Zevachim 93: אֶחָד הַבֶּגֶד וְאֶחָד הַשַּׂק וְאֶחָד הָעוֹר

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As we learned on yesterday’s daf if sacrificial blood is absorbed by another object, the laws pertaining to the sacrifice are transferred to the object unless the blood is removed. Therefore, clothing that was stained by blood had to be washed in the Temple courtyard, metal vessels that absorbed blood could be heated until the blood is removed, but earthenware vessels, which retain anything that they absorb, must be destroyed.

The Mishnayot on our daf offer a number of limitations to that rule –

First, this law does not apply to all sacrificial blood; it is limited to blood that was collected by a kohen in a keli sharet – in the appropriate Temple service vessel – and is valid for sprinkling on the altar. Therefore, if the blood was sprayed directly from the neck of the animal, or if the clothing came directly in contact with blood after the blood had already been applied to the altar, there would be no need to wash it out.

Zevachim 92: תּוֹרָה אַחַת לְכל הַחַטָאוֹת

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According to the Torah (see Sefer Vayikra 6:20-21), in the context of discussing a korban ḥatat – a sin offering – “Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy; and when there is sprinkled of the blood upon any garment, thou shalt wash that whereon it was sprinkled in a holy place. But the earthen vessel wherein it is cooked shall be broken; and if it be cooked in a brazen vessel, it shall be scoured and rinsed in water.”

The first Mishna in our new Perek 7 teaches that this law is limited to blood that could be sprinkled on the altar. Thus, if the korban was disqualified for some reason, and the blood could not be sprinkled, or if it had been collected by someone who was unfit to participate in the sacrificial service (see above, daf 15) it also would not need to be cleaned from the priestly clothing.

Similarly, if the sprinkling of the blood had already been done by the kohanim, the remnants of the blood would no longer require washing.

Perhaps the most technically intricate section of the Talmudic discussion concerns the quantity of blood necessary to create a laundering obligation. The Mishnah had already indicated that the blood must be "fit for spattering," but what quantity of blood satisfies this condition? The Talmud introduces the concept of nitza (literally, "spattering" or "staining") as a technical threshold .

Zevachim 91: ״קרְבַּן מִנְחָה״ – מְלַמֵּד שֶׁמִּתְנַדְּבִין שֶׁמֶן

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Rabbi Zeira said that we learn this halakha in the mishna as well: Rabbi Shimon said: If you saw oil that is being distributed in the Temple courtyard, you do not need to ask what it is; rather, it is left over from the oil of the wafers of the meal offerings of Israelites, or it is left over from the log of oil of a leper, as one does not contribute oil as a gift offering. Rabbi Zeira learns by inference from the mishna that according to the one who says that one may contribute oil, it is distributed to the priests for consumption and it is not sacrificed entirely.

Zevachim 90: בִּרְכַּת הַיַּיִן תְּדִירָה וּבִרְכַּת הַיּוֹם אֵינָהּ תְּדִירָה

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The Gemara on our daf raises the question of what to do when these two sets of priorities come into conflict. Should the constant sacrifice be brought first or should the holier sacrifice be brought first?

The Gemara brings a number of proofs in an attempt to clarify this question. For example, on Shabbat the korban tamid is brought before the korban musaf even though the korban musaf is on a higher level of holiness (the korban musaf is unique to Shabbat). Ultimately, the Gemara rejects this proof, as well as all of the other similar proofs, by arguing that on Shabbat even the korban tamid has enhanced holiness due to the fact that it is brought on Shabbat.

Zevachim 89: כׇּל הַמְקוּדָּשׁ מֵחֲבֵירוֹ – קוֹדֵם אֶת חֲבֵירוֹ

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The tenth perek of Massekhet Zevaḥim, which begins on today’s daf is called Kol HaTadir – “Whatever is more frequent.” The focus of this perek is the order in which the sacrifices must be brought in the Temple.

In any organization with operations as complex as those in the Temple there is a need to set a schedule and clear and consistent priorities. In the Temple there are many situations where the requirements of communal sacrifices are such that different korbanot must be brought, e.g. when Rosh HaShana falls out on Shabbat and there are three separate “sacrifices of the day.”

The first Mishna opens with the general statement that kol ha-tadir meḥaveiro kodem et ḥaveiro – whatever is more frequent than another has precedence over the other. That is to say that the more frequently a sacrifice is brought the greater its precedence in the order of korbanot.

We explore this operations logistic and refer to Halbertal’s appropriation of the korban metaphor in his political theology.

