Zevachim 115b

זבחים קט״ו ע״ב

Learn Zevachim 115b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Zevachim 115b: exemptions for offering outside the עזרה, and how קרבנות worked before the משכן was set up.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing an earlier discussion with a rule of רב הונא in the name of רב: an אשם that was sent out to graze and then slaughtered without a stated purpose is valid as an עולה. Next, a ברייתא explains why offering up outside the עזרה things that are eaten, like the meat of a חטאת or the שתי הלחם, carries no liability. The word 'עולה' teaches that only what is fit for the מזבח counts. Services that do not finish the עבודה, like pouring, mixing or קבלה, are also exempt, because העלאה is the finishing step. The גמרא then turns to the time before the משכן. רב חסדא says the firstborn served only once at סיני and that the desert עולה needed no skinning and cutting, and a ברייתא contradicts both claims. Each contradiction is answered as a מחלוקת תנאים. The first is רבי יהושע בן קרחה against רבי, which leads to the story of נדב and אביהוא and the praise of אהרן's silence. The second is רבי ישמעאל against רבי עקיבא. Finally, רב הונא learns from נח's offering that domestic animals, wild animals and birds could all be offered before the משכן.

Opening lines

The steps (20)

1. Resolutionרב הונא's rule: a sidelined guilt offering is valid as a burnt offering
2. QuestionSource for exemption when offering up eaten portions outside
3. ResponseOnly what is fit for the altar makes one liable
4. QuestionSource for exemption for preparation services done outside
5. ResponseOnly a final step of the service brings liability
6. StatementThe firstborn served once and then stopped
7. StatementA second statement: the desert עולה needed no skinning
8. ChallengeThe ברייתא: before the משכן the firstborn served
9. ChallengeThe end of the ברייתא: the desert burnt offering needed skinning and cutting
10. ResolutionIt is a מחלוקת תנאים about who the כהנים at סיני were
11. QuestionWhere does the firstborn opinion find a hint about נדב and אביהוא?
12. ResponseThe hint is in ונקדש בכבודי, read as 'My honored ones'
13. Statementמשה explains to אהרן why his sons died, and אהרן stays silent
14. Proofפסוקים from דוד and שלמה about the value of silence
15. Proofרבי יוחנן‎: ה׳ is feared when He judges His holy ones
16. ChallengeThe problem of the desert burnt offering still remains
17. ResolutionThis too is a dispute between two תנאים, starting with רבי ישמעאל
18. Resolutionרבי עקיבא: details were given at סיני too
19. QuestionWhere do we learn that every kind could be offered?
20. Responseרב הונא learns it from נח's offering