Talmud - Zevahim 64b זבחים ס״ד ב׳

The circling around the altar by the High Priest is done on foot, i.e., empty-handed, as he was given the wine to pour only once he arrived at the southwest corner. Rava said: The language of the mishna is also precise, as it teaches that he is given wine to pour, and the mishna does not teach that one tells him to pour the wine, which would have indicated that the High Priest was already holding the wine as he circled the altar. The Gemara comments: Conclude from the language of the mishna that the High Priest was given the wine only once he arrived at the southwest corner of the altar.

§ The Sages taught in a baraita: All those who ascend the ramp to the altar ascend via the right side of the ramp and descend via the left side; they ascend via the east side of the ramp and descend via the west side, except for one who ascends for one of these three matters: The wine libation, the water libation, and the sacrificial rite of a bird burnt offering. In these cases, one ascends via the west side of the ramp and descends via the west side; one ascends via the right side and descends via the right side.

The Gemara asks: Does one who ascends via the west side of the ramp do so via the right side? Ascending via the west side of the ramp is the same as ascending via the left. Ravina says: Emend the baraita so that it teaches that he ascends via the left side. Rava says: What is the meaning of the right side mentioned in the latter clause of the baraita? It is the right side from the standpoint of the altar, facing south, in which case the altar’s west side is synonymous with its right side. And what is the meaning of the left side mentioned in the first clause of the baraita? It is the left side from the standpoint of a person facing the altar.

The Gemara objects: But let the baraita be consistent and teach both this case and that case, i.e., the first clause and latter clause, from the standpoint of the altar, or let it teach both this case and that case from the standpoint of a person facing the altar. The Gemara concedes: This is difficult.

MISHNA: The sacrifice of the bird sin offering, how was it performed? The priest would pinch off the bird’s head by cutting opposite its nape with his thumbnail and would not separate the bird’s head from its body. And he sprinkles from its blood on the wall of the altar below the red line. The remaining blood would be squeezed out from the body of the bird on the base of the altar. The altar has only its blood and the entire bird goes to the priests for consumption.

GEMARA: The Sages taught in a baraita: The verse states with regard to the bird sin offering: “And he shall sprinkle of the blood of the sin offering upon the side of the altar” (Leviticus 5:9). This teaches that the blood is sprinkled directly from the body of the sin offering, not with the priest’s finger or from a vessel. How so? The priest holds the head and the body and sprinkles its blood on the wall of the altar. And he does not sprinkle it on the wall of the ramp, and not on the wall of the Sanctuary, and not on the wall of the Entrance Hall. And which is this wall of the altar that the blood is sprinkled on? This is the lower wall, below the red line.

The baraita suggests: Or perhaps the verse is referring only to the upper wall, above the red line. And this should be a logical inference: Just as with regard to an animal offering, where the blood of a burnt offering is applied below the red line (see 10b), nevertheless, the blood of the sin offering is applied above the red line (see Leviticus 4:30), with regard to a bird offering, where the blood of the burnt offering is sprinkled above the red line (see 65a), is it not logical that the blood of its sin offering is sprinkled above the red line?

Therefore, the verse states: “And the rest of the blood shall be squeezed out [yimmatze] at the base of the altar” (Leviticus 5:9), which teaches that the priest sprinkles the blood on the wall where its remaining blood drains to the base of the altar. And which wall is this? This is the lower wall. The surrounding ledge of the altar is located one cubit above the red line, and any blood sprinkled above this ledge will not drip down to the base of the altar. The verse teaches that the blood is sprinkled on the wall of the altar from which it would drip down to the altar’s base unimpeded.

The Gemara suggests: Let the priest perform the sprinkling of the blood above, as the baraita logically deduced, and then perform the squeezing below in fulfillment of the aforementioned verse. Rava said: Is it written: He shall drain [yematze]? It is written: It shall be drained [yimmatze], which indicates that the blood trickles down to the base of the altar by itself. Accordingly, the blood must be sprinkled on a part of the altar wall from which it can trickle down to the base of the altar.

§ Rav Zutra bar Toviyya says that Rav says: How does the priest pinch the nape of a bird sin offering? He holds the bird by its back in the palm of his hand and holds its wings with two fingers, i.e., the middle and index fingers, and its two legs with his next two fingers, i.e., the ring finger and pinky, leaving the head resting between his index finger and thumb, and he stretches its neck over the width of his thumb and pinches its nape with his thumbnail.

