steps of the Sacrificial Service

We have learned before that slaughtering a Passover sacrifice or a sin-offering not for their sake makes them invalid. Now we learn that it is true not only for slaughter, but also for the other three steps of the sacrificial service: receiving the blood in the Temple vessel, walking with that blood to the Altar, and throwing it on the Altar. If any of these steps are done with the intention for a different sacrifice type, this makes the sacrifice invalid.

Rabbi Tarfon was distressed that he had previously heard from his teacher that there is a difference between the laws of receiving blood and throwing it, but he could not remember what the difference was. Rabbi Akiva deduced three points of difference on his own - for example, if one receives the blood outside the Temple, he is not liable, but if he throws the blood on an altar outside the Temple, he is liable to excision.

At this Rabbi Tarfon remembered that this was what he had learned and exclaimed, “Akiva, whoever parts from you is like one who parts from his life!”

Art: Arthur Hacker - Vale Or Farewell