Zevachim 87 – The Airspace of the Altar

A sacrifice that remained overnight becomes invalid. Is it also true if it already was on top of the Altar? Do we compare the Altar to the show-bread Table, where the bread can stay for any length of time, or do we compare it to the ground of the Courtyard? Rava sides with the first opinion, but Abbaye did not agree with him.

Resh Lakish asked a question, “Do Temple vessels sanctify what's in them?” Answered Rabbi Yochanan, “We learned the rule that the vessels sanctify just as the Altar does!” But Resh Lakish was unconvinced, “That rule only tells me that the invalid substance in the vessel need not come down from the Altar if it was put there, but can I bring it there in the first place?”

If someone suspended invalid offering parts in the airspace above the Altar, may they remain and be burned on the pyre? - Since the ramp of the Altar sanctifies, and since a kohen would have to lift the sacrificial part in order to move it to the Altar, it must be that the airspace does not invalidate it! But this proof is not accepted, for perhaps the kohen drags it.

Art: Istvan Boldizsar - Slicing the Bread