Zevachim 63a

זבחים ס״ג ע״א

Learn Zevachim 63a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Zevachim 63a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The altar ramps, where קמיצה and other services may be done (עזרה versus היכל), and the uses of the southwest corner of the מזבח

Overview

This amud opens with רמי בר חמא's measurement: the main ramp of the מזבח was a little less steep than the small ramps. A new משנה then teaches that the קמיצה of a מנחה may be done anywhere in the עזרה, and that male כהנים eat the rest inside the courtyard until midnight. רבי אלעזר adds that a קמיצה done in the היכל is also valid, learning it from the removal of the בזיכין. רבי ירמיה challenges him from the פסוק 'וקמץ משם'. The answer is that the פסוק only comes to make the whole עזרה valid. The גמרא then works out why that פסוק was needed at all: comparisons to the north-side animal offerings all fail, so the real worry was that the קמיצה might be tied to the southwest corner, like the הגשה. Next, רבי יוחנן rules that שלמים slaughtered in the היכל are valid, because the less holy place should not be stricter than the holier one. The גמרא defends this logic: it works for service, but not for eating. A final משנה lists the six rites done at the southwest corner of the מזבח and begins the rule that everyone goes up the ramp on the right side. That rule continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (21)

1. StatementHow steep the altar ramps were
2. StatementWhere meal offerings are handled and eaten
3. StatementA handful taken in the Sanctuary is still valid
4. ChallengeThe handful must be taken where a non-priest may stand
5. StatementBen Beteira reads 'from there' as fixing a left-handed handful
6. ResolutionThe verse only comes to make the whole courtyard valid
7. ResolutionWhy we needed that verse: we might have required the north side
8. RejectionThe comparison fails: an עולה is burned completely
9. RejectionA meal offering cannot be learned from a sin offering
10. RejectionA meal offering cannot be learned from a guilt offering
11. RejectionA meal offering cannot be learned from all of them together
12. ResolutionA new reason the verse was needed: the meal offering is brought to the altar
13. ResolutionWe might have linked the handful-taking to the southwest corner
14. StatementPeace offerings slaughtered in the Sanctuary are valid
15. ChallengeA ברייתא about eating holy offerings in the Sanctuary during danger
16. ChallengeWhy does the ברייתא need a special verse?
17. ResolutionServing before the Master is different from eating before Him
18. StatementThe bird sin offering belongs at the southwest corner
19. StatementThree rites done on the lower part of the southwest corner
20. StatementThree rites done on the upper part of the southwest corner
21. StatementEveryone goes up the ramp on the right side