Gemara Clarity

Zevachim 99a

זבחים צ״ט ע״א

Learn Zevachim 99a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Zevachim 99a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Who gets a share of the קרבנות (being fit to eat), and whether an אונן may touch קדשים

Overview

The גמרא asks for the source of the משנה's rule that a כהן unfit for עבודה gets no share of the קרבנות. ריש לקיש brings the פסוק "הכהן המחטא אתה יאכלנה". Challenges from the whole משמר, a קטן and a בעל מום refine this: 'eat' means 'get a share', and "כל זכר בכהנים" adds the בעל מום as an exception. The גמרא asks why that פסוק adds a בעל מום and not a טבול יום. It answers by reasoning and, through רב יוסף, from the word יאכלנה: only a כהן fit to eat gets a share. ריש לקיש asks about a בעל מום who is טמא, and רב אושעיא asks about a טמא כהן serving on קרבנות ציבור. A ברייתא about a כהן גדול who is an אונן answers both: a share requires being fit to eat right now. The גמרא then turns to the משנה's rule that an אונן may touch קדשים and works through a contradiction from a משנה in חגיגה. That leads to רבי ירמיה's idea that a person can guard himself only partly, and a ברייתא proving it begins at the end of the amud.

Opening lines

גְּמָ׳ מְנָא הָנֵי מִילֵּי?

Gemara: From where are these matters derived?

אָמַר רֵישׁ לָקִישׁ,

Reish Lakish said:

דְּאָמַר קְרָא:

As the verse states:

״הַכֹּהֵן הַמְחַטֵּא אֹתָהּ יֹאכְלֶנָּה״ –

"The priest who effects atonement with it shall eat it"

The steps (27)

  1. QuestionWhat is the source for the משנה's rule?
  2. Responseריש לקיש brings the פסוק about the כהן who does the atonement
  3. ChallengeBut the whole משמר eats without doing the service
  4. ResolutionThe rule means anyone fit to do the service
  5. ChallengeBut a קטן eats even though he cannot serve
  6. Resolution'Eat' really means 'receive a share'
  7. ChallengeBut a בעל מום gets a share without being able to serve
  8. ResolutionA separate פסוק includes the בעל מום
  9. ChallengeMaybe "Every Male" Includes a טבול יום Instead
  10. ResolutionA בעל מום Makes More Sense Because He Eats
  11. ChallengeOn the Contrary, the טבול יום Will Be Fit Tonight
  12. ResolutionRight Now He Is Still Not Fit
  13. Resolutionרב יוסף: The Word "Shall Eat It" Teaches the Rule
  14. Questionריש לקיש: A Blemished כהן Who Is Also טמא
  15. Responseרבה proves you must be fit to eat right now
  16. QuestionDoes a טמא כהן who serves on communal offerings get a share
  17. Responseרבינא answers from the same ברייתא
  18. ChallengeMay an אונן really touch קדשים
  19. ResolutionOne משנה is about an אונן who immersed, the other about one who did not
  20. ChallengeAn אונן's immersion does not last, because his אנינות returns
  21. ResolutionIt depends on whether he took his mind off guarding his purity
  22. ChallengeBeing distracted should require sprinkling, not just immersion
  23. ResolutionCorpse impurity versus creeping-animal impurity
  24. ChallengeCreeping-animal impurity would need sunset and would forbid תרומה
  25. ResolutionHe guarded against impurity but not against what disqualifies
  26. QuestionCan a person guard himself only halfway?
  27. ProofYes, and a ברייתא proves it