Talmud - Zevahim 25a זבחים כ״ה א׳

The Gemara asks: And according to Rabbi Shimon, who does not require sanctification of the handful, or according to the one who says that Rabbi Shimon also requires the sanctification of the handful but that he deems the sanctification fit when performed with the left hand, why do I need the verbal analogy of Rava between “hand” and “hand”?

If one suggests that it is necessary to indicate that the removal of the handful itself must be performed with the right hand, this cannot be, since that is derived from the verse cited by Rav Yehuda, son of Rabbi Ḥiyya. As Rav Yehuda, son of Rabbi Ḥiyya, says: What is the reason that Rabbi Shimon does not require that the handful be sanctified in a service vessel? As the verse states with regard to the meal offering: “It is most holy, as the sin offering, and as the guilt offering” (Leviticus 6:10).

The verse compares the meal offering to a sin offering and a guilt offering. Therefore, if the priest comes to perform the burning of the handful with his hand, then he performs it with his right hand, like a sin offering, whose blood is sprinkled by hand. And if he comes to perform it with a vessel, i.e., if he first sanctifies the handful in a service vessel, then he may perform it with his left hand, like a guilt offering, whose blood is sprinkled from a vessel. Since the removal of the handful is performed by hand, the verse indicates that it must be performed with the right hand, and the verbal analogy is unnecessary.

The Gemara responds: The verbal analogy is necessary only for the handful of a meal offering of a sinner, to teach that it must be removed with the right hand. It might enter your mind to say: Since Rabbi Shimon says that this offering does not require oil and frankincense so that his offering will not be of superior quality, perhaps when he removed the handful with his left hand, which is an inferior manner, it should be fit as well. The verbal analogy therefore teaches us that the handful must always be removed with the right hand, even in the case of the meal offering of a sinner.

MISHNA: If the blood spilled on the floor before the priest managed to collect it into a vessel, and the priest then collected it from the floor into a vessel, it is disqualified.

GEMARA: The Sages taught: The verse states: “And the anointed priest shall take from the blood of the bull [middam happar]” (Leviticus 4:5). This means that the priest shall take from the blood of the soul, i.e., the blood that flows from the place of slaughter as the animal dies, but not from the blood of the skin, which bleeds out when the skin is cut before the slaughter, nor from the blood of exudate, i.e., that exudes from the neck of the animal after the initial spurt of its slaughter concludes.

The baraita continues: When the verse states: “From the blood of the bull,” it should be interpreted as if it is written: He shall collect the blood from the bull, i.e., if the blood spills onto the floor before it is collected in a service vessel, it is disqualified. As, if it enters your mind that “from the blood of the bull” should be interpreted as it is written, i.e., that “from the blood” means that the priest may collect even only a portion of the blood, that is difficult: But doesn’t Rav say: One who slaughters the offering must collect all the blood of the bull, as it is stated: “And all the blood of the bull he shall pour out on the base of the altar” (Leviticus 4:7)? The verse emphasizes that the priest must pour all the blood of the bull, which is possible only if he has collected all of it.

Rather, “from the blood of the bull” means that the priest shall collect the blood from the bull. And this Sage holds that the Sages subtract and add and interpret homiletically, i.e., one may take a letter from one word, insert it into a second word, and explain the phrase in that manner. In this case, the mem of middam is added to happar, so that the verse is interpreted as though it states: Dam mehappar, meaning: Blood from the bull.

§ The Gemara turns to the matter itself: Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: One who slaughters the offering must collect all the blood of the bull, as it is stated: “And all the blood of the bull he shall pour out on the base of the altar.” The Gemara asks: But isn’t this verse written with regard to the remainder of the blood that is poured onto the base of the altar after the sprinkling? How, then, can a halakha with regard to the collection of the blood be derived from it?

The Gemara responds: If this verse is not referring to the matter of the remainder of the blood after sprinkling, as not all of the blood is present for that rite since some of it has already been sprinkled, apply it instead to the matter of collection of the blood from the animal.

Rav Yehuda says that Shmuel says: One who slaughters the offering must hold the knife up after slaughter, so that blood that is on the knife does not fall into the service vessel, as it is stated: “And the anointed priest shall take from the blood of the bull,” i.e., and not from a mixture of the blood of the bull and something else, such as the blood from the knife.

The Gemara asks: And with what does he wipe the blood from the knife? Abaye says: He wipes it with the rim of the bowl used to collect the blood, as it is written of the bowls used to collect the blood: “Atoning-bowls [keforei] of gold” (Ezra 1:10). The root kaf, peh, reish can also mean to wipe.

Rav Ḥisda says that Rav Yirmeya bar Abba says: One who slaughters the offering must place

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Zevachim 25a examines Rabbi Shimon's view on the handful offering, debating whether right-hand removal applies even to a sinner's meal offering.