Pesachim 82 - Took the Passover meat out of Jerusalem!

The meat of the Passover lamb must stay within the walls of Jerusalem (the Old City). If one takes it out, it is disqualified. If this happens before the Passover Holiday itself, one must burn the disqualified meat right away. He cannot eat it, and any mitzvah should be done immediately - in this case, it is the mitzvah of burning disqualified offerings.

By contrast, if the owners of the sacrifice became ritually impure or died, we know that nobody will be able to eat the meat, but we cannot burn it. So, the meat is left overnight, and then it becomes the leftover sacrifice, and it can and must be burned. One cannot burn on on the first day of Passover because it is a Holiday, so he burns it on the following day.

Rabbi Yochanan ben Berokah compares the last case with the death of the sons of Aharon, where the sacrifice was burned immediately, and says that we should do the same.

Art: The Dying Man by Isidoro Grunhut

Pesachim 81 - What happens to the ritually impure meat?

There was a place on the Temple Mount specifically designated for burning invalid offering. So, if a Passover offering became ritually impure, the whole thing or the majority of its meat - it was burnt in this place. When burning the offering, one was allowed to use the Temple wood. Even though he was using Temple property for his purposes, this was allowed - to prevent people from eating disqualified meat when they faced the expense of buying the wood to burn it.

If only a small portion of the sacrificial meat became impure, one would take it home and burn it there, in the courtyard or on the roof, and use his own wood. That would have to happen within the City of Jerusalem, called today, "The Old City." Cheapskates would burn even small amounts of impure meat next to the Temple - to take advantage of the Temple wood.

Art: Dutch farmworker gathering wood by Hans Heysen

Pesachim 80 - The forgiving power of the tzitz

Tzitz is the golden head plate worn by the High Priest. It fixed the defects of sacrifices, but not all the defects. Thus, if someone brought his Passover offering and even threw its blood on the Altar, but then they discovered that the meat or the blood became ritually impure, it is the tzitz that effects the acceptance. What is the use of acceptance if the meat cannot eaten? At least, he has fulfilled his obligation and won't have to bring another sacrifice. He will eat matzah and other things at the Seder.

What if they discovered that he himself was ritually impure? Here the tzitz does not help, and he will have to bring the Passover offering a month later, on Pesach Sheni. However, here is a special exception. If he was impure due to the "impurity of the depth," his Passover offering is valid, and he will not have to bring another one - all due to the tzitz. What is this special "impurity of the depth?" - This is something that absolutely nobody knew about, such as a corpse under the house, unknown to anybody, that was discovered later.

Art: Study of the Head of a Corpse by Charles Emile Champmartin

Pesachim 79 - How many pure and how many not pure?

We often mentioned a situation where the community is not pure and is therefore allowed to bring the Passover sacrifice even in ritual impurity. But what do we mean by "community?" The whole world, Israel, Jerusalem? For this purpose, we only count those who have assembled for Passover to bring the offerings. Even here, we only need the majority. So, if more than half of those assembled to bring the offering are not ritually pure, everyone now brings it in impurity.

Also, if the Kohanim priests were impure, even though the community is pure, they all join and celebrate in impurity.

However, if only a minority of the community are impure, then the majority still celebrates, but the remaining minority gets a second chance thirty days later, on the so-called "Second Passover" or Pesach Sheni. 

Art: Jerusalem seen from Mount Josaphat by Auguste de Forbin

Pesachim 78 - The parts that go on the Altar

When the Passover offering is brought, certain parts of the animal (some fats, kidney, diaphragm, and liver) go on the Altar and are burnt there. However, if the meat becomes ritually impure, there is no point in further service, putting the fats on the Altar or throwing the blood. The only purpose of the Passover sacrifice is to eat the meat, and since the impure meat cannot be eaten, we stop there.

However, if something happened to the fats that go on the Altar, but the meat is still OK - we continue, throw the blood, and eat the meat. Incidentally, in our discussion, we have returned to the normal case of the community being pure. Had the community been impure, we would eat the meat even if it was impure and ask no questions about the remaining parts' purity.

Art: A Young Lady at Breakfast by Gabriël Metsu

Pesachim 77 - Can we completely dispense with ritual impurity?

In the preceding pages, we have discussed that the Passover offering is brought even when the community is ritually impure. How does this work? Do we say that the impurity is just pushed off, but we should try to observe its laws whenever we can? Or do we say that the impurity is to be completely ignored?

The question is more general: can the community, being impure with corpse impurity, bring communal sacrifices? This depends on the power of the tzitz, a golden plate worn by the High Priest. Since the High Priest wears the tzitz, the sacrifices are valid - this is Rabbi Yehudah's opinion. Rabbi Shimon disagrees: even if the High Priest does not wear the tzitz, it still creates acceptance.

Now Rabbi Shimon proves his point: on Yom Kippur, the High Priest changed into all-white garments and takes off the golden tzitz - and nevertheless, the offerings are accepted! Rabbi Yehudah answers: forget about Yom Kippur! The impurity is anyway ignored when all are impure. We see that Rabbi Yehudah thinks that impurity is completely ignored, and Rabbi Shimon - that it is just pushed off.

Art: The Dead Man by Edouard Manet

Pesachim 76 - Passover lamb must be eaten

We saw earlier that if the community of those who came to Jerusalem celebrate Passover is ritually impure, they can all offer the sacrifice nevertheless. The instruction to bring it in its appointed time includes even the time when the community is impure. Since the whole purpose of bringing the offering is to eat it, the appointed time applies to eating as well.

This is not always the case. There are five cases when the offering is brought but not eaten - when the community is impure. These other offerings may be flour or animal meat, and they would have to be burned. 

Art: Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives by Frederic Edwin Church