One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
הלכות מעשה הקרבנות
Maaseh HaKorbanot 10-12
Sefer Avodah · Who eats each offering, where and until when; the lashes that guard those lines; and the meal-offerings that must never leaven
2
DAYS + THE NIGHT BETWEEN TO EAT A PEACE OFFERING
1000
ISARONIM ONE MAY VOW IN A SINGLE MEAL-OFFERING
60
ISARONIM MAX EVER BROUGHT IN ONE VESSEL
5
PARTS OF A BURNT OFFERING THAT COMBINE TO AN OLIVE-SIZE
Ch 10Who Eats, Where, Until When
- Eating is a mitzvah. The priests eat the sin- and guilt-offerings and the owners receive atonement; it counts among the 613 (10:1)
- Two zones. Most-holy offerings: male priests only, inside the Courtyard (b'dieved even in the Temple building); breast and thigh of peace offerings: the priests' whole households, anywhere in Jerusalem, including the windows and the thickness of the wall (10:3-5)
- Two clocks. Peace, firstborn and tithe offerings: two days and the night between; thanksgiving, nazirite's ram, sin, guilt and meal remainders: a day and a night, by Torah law until dawn, by the Sages only until midnight (10:6-8)
- Equal shares. The whole day's clan divides equally, "every man like his brother"; a blemished priest gets a full portion, but one impure at the hour of offering gets none even if pure by evening; the High Priest takes whatever he wants (10:14-19)
- Purity must span the service. A priest impure between the sprinkling of the blood and the burning of the fats: his share is in doubt, and a portion he seized is not taken from him (10:21-22)
RememberThe priest's dinner is the owner's atonement, and the table is divided by belonging, not by performance
Ch 11An Olive-Size Out of Place
- The burnt offering is untouchable. An olive-size of its meat, before or after the blood, brings lashes; its fat, meat, flour, oil and wine combine to that olive-size (11:1-2)
- Never before the blood. Eating any offering, even of lesser sanctity, before its blood is sprinkled brings lashes (11:4)
- Never outside the walls. Most-holy meat outside the Courtyard, or lesser-sanctity meat outside Jerusalem: lashes, and meat that left its place is "meat in a field," disqualified forever even if brought back (11:5-6)
- Inward is not outward. Lesser-sanctity meat carried into the Temple building remains acceptable (11:7)
- Double liability. A non-priest eating a fowl sin-offering gets two sets of lashes: as a non-priest eating sacred food, and for neveilah, since melikah is not shechitah (11:8-9)
RememberThe same bite is a mitzvah or lashes; nothing changes but the wall, the clock, and the mouth
Ch 12The Flour That Must Not Rise
- Twelve offerings of flour. Three communal (omer, the two Shavuot loaves, showbread) and nine individual, four obligatory and five voluntary; all fine wheat flour except the sotah's and the omer, which are barley (12:2-4)
- The measures. Never less than an isaron, up to 1000 by vow; a log of oil per isaron and one handful of frankincense per offering, but no oil or frankincense at all on the sinner's or sotah's offering (12:5-7)
- The handful. The kometz alone is burned and the priests eat the rest; a priest's own meal-offering is burned entirely, and a priest's wife's offering is neither eaten nor fully burned: the handful to the altar, the rest to the ash heap (12:9-12)
- No leaven, ever. One is liable for each separate act of leavening the remainder: kneading, shaping, baking; dipping it in spices or sesame is fine, that is spiced matzah (12:14-17)
- Zeal is the safeguard. Wheat is not soaked (done outside, unguarded), but inside the Courtyard the dough is kneaded with lukewarm water, because the priests are zerizin and never let it rest (12:20-21)
RememberThe Temple's defense against leaven was not cold water but priests who never left the dough alone