The Gemara cites a varying opinion: It was taught in a baraita: The bird is not in the priest’s palm, but rather on the outside of his hand. The priest holds its wings with two fingers and its two legs with two fingers. Using his thumb, the priest bends its head into his palm and stretches its neck over the width of his two fingers, and pinches its nape. And this is the most difficult sacrificial rite in the Temple to perform.

The Gemara asks: This is the most difficult rite to perform, and no other? But isn’t there also the removal of the handful of the meal offering and the handful of the incense on Yom Kippur? The Gemara answers: Rather, say that the pinching procedure was a difficult sacrificial rite, one of the most difficult sacrificial rites in the Temple to perform.

MISHNA: The sacrifice of the bird burnt offering, how was it performed? The priest ascended the ramp and turned to the surrounding ledge and came to the southeast corner of the altar. He would then pinch off the bird’s head by cutting at its nape with his thumbnail and separate the bird’s head from its body, and would squeeze out its blood on the wall of the altar. He took the head and neared the place of its pinching, i.e., its nape, to the altar in order to squeeze the blood from the head. He would then absorb the remaining blood with salt and throw the head onto the fire on the altar.

He then arrived at the body and removed the crop and the feather attached to it and the innards that emerge with them and he tossed them to the place of the ashes. He then ripped the bird lengthwise and did not separate the two halves of the bird; but if he separated them, the offering is valid. He would then absorb the remaining blood with salt and throw the body of the bird onto the fire on the altar.

If he neither removed the crop, nor the feather and the innards that emerge with them, nor absorbed the blood with salt, with regard to any detail that he changed in the sacrificial rites after he squeezed out its blood, the offering is valid. If he separated the head from the body in sacrificing the sin offering, or if he did not separate the head from the body in sacrificing the burnt offering, the offering is disqualified. In a case where he squeezed out the blood of the head and did not squeeze out the blood of the body, it is disqualified. If he squeezed out the blood of the body and did not squeeze out the blood of the head, the offering is valid.

In the case of a bird sin offering that the priest pinched not for its sake, or if he squeezed out its blood not for its sake, or if he did so for its sake and then not for its sake, or not for its sake and then for its sake, it is disqualified, like all other sin offerings that are disqualified when performed not for their sake (see 2a). A bird burnt offering sacrificed not for its sake is valid; it is just that it did not satisfy the obligation of the owner.

With regard to both a bird sin offering and a bird burnt offering where the priest pinched its nape or squeezed out its blood with the intent to partake of an item whose typical manner is such that one partakes of it, or to burn an item whose typical manner is such that one burns it on the altar, outside its designated area, the offering is disqualified. But there is no liability to receive karet for one who partakes of the offering. If his intent was to eat it or burn it beyond its designated time, the offering is piggul and one is liable to receive karet for partaking of the offering, provided that the permitting factor, the blood, was sacrificed in accordance with its mitzva.

How is the permitting factor sacrificed in accordance with its mitzva? If one pinched the nape in silence, i.e., with no disqualifying intent, and squeezed out its blood with the intent to partake of the parts typically eaten or to burn the portions that are to be burned on the altar, beyond its designated time; or in the case of one who pinched with the intent to partake of the offering or burn it on the altar beyond its designated time, and squeezed out its blood in silence; or in the case of one who pinched and squeezed out the blood with the intent to partake of the offering or burn it on the altar beyond its designated time, that is the case of a bird offering where the permitting factor is sacrificed in accordance with its mitzva.

How is the permitting factor not sacrificed in accordance with its mitzva? If the priest pinched the nape of the bird with the intent to partake of it or burn it outside its designated area and squeezed out its blood with the intent to partake of it or burn it beyond its designated time, or he pinched with the intent to partake of it or burn it beyond its designated time and squeezed out its blood with the intent to partake of it or burn it outside its designated area, or if the priest pinched and squeezed out the blood with the intent to partake of it or burn it outside its designated area,

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

Zevachim 64b explores the High Priest's circling of the altar for wine libation and the exact ramp-side rules for ascending during specific offerings.