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Zevachim 120a

זבחים ק״כ ע״א

Learn Zevachim 120a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Rules of a private altar (במה קטנה) compared with the public altar: the partition's hold, slaughter at night, flaying and cutting, and the time limit

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a question about an offering set aside for a private altar (במה קטנה). The offering was brought inside the partition of the public altar and then taken back out: does the partition's hold on it stay? The גמרא suggests this is the known dispute between רבה and רב יוסף about disqualified offerings that came down from the מזבח. It then shows the question can be asked according to each of them, and it ends in תיקו. A related question from רבי ינאי, about limbs of a private altar's עולה that came down from the מזבח once the fire had caught them, also ends in תיקו. Next, רב and שמואל disagree whether slaughtering at night on a private altar is valid, based on two ways of resolving רבי אלעזר's contradiction between פסוקים about שאול. רב and רבי יוחנן then disagree whether an עולה on a private altar needs הפשט וניתוח, and a ברייתא listing what is different and what is the same between the two altars supports רבי יוחנן. Finally, the גמרא returns to the משנה: נותר, זמן and טמא apply on both altars. A ברייתא learns the time rule for a private altar by comparing it to פיגול, faces a rival comparison to יוצא, and begins answering with a קל וחומר from birds that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

שֶׁהִכְנִיסָהּ לִפְנִים וְהוֹצִיאָהּ לַחוּץ – מַהוּ?

that one brought inside and took outside – what is the law?

מִי אָמְרִינַן:

Do we say:

כֵּיוָן דַּעֲיַילָא – קָלְטָה לַהּ מְחִיצְתָּא;

since it entered, the partition has grabbed it;

אוֹ דִלְמָא, כֵּיוָן דַּהֲדַר – הֲדַר?

or perhaps, since it went back out, it went back?

The steps (26)

  1. QuestionBrought inside the partition and then taken out: what is its status?
  2. ChallengeIsn't this the same as the dispute of רבה and רב יוסף?
  3. StatementThe dispute: if they came down, do they go back up?
  4. ResolutionThe question works according to both רבה and רב יוסף
  5. ResolutionEven רבה could say the partition grabs it
  6. ResolutionEven רב יוסף might agree here, because these are two places
  7. ConclusionOr maybe there is no difference, and the question stays open
  8. StatementWhat was obvious to רבה and רב יוסף was a question for רבי ינאי
  9. Questionרבי ינאי's question: limbs of a private altar's burnt offering
  10. ConclusionThe question applies only once the fire has taken hold, and it stays open
  11. Statementרב and שמואל disagree about slaughtering at night on a private altar
  12. StatementTheir dispute depends on רבי אלעזר's teaching
  13. Challengeרבי אלעזר sets up a contradiction, beginning with שאול's great stone
  14. ChallengeThe second verse: שאול's people slaughter at night
  15. ResolutionFirst answer: one verse is about ordinary animals, the other about offerings
  16. ResolutionSecond answer: one verse is about a public altar, the other about a private altar
  17. StatementNew dispute: does an עולה on a private altar need flaying and cutting?
  18. StatementThe root of the dispute: רבי יוסי הגלילי's teaching
  19. ConclusionHow each side reads "from the אהל מועד onward"
  20. ProofA ברייתא supporting רבי יוחנן begins: differences between the two altars
  21. ProofThe ברייתא continues: what is the same on both altars, including flaying and cutting
  22. StatementBack to the משנה: נותר, זמן, and טמא apply to both altars
  23. QuestionWhere do we learn that the time limit applies on a private altar?
  24. ResponseComparing leftover meat to פיגול
  25. ChallengeA competing comparison: leftover meat is like meat that went out
  26. ResolutionA קל וחומר from bird offerings settles the question