Zevachim 82 – Which is Worse, Bringing Blood Inside or Taking It Outside?

If the blood of a sin-offering is taken outside the Courtyard, it becomes invalid. Likewise, if it is brought inside the Temple Hall, it also becomes invalid.

If one received the blood of a sin-offering in two cups and took one of these cups outside, the other cup remains valid. However, if one cup was brought inside the Temple Hall, then Rabbi Yosi still declares the second one valid, but the Sages invalidate it.

Argued Rabbi Yosi, “The invalidation of taking the blood outside should be more serious, since even thinking of taking the blood outside already invalidates the offering.” How can the Sages attach more importance to bringing the blood inside? - The Sages base their opinion on the verse “...that from its blood shall be brought inside.” They explain this to mean that if any of it is brought inside, all blood is invalidated.

Art: Adriaen Jansz. Van Ostade - Inside a Peasant's Cottage

Zevachim 81 – Inside and Outside Bloods

If bloods that are applied inside the Sanctuary (like those of Yom Kippur sacrifices) mixed with bloods applied outside on the Altar (most regular sacrifices), then the resulting mixture cannot be applied either outside or inside and has to be poured out into the canal. Note that the author of this ruling does not agree with the principle we saw earlier that blood applied to the wrong place can be viewed as water.

If, however, the Kohen went ahead and applied the mixture outside, and then inside, it is valid. The only potential problem could have been when outside blood is brought inside, and this did not happen here. If, however, the Kohen applied it first inside and then outside, then Rabbi Akiba declares the outside blood invalid – for the very reason we just mentioned, that of outside blood being first brought inside. The Sages declare the blood valid in all cases except of a sin-offering.

The underlying reason for their disagreement is this: the Torah prohibited the blood on a sin-offering from entering the Sanctuary. According to Rabbi Akiba, this applies to all sacrifices, but according to the Sages, it does not.

Art: Maurycy Gottlieb - Jews praying in the synagogue on Yom Kippur

Zevachim 80 – Do Not Add to the Torah and Do Not Subtract From It – How To Understand This?

If blood requiring four applications (such as that of a sin-offering) mixed with blood requiring one application (such as that of a first-born), then Rabbi Eliezer says that the mixed bloods should be applied with four applications, but Rabbi Yehoshua says that they should be applied with one application.

Said Rabbi Eliezer to Rabbi Yehoshua, “But if a Kohen were to perform only one application with this mixture, he would violate the prohibition not to subtract from the Torah!” Answered Rabbi Yehoshua, “And if he were to apply it with four applications, he would transgress the prohibition not to add to the Torah!”

Said Rabbi Eliezer in his defense “The prohibition not to add applies only when the blood is by itself, and here we have a mixture of bloods,” to which Rabbi Yehoshua countered, “The prohibition not to subtract applies only where the blood requiring four-sided applications is by itself, but here it is mixed with blood requiring one application.” And then Rabbi Yehoshua added a winning argument: “With your four application you actively transgress 'do not add' with your hands, whereas with my one application I only refrain from performing additional applications but I do not transgress with my hands.”

Art: El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) - Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest -1583-85

Zevachim 79 – Blood Mixed with Blood

Previously we saw that to determine whether blood mixed with water is still considered blood – one can use the criteria that the mixture still looks like blood. Other possible approaches to mixtures can be by volume or by taste, and they depend on whether the mixed substances are of the same or different nature.

What happens when blood of unblemished offerings mixed with blood of blemished offerings? Since this is a common occurrence, the Sages decreed that such blood must be poured into the canal, which ran from the Temple into the adjoining fields. The Sages adopted this decree to prevent a situation where someone may mistakenly rule that there is enough valid blood, whereas in reality the valid blood would be nullified by the invalid one.

What if not the blood, but the cups holding that blood got mixed up? Rabbi Eliezer says that if one cup was already offered, then we can say that it was the blemished one, and offer the remaining ones. The Sages, on the other hand, say that even if all but one were offered, we cannot bring the remaining last one.

Art: William Sidney Mount - Fruit Piece: Apples on Tin Cups

Zevachim 78 – Blood Mixed with Water

If, before the Kohen got a chance to throw the blood on the Altar, some water fell into the vessel with the blood, then if the mixture has the appearance of blood, it is still valid. This is true even if there is more water than blood, and even though some unconsecrated water will be thrown on the Altar – since it is not the intent of the Kohen to throw water.

If wine fell into blood, we view this wine as if it were water. If that amount of water would change the color of blood, then the blood is invalid, even though wine, being red, does not change the color of the blood.

If sacrificial blood became mixed with the blood of an unconsecrated animal, or the blood of a wild beast (no wild beast, even if it is kosher, such as a deer or antelope, may be consecrated for sacrificial use), we again view the additional blood as if it were water, and estimate the color accordingly.

Art: Jean Beraud - The drinkers

Zevachim 77 – When Limbs of Sacrifices Get Mixed

If the limbs of a sin-offering intermingled with the limbs of a burnt-offering, then our problem is this: the limbs of a sin-offering should be eaten by the kohanim, and it is prohibited to burn them, while the limbs of a burnt-offering must be burnt, and it is prohibited to eat them.

Rabbi Eliezer says, “Let the kohen place all these limbs on the Altar, and I view the sin-offering (which is not supposed to be burned) as if it were mere wood.” But the Sages say that the limbs must be left until the next morning, when they become invalidated as “leftovers”, and then they can be burned together with all other invalidated offerings, in a place specially designated for this.

What is the reason of Rabbi Eliezer? After all, the Torah said, “They may not go on the Altar for satisfying aroma...” Rabbi Eliezer says, “for satisfying aroma they should not go, but they can go on the Altar as fuel for fire.”

Art: Winslow Homer - CampFire

Zevachim 76 – A Leniency That Leads to a Stringency

If a guilt-offering became intermingled with a peace offering, then we have a problem that the guilt-offering bears more limitations, even though their blood services are equivalent. Rabbi Shimon suggests that we can still resolve the situation by bringing both in the north (which will work for both types of sacrifices) and eating them according to the stringencies of the guilt-offering. We will have brought the offerings right away.

However, the Sages disagree with this solution because of the principle that one may not expose offerings to more invalidations than necessary. By applying the stringencies of a guilt-offering to both, one shortens the time to eat the peace offering, which may lead to its invalidation. Rather, the animals to be offered should be left to graze until they become blemished, then sold, and the money from the proceeds should be used to buy replacement offerings.

Where pieces of meat of different offerings became intermingled, everybody agrees that they have be eaten with the limitations of the most stringent of them – since in this case there is no way out similar to the above.

Art: Heinrich Bürkel - The Village Cattle Market