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Zevachim 35a

זבחים ל״ה ע״א

Learn Zevachim 35a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Zevachim 35a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Using blood gathered from the floor of the עזרה according to רבי יהודה, and which intentions can make a קרבן פיגול.

Overview

The amud opens with רבי יהודה's answer to the חכמים: he allows blood gathered from the floor only when it was first caught in a כלי and spilled afterward. The גמרא explains that we can assume this, because כהנים are careful but work fast. It then asks about דם התמצית mixed into the floor-blood. It first answers that רבי יהודה calls it real blood, but רבי אלעזר shows that even he agrees it does not bring כפרה. So the גמרא answers instead that, for רבי יהודה, blood does not cancel out blood. The ברייתא continues: the חכמים explain that the drain of the עזרה was plugged to honor the כהנים, who walked in blood. The גמרא then works through two problems with that picture, חציצה and dirty clothes, and ends with the כהנים walking on raised platforms. A new משנה teaches which improper intentions do not ruin a קרבן: unusual parts, less than a כזית, eating and burning together, non-meat parts, a fetus, eggs and milk. The גמרא brings רבי אלעזר's one-way rule of פיגול. It begins to test a ברייתא that seems to support him, and the discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אַף אֲנִי לֹא אָמַרְתִּי

I too did not say it

אֶלָּא כְּשֶׁנִּתְקַבֵּל בִּכְלִי.

except when it was received in a vessel.

וְהוּא גּוּפֵיהּ מְנָא יָדַע?

But he himself, from where does he know?

כֹּהֲנִים זְרִיזִין,

Priests are diligent,

The steps (30)

  1. Resolutionרבי יהודה limits his ruling to blood first caught in a vessel
  2. QuestionHow can רבי יהודה know the blood was caught first?
  3. ResponsePriests are careful but quick, so blood spills from the cup
  4. ChallengeThe floor blood is mixed with weaker blood
  5. Resolutionרבי יהודה holds exudate blood counts as blood
  6. ProofA ברייתא shows רבי יהודה gives exudate blood כרת
  7. Challengeרבי אלעזר says exudate blood still does not atone
  8. ChallengeOnly blood that carries out the life counts as blood
  9. ResolutionBlood does not cancel out blood
  10. ChallengeWhy plug the drain of the עזרה?
  11. ResolutionIt is an honor for the כהנים to walk in blood
  12. ChallengeIsn't the blood a blocking layer?
  13. ResolutionWet blood does not block
  14. ChallengeWalking in blood would dirty the כהנים' clothes
  15. RejectionThey could not lift their clothes up
  16. ResolutionThey walked in blood only while carrying limbs to the ramp
  17. ChallengeCarrying limbs is a real service
  18. ResolutionThey walked in blood only while carrying wood
  19. QuestionHow did they reach the real services?
  20. ResponseThey walked on raised platforms
  21. StatementIntending to eat or burn the wrong part
  22. StatementLess than a כזית, and eating and burning do not combine
  23. StatementIntention to eat hide, bones, horns and similar parts does not ruin the offering
  24. StatementIntention about a fetus, a placenta or eggs does not make the offering פיגול
  25. StatementNo punishment for the milk of sacred animals or the eggs of doves
  26. StatementWhen the offering becomes פיגול, its fetus does too, but not the other way around
  27. StatementThe same one-way rule for the neck tendon and the crop
  28. StatementWrong intention about the אימורים makes the burned bulls פיגול, but not the reverse
  29. ProofA ברייתא that seems to support רבי אלעזר
  30. RejectionThe גמרא begins to reject the proof