Zevachim 14b

זבחים י״ד ע״ב

Learn Zevachim 14b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Zevachim 14b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Who may do הולכה (a זר or only a כהן), and whether הולכה done without walking counts as הולכה.

Overview

The גמרא finishes a ברייתא that says a קרבן is פסול if certain people, including a זר, do קבלה, הולכה, or זריקה. This refutes רב חסדא, who held that a זר's הולכה is כשר. The פסוק he relied on is explained differently: the non-כהנים only held the blood like a shelf. רבה and רב יוסף then say the question depends on a מחלוקת. רבי שמעון holds that a skippable עבודה is not a real עבודה, so a זר may do it, while the רבנן disagree. Challenges from שחיטה, the פרה אדומה, and carrying the limbs to the ramp test that idea. A קל וחומר shows that carrying the blood should need a כהן, and עולא reports that even רבי שמעון agrees a זר's הולכה is פסול. Finally the גמרא asks whether moving the blood without walking counts as הולכה. Several proofs are pushed away, and רבי יוחנן rules that it does not count.

Opening lines

The steps (25)

1. ChallengeEnd of the ברייתא: these people disqualify קבלה, הולכה and זריקה
2. Conclusionרב חסדא is refuted
3. ChallengeBut רב חסדא had a פסוק as proof
4. ResolutionThe non-כהנים only held the blood like a shelf
5. StatementA זר's הולכה depends on the מחלוקת of רבי שמעון and רבנן
6. Challengeאביי: Slaughter cannot be skipped, yet a non-כהן may do it
7. ResolutionSlaughter is not counted as a service
8. ChallengeBut a non-כהן's slaughter of the red heifer is invalid
9. ResolutionThe red heifer is a different kind of holiness
10. ChallengeAll the more so for altar offerings
11. ResolutionThe red heifer needs a כהן just as skin marks do
12. ChallengeCarrying the limbs to the ramp can be skipped, yet a זר disqualifies it
13. ResolutionWhere the Torah spelled it out, it spelled it out
14. ChallengeSurely carrying the blood should need a כהן all the more
15. Proofעולא in the name of רבי אלעזר: carrying the blood by a non-כהן is invalid even for רבי שמעון
16. QuestionDoes carrying the blood without walking count as carrying?
17. ProofAttempted proof: a כהן sitting is invalid, so standing in a sitting-like way is valid
18. RejectionRejection: sitting may mean shuffling along, so standing still means moving a little
19. ProofProof from the passing of the פסח blood
20. RejectionThe כהנים in line still moved a little
21. ChallengeThen why describe the line at all?
22. ResolutionThe line is for the King's honor
23. ProofProof that the blood must go back to the fit כהן
24. RejectionReread the משנה: the fit כהן takes it back
25. StatementCarrying the blood without walking is not real conveying