Zevachim 88: אַבְנֵט – מְכַפֵּר עַל הִרְהוּר הַלֵּב

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The end of our Perek discusses the purpose of the Bigdei Kehunah. The tunic atones for bloodshed; the pants atoned for immorality; the turban atoned for arrogance, for let something that is high on the head atone for haughtiness; the belt atoned for impure thoughts of the heart, for that is where it was worn; the breastplate atoned for miscarriage of civil laws; the ephod atoned for idolatry; the robe atoned for lashon hara (slander), for let an article that emits sound (through its bells ringing) come and atone for an evil sound; the headplate atoned for brazenness.

The Gemora asks: But is that so, for surely Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: For two things we find no atonement through sacrifices, but find atonement for them through something else, and they are bloodshed and lashon hara. Bloodshed has atonement through the eglah arufah while lashon hara is atoned for by the burning of the incense.

We explore the transition from the biblical model to the talmudic and metaphoric representation of the Priest's Vestments.

Zevachim 87: אֲוִיר מִזְבֵּחַ – כְּמִזְבֵּחַ דָּמֵ

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As we have learned (on daf 83, and on yesterday’s daf, as well) animals that are appropriate for sacrifice will become fully sanctified if they are brought onto the altar – or onto the ramp leading up to the altar – even if there is a problem that would, ordinarily, cause them to be disqualified for sacrifice.

The Gemara on our daf raises the following question: Does that rule apply to the air above the altar? If an animal that is disqualified from sacrifice is placed above the altar, does it also become sanctified to the extent that it cannot be removed from the altar and must be sacrificed?

The rabbinic notion of avir ha-mizbeach—the "airspace of the altar"—forms one of the most nuanced and conceptually daring discussions in all of Zevachim. The sugya our daf (Zevachim 87a–88a) asks a seemingly technical halakhic question: yet beneath this question lies a complex hermeneutical, architectural, and metaphysical meditation on sanctity, proximity, liminality, and the nature of sacrificial space.

Zevachim 86: מִשּׁוּם חוּלְשָׁא דְּכֹהֵן גָּדוֹל

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The priest clears these ashes (terumas hadeshen) not to erase what was, but to make space for what will be. It is an act that belongs neither fully to the old day nor to the new. It happens in the in-between, in the dawning recognition that renewal is possible only after the remnants of the past have been gently lifted away.

Our Daf (Zevahim 86b) interprets a seemingly conflicting verses “burn it all night until morning” (Lev 6:2) and “remove the ashes in the morning” (Lev 6:3). If burning continues all night, when exactly does “morning” begin? Rabbi Yoḥanan’s answer is both elegant and profound: “Give a morning to the morning of the night.” In other words, “morning” is not sunrise but the earliest natural signal of its approach. Halakhically, that signal is the rooster’s cry. Thus, a humble animal becomes the hermeneutical key by which the rabbis reconcile Scripture. Nature becomes commentary; creation itself becomes a witness to Torah.

We explore this liminal space in time as well as the significance of the rooster and its crow.

Zevachim 85: ״הַקְרִיבֵהוּ נָא לְפֶחָתֶךָ הֲיִרְצְךָ אוֹ הֲיִשָּׂא פָנֶיךָ״

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The Gemara relates that it is necessary to wash the innards of an Olah before offering them on the altar.

The basis of this ruling is the pasuk that states (Malachi 1:8), “Offer it, if you please, to your governor, will he show you favor, or will he turn his countenance to you?”

Rashi asserts that the same verse is the basis of the disqualification of using an animal that it a tereifah as a korban. Rambam as well writes that an animal that becomes a tereifah may not be offered as a korban since one would not offer such an animal to his governor.

We explore the RAMCHAL’s use of this verse in the pursuit of authentic practice.

Zevachim 84: מָה רָאִיתָ לְרַבּוֹת אֶת אֵלּוּ וּלְהוֹצִיא אֶת אֵלּוּ

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This essay traces the conception of wisdom (chochmah) as arising from bodily organs other than the brain—particularly the kidneys, heart, and viscera—across biblical, rabbinic, Kabbalistic, and contemporary theological frameworks. Beginning with the biblical anthropology that locates conscience and moral discernment in the kidneys (kelayot), we follow this embodied epistemology through its midrashic amplification in the figure of Abraham, whose kidneys "flowed with Torah," into the Kabbalistic reframing that positions the kidneys within the sefirotic architecture of divine emanation. Drawing extensively on the scholarly apparatus assembled by Natan Slifkin in his monograph "The Question of the Kidneys' Counsel," this study examines how medieval authorities from Rashi to Ramban to the Italian Renaissance grappled with the apparent conflict between rabbinic physiology and emerging medical science. The analysis then connects this ancient wisdom tradition to the contemporary framework of embodied theology, demonstrating how the therapeutic encounter becomes a site where somatic wisdom emerges through the dynamics of tzimtzum, Shekhinah consciousness, and hermeneutic medicine. Against Cartesian dualism and biomedical reductionism, this essay argues for a return to the biblical intuition that the body itself is a knowing subject, capable of generating revelation from its hidden depths.

