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Zevachim 63b

זבחים ס״ג ע״ב

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

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Topic

The southwest corner of the מזבח for the bird חטאת and the מנחה, and which bird-offering services may be done anywhere on the מזבח

Overview

The amud opens with the end of the משנה: a כהן normally circles the מזבח and comes down on the left, but for three services at the southwest corner he goes straight there and turns back on his heels. The גמרא asks how we know the bird חטאת is done at the southwest corner. רבי יהושע answers from a פסוק that calls a מנחה a חטאת, so each borrows a rule from the other: the מנחה needs the north, and the חטאת goes at the southwest corner. To show where the מנחה itself goes, the גמרא brings a ברייתא on the words לפני ה׳ and אל פני המזבח. The first view brings it to the tip of the southwest corner. רבי אליעזר instead chooses the south side, using the rule that we follow the reading that fulfills both phrases. רב אשי explains that this works because this תנא holds the whole מזבח stood in the north. Next, רב אשי explains the משנה's 'valid in any place': the pinching may be anywhere, but the sprinkling belongs at the southwest corner. A matching ברייתא is quoted. The גמרא starts rereading it so that 'anywhere' refers to squeezing out the blood, and that rereading continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

וּמַקִּיפִין וְיוֹרְדִין דֶּרֶךְ שְׂמֹאל;

And they circle around and go down by way of the left;

חוּץ מִן הָעוֹלֶה לִשְׁלֹשָׁה אֵלּוּ –

except for one who goes up for these three —

שֶׁהָיוּ עוֹלִין וְיוֹרְדִין עַל הֶעָקֵב.

who would go up and come down on the heel.

גְּמָ׳ מְנָא הָנֵי מִילֵּי?

גמרא: From where are these matters derived?

The steps (17)

  1. StatementHow the כהנים walk on the מזבח, and the three exceptions
  2. QuestionWhere do we learn the southwest corner rule?
  3. ResponseA פסוק calls the מנחה a חטאת
  4. ResponseComparing חטאת and מנחה in both directions
  5. QuestionHow do we know the מנחה goes at the southwest corner?
  6. ResponseA ברייתא: not the west, but "in front of the מזבח"
  7. ResponseThe other direction: "In front of the altar" alone might mean south
  8. ConclusionThe answer: the point of the southwest corner
  9. Statementרבי אליעזר: west of the corner or south of it? A rule for two verses
  10. ResponseApplying the rule: the south fulfills both phrases
  11. ChallengeHow does the south count as "before ה׳"?
  12. Resolutionרב אשי: this תנא holds the whole מזבח stood in the north
  13. QuestionWhat does the משנה mean by 'valid in any place'?
  14. Responseרב אשי: pinching anywhere, sprinkling at the corner
  15. ProofThe משנה matches a ברייתא
  16. QuestionThe ברייתא seems to contradict itself
  17. ResolutionRereading the ברייתא: squeezing out may be anywhere