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According to the Mishna on yesterday’s daf when Yom Kippur fell out on a Friday – something that cannot happen today, with the establishment of a set calendar – there was a difficult situation regarding the sin offering that was ordinarily eaten by the kohanim immediately after Yom Kippur ended. Since a sin offering can be eaten only on the day that it was brought and the evening that follows, it had to be eaten on Friday night. Since it was Shabbat, however, and the Yom Kippur sin offering was not a Shabbat sacrifice, the meat could not be cooked. This problem was solved thanks to the Babylonian priests who were not so particular about their food and were willing to eat the meat of the sacrifice when it was still raw.
On our daf, Rabba bar Bar Ḥana quotes Rabbi Yoḥanan as teaching that the people who were willing to eat raw meat in the Temple were not, in fact, Babylonians, rather they were from Alexandria in Egypt. The Mishna refers to people who were lacking in basic niceties of behavior “Babylonians,” since the Babylonians were hated by the Sages of the Mishna. Upon hearing this explanation – as well as a baraita that supported this clarification – Rabbi Yehuda, whose family roots were in Bavel commented that he was comforted by hearing this approach.
We use this pericope to explore the rivalries between Egypt Bavel and Palestine.