Zevachim 83: אִם עָלָה לֹא יֵרֵד

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The various responsibilities of the kohanim who were working in the Temple would invariably lead to mistakes and confusion on occasion (see above daf 70). Having completed the examination of the laws regarding sacrifices that became mixed up with one another, the ninth perek of Massekhet Zevaḥim, which begins on today’s daf, focuses on a different question – what should be done with invalid sacrifices that somehow make their way to the altar.

From the passage in Sefer Shemot (29:37) that teaches that “anything that touches the altar will become holy” the Sages derive that animals that are appropriate for sacrifice will become fully sanctified if they are brought onto the altar, even if there is a problem that would, ordinarily, cause them to be invalid for sacrifice. In the language of the Mishna, keivan she-alu, shuv lo yerdu -once they were elevated onto the altar, they cannot be brought down, and they will be sacrificed.

Zevachim 82: אֶל הַקֹּדֶשׁ פְּנִימָה

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The Mishnah discusses a dispute between the Chachamim and Rebbi Yosi ha'Glili with regard to the blood of a Korban that was brought into the Heichal before the Zerikah was performed on the Mizbe'ach ha'Chitzon. The Chachamim maintain that such a Korban is Pasul, and even the blood that remains in the Azarah (that was not brought into the Heichal) may no longer be used for the Zerikah. Rebbi Yosi ha'Glili maintains that the remaining blood may be used. According to the Chachamim, what is supposed to be done with the Korban that is Pasul?

We explore sacred boundaries liminal spaces and Rav Elchanan Samet’s discussion of the role of the Mishkan in different books of the Bible.

Zevachim 81: לְתַלְמִיד שֶׁמָּזַג לְרַבּוֹ בְּחַמִּין

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A new Mishnah states If blood that requires sprinkling inside became mixed up with that which requires sprinkling outside - it must be poured out into the canal. If he sprinkled outside and then sprinkled inside, it is valid. If he applied it inside and then outside, Rabbi Akiva rules that it is invalid, but the Sages rule that it’s valid, for Rabbi Akiva used to say: Any blood that was brought into the Sanctuary to make atonement is invalid. But the Sages say: Only the chatas.

Rav Yehuda introduces Shmuel's parable with a question: how does Rabbi Akiva derive his expansive principle from a verse that explicitly mentions only sin offerings? The answer arrives in narrative form:

To what is this matter comparable? To a student who mixed wine with hot water for his teacher. And the teacher said to him: Mix another drink for me. The student said to him: With what should I mix the wine, hot or cold water? The teacher said to him: Aren't we dealing with hot water? Now that I requested that you mix me another cup, I mean that you should mix it either in hot water or in cold. Otherwise, the teacher would not have needed to say anything.

We explore the use of the Mashal as a hermeneutic gateway so when Rav Yehuda quotes Shmuel's mashal comparing scriptural interpretation to a student mixing wine for his teacher, he introduces not merely an illustrative analogy but a complete hermeneutical theory compressed into narrative form.

Zevachim 80: הָא ״תַּחְתּוֹנִים עָלוּ לוֹ״ קָתָנֵי! לְשֵׁם שִׁירַיִם

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Rav Ashi says that Rabbi Eliezer says that liquids do not necessarily mix evenly, but since only a minute amount fell in, between the two sprinkles, at least one will include chatas water. Tosfos (80a Rav Ashi) asks why Rav Ashi did not agree with Rish Lakish, and only emphasize that only a minute amount fell in? Just as Rav Ashi says that between two sprinkles we assume some chatas water is included, we can apply the same logic to say that between the two sprinkles, a minimum amount of chatas was included.

Tosfos says that Rav Ashi must be saying that we assume that there is valid chatas water between the two, and not that one is exclusively chatas water, since it is impossible for the minute amount to be too small to split in two. Tosfos Yom Tov (Para 9:1) cites this Tosfos, and agrees that mathematically, any amount can be divided into two.

We explore Xeno’s paradox as to how something may continually be divided and talmud mathematics in general.

Zevachim 79: כּוֹס בְּכוֹסוֹת

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A new Mishnah states If the blood of unblemished offerings was mixed with the blood of blemished animals unfit for sacrifice, the entire mixture shall be poured into the Temple courtyard drain. This is the halakha when the fit and unfit blood were mixed in one vessel.

