Talmud - Zevahim 27b זבחים כ״ז ב׳

And our mishna is in accordance with the statement of the one who says: He may not gather it up.

And Rav Ḥisda says that Avimi says: Everyone concedes with regard to the blood that is to be placed below the red line that if one placed it above the red line he may not gather it up again. And all the more so with regard to the blood that is to be placed above the red line that one placed below the red line, since the blood placed above the red line will eventually run down the side of the altar and reach below the red line. They disagree only with regard to the blood that is to be placed inside the Sanctuary that one placed outside on the external altar, or blood that is to be placed outside that one placed inside, as Rabbi Yosei says: He may gather it up, as though it had spilled on the floor, and Rabbi Shimon says: He may not gather it up, because the blood was nevertheless placed on an altar.

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak says: We learn in a baraita as well that if the blood is misapplied on the altar it may not be gathered, in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yoḥanan: Rabbi Yehuda says that the verse states: “This is the law of the burnt offering: It is that which goes up [ha’ola] on the pyre upon the altar” (Leviticus 6:2), from which it is derived that a disqualified offering that ascended upon the altar shall not descend from it. These terms, i.e., “this,” “it,” and “that,” are three terms of exclusion, which serve to exclude three cases of disqualified offerings from this halakha: An offering that was slaughtered at night, one whose blood was spilled, and one whose blood emerged outside the curtains, i.e., the Temple courtyard. In these cases, even if the offering ascended upon the altar it shall descend.

Rabbi Shimon says: From the term “burnt offering [ola]” I have derived only that a fit burnt offering shall not descend. From where is it derived that the halakha includes an offering that was slaughtered at night, or one whose blood was spilled, or one whose blood emerged outside the curtains, or one that was left overnight, or one that left the courtyard, or one that became impure, or one that was slaughtered with intent to consume it beyond its designated time or outside its designated area, or an offering for which an unfit person collected and sprinkled its blood, or a case where one placed the blood that is to be placed above the red line below it, or where one placed the blood that is to be placed below the red line above it, or where one placed the blood that is to be placed inside the Sanctuary outside on the external altar, or where one placed the blood that is to be placed outside the Sanctuary inside it, or a Paschal offering or a sin offering that one slaughtered not for their sake? From where is it derived that if these offerings ascended they shall not descend?

The verse states: “The law of the burnt offering [ha’ola],” literally: That which goes up. The verse included under one law all items that ascend upon the altar, teaching that if they ascended the altar, they shall not descend.

One might have thought that I should include even an animal that copulated with a person, or an animal that was the object of bestiality, or an animal that was set aside for idol worship, or an animal that was worshipped as a deity, or an animal that was given as payment to a prostitute or as the price of a dog, or an animal born of a mixture of diverse kinds, or an animal that is a tereifa, or an animal born by caesarean section. The verse therefore states: “This,” to exclude these animals from the halakha.

The Gemara asks: And what did you see as the reason to include the former cases and to exclude the latter ones? The Gemara responds: I include these former cases, whose disqualification occurred in sanctity, i.e., in the course of the Temple service, and I exclude these latter cases, whose disqualification did not occur in sanctity and were disqualified as offerings from the outset.

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak continues: In any event, the baraita teaches that if one placed the blood that is to be placed below the red line above it, or if one placed the blood that is to be placed above the red line below it, the offering does not descend from the altar. And Rabbi Yehuda does not disagree, even though he holds that if the blood spilled on the ground the offering descends from the altar. What is the reason for this? Is it not because even if the blood was misapplied, the altar has absorbed the blood and it is not considered to have been spilled on the floor? Conclude from it that if blood was misapplied on the altar, the priest may not gather it up again, in accordance with the statement of Rabbi Yoḥanan.

§ Pursuant to the discussion of disqualified offerings that do not descend from the external altar, Rabbi Eliezer says: The inner altar, i.e., the golden altar inside the Sanctuary, sanctifies disqualified offerings such that if they ascended onto it, they do not descend.

The Gemara asks: What is this statement teaching us? We already learn this in the above baraita: If one placed the blood that is to be placed inside the Sanctuary outside on the external altar, or if one placed the blood that is to be placed outside the Sanctuary inside it, on the golden altar, the offering does not descend.

The Gemara responds: If one were to learn the halakha only from there, I would say: This matter applies only to blood mistakenly placed on the golden altar, as it is fit to be placed on that altar in certain contexts, i.e., the blood of the bull and goat sin offerings on Yom Kippur; but with regard to a handful from a meal offering, which is not fit to be placed on the golden altar in any context, I will say that it is not sanctified when placed on it. Rabbi Eliezer therefore teaches us that even a handful from a meal offering does not descend from it.

The Gemara raises an objection from a baraita: If strange incense, i.e., incense that it is prohibited to burn on the golden altar, ascended onto the altar, it shall descend, as only the external altar sanctifies disqualified offerings that are suited for it. One can infer that the external altar does sanctify disqualified offerings, but the inner altar does not.

The Gemara responds: Answer like this: The baraita means that if strange incense ascended onto the external altar, it shall descend, as the external altar sanctifies only disqualified offerings that are suited for it. But the inner altar sanctifies everything, whether it is suited for it or it is not suited for it. What is the reason for this? This, the external altar, is considered part of the floor, since it is fixed to the floor of the Temple, and that, the inner altar, is considered a service vessel with a higher level of sanctity.

MISHNA: With regard to one who slaughters the offering with intent to sprinkle its blood outside the Temple or to sprinkle part of its blood outside the Temple, to burn its sacrificial portions outside the Temple or to burn part of its sacrificial portions outside the Temple, to partake of its meat outside the Temple or to partake of an olive-bulk of its meat outside the Temple, or to partake of an olive-bulk of the skin of the tail outside the Temple, in all of these cases the offering is disqualified, and there is no liability for karet for one who partakes of it.

But if one had intent to sprinkle its blood the next day or part of its blood the next day, to burn its sacrificial portions the next day or to burn part of its sacrificial portions the next day, to partake of its meat the next day or to partake of an olive-bulk of its meat the next day, or to partake of an olive-bulk of the skin of the tail the next day, the offering is piggul, and one is liable to receive karet for burning or partaking of it.

GEMARA: The students assumed that the skin of the tail

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

Zevachim 27b examines whether misapplied sacrificial blood on the altar may be gathered again, weighing Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Shimon's differing rulings.