• When the thoughts regarding time and place of sacrifice consumption are in conflict
• Who performs melikah on a sacrificial fowl and how
• The blood application and burning of the fowl
• Differences between the olah and chatat fowl sacrifices
• How a wrong thought or wrong blood application affect a fowl sacrifice
• Disqualifications of melikah slaughter of a fowl sacrifice
• Is shechitah considered as the same as all other sacrificial services
• When the fowl which was slaughtered turns out to be a treifah
• The limitations of the kal vachomer method of Torah interpretation
• The ritual impurity caused by eating the flesh of a fowl which died not through shechitah
• When animals qualified for sacrifice become mixed up with those who are not

Why the Shechitah of a Sacrifice is Different

• Zevachim 68b

Shechitah – the slaughtering of an animal offered as a sacrifice – is not considered an avodah – a ritual that must conform to all the restrictions affecting all other parts of the sacrificial service.

This principle is mentioned in our gemara and in a number of places in Mesechta Zevachim . Several explanations are put forth by the commentaries as a source.

Rashi(Zevachim 14b) states that this is evident from the fact that the Torah did not disqualify for shechitah those who are ineligible for all the other parts of the service.

Tosefot (ibid.) quotes Rabbi Yaakov of Orleans who calls attention to the fact that shechitah is required for the consumption of non-sacrificial animals as well, so it cannot be considered an essential part of sacrificial service.

Tosefot also suggests that the source for this different status of shechitah is evident in the fact that the one performing the shechitah is not required to stand in the Sanctuary area while performing this service as he is while performing all the others.

What the Sages Say

"The eglah arufah – the calf beheaded in the ceremony of atonement for an unresolved murder – becomes forbidden for private use once it is brought to the nachal eitan site of the ceremony."

• Rabbi Yannai - Zevachim 70b

© 1995-2024 Ohr Somayach International - All rights reserved.

Articles may be distributed to another person intact without prior permission. We also encourage you to include this material in other publications, such as synagogue or school newsletters. Hardcopy or electronic. However, we ask that you contact us beforehand for permission in advance at [email protected] and credit for the source as Ohr Somayach Institutions www.ohr.edu