We explore The halakhic principles governing mixtures of sacrificial blood with water, integrate sugyot from Zevachim 78–80, Para 9, Chullin 22, and related Rishonim. The focus is on the conceptual pillars: appearance (mar’eh dam), mixing (yesh bilah vs. ein bilah), minimum measure, and the prohibition of adding or diminishing during the sacrificial rite.

As well as the notion of sensory epistemology in Halacha with the work of Moshe Halevi Spero.

Zevachim 78: אִי אֶפְשָׁר שֶׁלֹּא יַרְבֶּה מִין עַל חֲבֵירוֹ וִיבַטְּלֶנּוּ

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On our daf Reish Lakish issued a statement from which the Gemara derived three conclusions.

The second conclusion is that a prohibited food which mixes with a permitted food and gives flavor to the mixture forbids the entire combination. This is true even if the permitted item is the majority of the mixture.

Reish Lakish says that this principle is rabbinic, and not from the Torah. Rava cites a Mishnah (Challah 3:7) to challenge this conclusion. A dough is made from wheat and rice.

Even if the majority of the loaf is rice, if the taste of the loaf is wheat the loaf may be used to fulfill one’s obligation to eat matzah on Pesach.

We explore the principle of min b’mino and especially the controversy over kosher milk in the US.

Zevachim 77: אֵיבְרֵי עוֹלָה תְּמִימָה שֶׁנִּתְעָרְבוּ בְּאֵיבְרֵי בַּעֲלַת מוּם

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What is the reason of Rabbi Eliezer for deeming it permitted to burn the limbs of the sin offering on the altar as wood? The Gemara explains: The verse states:

“No meal offering that you shall bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven; for you shall make no leaven, nor any honey, smoke as an offering made by fire to the Lord. As an offering of first fruits you may bring them to the Lord; but they shall not come up for a pleasing aroma on the altar” (Leviticus 2:11–12).

This indicates that you may not offer up leaven and honey as a pleasing aroma, i.e., as an offering.

But you may offer upleaven and honey and other substances that are prohibited to be sacrificed upon the altar, such as the limbs of a sin offering, for the sake wood.

We examine the prohibition against leaven and honey in the meal offerings of Leviticus 2:11-12 through the lens of Talmudic interpretation, specifically focusing on the Mishnaic and Gemara discourse in our daf.

Zevachim 76: הֲרֵי זֶה אֲשָׁמוֹ וְזֶה לוּגּוֹ

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Abaye asked on Rava from the following braisa: Rabbi Shimon said [concerning one who is uncertain if he is obligated in the metzora sacrifices for he was a confirmed metzora who has now recovered, or was he merely confined and he is not required in any sacrifices]: On the next morning he brings his asham offering together with the log of oil and stipulates, “If this is a metzora’s offering, this is his (my) asham and this is its log, but if not, then this asham should be a donated shelamim.”

That asham must be slaughtered in the north (like an asham) and requires sprinkling of its blood on the thumbs (like a metzora’s asham), and semichah, libations and the waving of the breast and the thigh (like a shelamim); and it is eaten one day and one night (like an asham). [Evidently, Rabbi Shimon is not concerned about shortening the amount of time that the korban may be eaten!?] The Gemora answers: A person’s remedy is different (in order for him to become tahor).

We explore the log shemen (measured portion of oil) in the metzora purification ritual of Leviticus 14, situating this biblical practice within the broader ancient Near Eastern context of ritual oil use and its metapsychological functions.

Zevachim 75: אָשָׁם שֶׁנִּתְעָרֵב בִּשְׁלָמִים

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The Mishna on our daf deals with animals that were consecrated for different sacrifices – an asham (a guilt offering) and a shelamim (a peace offering). In this case, however, the sacrificial service of these sacrifices, while not identical, parallels one another.

For example, the placement of the blood on the altar – which is the central part of the atonement process – is exactly the same, “two sprinklings that are four,” that is, the blood is poured on the corners of the sides of the altar.

We explore The Halakhic and Theological Parameters of the Asham Offering.

Zevachim 74: סְפֵק עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה אֲסוּרָה

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More cases of mixtures that include a forbidden item are discussed on our daf.

Rav Naḥman quoted Rava bar Avuh in the name of Rav as teaching that in a case of a signet ring of avoda zara that was mixed with others so that the entire collection was forbidden, if a single ring falls into the Yam HaGadol we will assume that it was the forbidden ring that fell, and all of the others are permitted.

We explore the sugya and the differences between sacred secular and profane.