Zevachim 36 – Kohen Plans to Keep the Meat For Later

We already know that if a sacrifice is intended to be eaten after the allotted time, it becomes rejected. What would be the law if one only intended to leave it over, but did not think of eating it? Rabbi Yehudah invalidates the offering, but the Sages declare it fit.

We can very well understand the opinion of the Sages: only what the Torah rejected – that is, the intent to eat the meat of the sacrifice too late – only that is rejected, but why does Rabbi Yehudah declare it invalid? Rabbi Yehudah says that the Torah has stated the prohibition of eating the meat beyond its time twice. Since the repetition is not needed for its own sake, it teaches us an additional invalidation, namely, our case of intending to leave the sacrifice over.

If he had other unusual intentions, such as to apply the blood at the wrong height of the Altar, inside the Sanctuary instead of next to the Altar in the Courtyard, or it was a Passover offering, and he intended to eat it unroasted – in all these cases the sacrifice remains valid.

Art: George, of Chichester Smith - Still life with meat and bread