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In the previous dapim of Massekhet Zevaḥim we have seen the importance of the idea of lishmah – that the sacrifice must be brought with the appropriate intent, so that at the time when it is sacrificed the owner has in mind what the sacrifice is and why it is being brought. The Gemara on today’s daf searches for a source for that law.
The passage that is brought as a source is from Sefer Vayikra (3:1) where the Torah commands ve-im zevaḥ shelamim korbano – that if the sacrifice being brought was a korban shelamim – indicating that the sacrifice must be slaughtered with the specific intention that it was a shelamim. The Gemara continues with a discussion of how we can learn that each of the other avodot – activities of the sacrificial service aside from Sheḥita (slaughtering the animal) – also must be done with the proper intent, and finds specific sources for:
Kabalat ha-dam – collecting the blood at the time of slaughter
Holakah – carrying the sacrifice to the altar
Zerikat ha-dam – sprinkling the blood on the altar.