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What is Rabbi Yose's reason? - It is written, “and Noah built an altar to God” - which proves that an altar is required. And what is the reason of Rabbi Shimon? - It is written, “And Manoach took the goat-kid and the flour offering and he offered them up on the rock to God.”
How does Rabbi Shimon explain Noah's altar? - He says it was built only to provide comfortable height upon which to perform the sacrifice. And how does Rabbi Yose explain the rock of Manoach? - An angel told Manoach to act thus.
For what sacrifices is one liable when offering them outside? - Any valid sacrifice, or even an invalid one if it would be accepted on the Altar after the fact. One is liable for offering an olive's volume of the meat, flour, and incense. For non-blood offerings, Rabbi Elazar makes him liable only for a complete amount.
Art: Adam Colonia - Noah Leaving the Ark
If one takes an animal that was consecrated as a sacrifice and slaughters it for someone's consumption, he is liable to slaughtering outside. If, however, he offers it up for someone, he is not liable for offering up a sacrifice outside the Temple, because he did not dedicate it to God. In truth, he is liable for idol worship for worshiping that human, but that is a different liability.
Offering up is more stringent in this way: if two people held a knife together and slaughtered a sacrifice outside the Temple, they are not liable, but if they took a sacrificial limb and offered it up, they are liable.
If one offered a limb of a sacrifice, then became aware that it was prohibited, then forgot it, then offered another limb, again became aware and again forgot it, and so on, he is liable for each limb – so says Rabbi Shimon, but Rabbi Yose makes him liable just once.
Art: William Lucas - Sharpening The Knife 1868
The verse states, “And any man from the House of Israel who will slaughter an ox, a sheep or goat in the camp... and he did not bring it to the Tent of the Meeting... ” We might think that even if he takes a sacrifice that is normally brought in the northern part of the Courtyard and slaughters it in the southern part of the Courtyard – he would already be liable. To dispel this notion, the Torah added, “outside the camp.”
But now that the Torah has said, “outside the camp,” you might think this to mean outside of all three special camps, that is, outside the Temple, outside the Temple Mount, and even outside Jerusalem – that only then one would be liable. For that, the Torah said, “in the camp.” Thus, if he slaughters a sacrifices in the south, even if it is not its place, it is not called “outside,” because some other sacrifices can be brought there. However, if he slaughters it outside the Courtyard, then he is liable for “slaughter outside.”
Art: Cornelis van Leemputten - Shepherdess with Sheep in a Landscape
If one slaughtered and burned a sacrifice outside the Temple, he is liable for slaughtering it, and he is liable for burning it as well. Rabbi Yose HaGlili says: “If he slaughtered the sacrifices inside the Temple, so that it was indeed valid, and then burned it outside, then he is liable for burning. But if he slaughtered it outside, then it became invalid right away, and he is not liable if he then burns it.”
But the Sages told him, “Even in your case, when he slaughtered the sacrifice inside the Temple, it becomes invalid as soon as he takes it out. Then he should not be liable for burning it outside! According to your logic, Rabbi Yose, one should never be liable for burning an offering outside. This proves that you are wrong, and that when one slaughtered and burned an offering outside the Temple, he is liable for both acts.
Challenge: what can Rabbi Yose answer in his defense?
Art: Abel Grimmer - A Wooded Winter Village Landscape With Peasants Slaughtering
Rabbi Elazar asked the following question, “If exactly half of the carcass of a bull or a goat that are burned has left the Courtyard, together with the majority of one of its limb, is the remaining part of that limb considered outside, together with the limb? Or perhaps, since the limb belongs to the body, and the body is only half-out, then the limb is considered inside?” To this there was no answer.
Some say that Rabbi Eliezer asked a different question: “If three of the five carriers have left the Courtyard, are the other two carriers considered already out and impure?” To this there was also no answer.
Rabbi Elazar asked another question, “Do the bulls that are burned already contaminate foods and liquids while they are still inside the Courtyard?” Since they will have a very strong impurity when they are out of the Courtyard, perhaps it is enough to make food and liquids impure, since these are easily rendered impure. Afterwards he himself resolved it: prior to their exiting from the Courtyard they are not fully considered bulls that are burned, and thus they do not contaminate the food yet.”
Art: Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec - Two Bulls Wearing a Yoke
There are special sin-offerings, such as the goat brought for communal idol worship, that are not eaten but are burned in a designated place outside Jerusalem, called the place of ashes. These offerings contaminate the people who are carrying them, and they contaminate even the people's clothing. The offerings were carried out on poles. The first group of carriers becomes impure when it leaves the Courtyard, while the second group remains pure until they in their turn leave the Courtard. Rabbi Shimon says that none of them become impure until the fire catches onto the larger part of the sacrifice.
Art: Giovacchino Toma - The Rain Of Ashes, 1880
Therefore, the rule is that whenever the Altar does not get the right to the meat, the kohanim do not get the right to the hide. However, if an offering was valid even for some time, so that the Altar got the right to the meat, the kohanim acquired the right to the hide. This rule is derived from a phrase “the burnt offering of a man.” Since the rule would be also true for a woman, the extra word “man” teaches us that it was valid for men to eat.
Hides of regular offerings, such as a peace offering, belong to their owners. Hides of all most holy offerings other than the burnt offering also belong to the kohanim, and this is derived through logic: if in the case of a burnt offering, where the kohanim do not eat the meat, the hide nevertheless goes to them, then for a sin offering, where the kohanim do eat the meat, certainly the hide goes to them.
Art: Pieter Gysels - Still Life with Vegetables Meat Fruit and Game
