For the source text click/tap here: Zevachim 65
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On yesterday’s daf we learned that birds brought as sacrifices were not slaughtered in the ordinary manner, but were killed by means of melika – a unique method where the kohen would hold the bird in his hand and kill it with his thumbnail.
The Gemara on our daf quotes a baraita that derives these requirements from the passage in Sefer Vayikra (1:15) where the Torah emphasizes that this unique slaughtering must be done by a kohen and cannot be done with a knife as is the case with ordinary slaughtering.
We explore this unique form of sacrifice and compare it with Schechita and other ancient forms of barehanded ritual sacrifice.