One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
תְּמִידִין וּמוּסָפִין · פְּסוּלֵי הַמֻּקְדָּשִׁין
Daily Offerings 9–10 · Sacrifices Rendered Unfit 1
Sefer Avodah · The order of precedence, the festival offerings and the water of joy, and what makes a sacrifice fit or unfit
2
Rules of precedence - the frequent and the holy
70
Bulls offered across Sukkot's seven days
3
Lugim of water poured for joy
1
Foot outside the Courtyard voids the offering
TM 9The order of precedence
- The frequent and the holy go first. Whatever is offered more often takes precedence - the daily tamid before the musaf of the month, the month before the festival - and the holier takes precedence over the less holy, so a sin-offering's blood precedes a burnt-offering's. (9:1-2, 9:5)
- A tie is left to you. When one offering is more frequent and another is holier and the claims are equal and opposite, the law itself steps back: you may give precedence to whichever you wish. (9:2)
- The festival breaks the ladder. The Sukkot additional offerings are brought in the plain order the Torah lists them - bulls, then rams, then sheep, then the goat - even though the goat is a sin-offering and would otherwise go first. (9:7)
- The long descent. Sin before guilt, guilt before thanksgiving, peace-offering before firstborn, firstborn before tithe, tithe before bird, bird before flour; and among the accompaniments, meal before wine, wine before oil, oil before frankincense, frankincense before salt, salt before wood. (9:8-11)
RememberPrecedence in offering is precedence in eating too - the rank does not end at the altar. (9:12)
TM 10The festival offerings and the water
- The Days of Awe. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur the additional offering is a bull, a ram, and seven sheep as burnt-offerings, with a goat as a sin-offering; on Yom Kippur a second goat is burned and its pair is the goat sent to Azazel. (10:1-2)
- The descending bulls of Sukkot. Thirteen bulls the first day, one fewer each day down to seven on the seventh, always with two rams, fourteen sheep, and a goat; Shemini Atzeret is a festival in its own right, with a single bull. (10:3-5)
- The water poured for joy. A law given to Moshe at Sinai: all seven days water was drawn in a golden flask of three lugim and poured on the altar - valid even at night, even before the tamid, even if the water and wine were mixed and poured from one vessel. (10:6-7)
- "Lift up your hands." The kohen was told to raise his hands as he poured, because a Sadducee once poured the water on his feet in contempt and the whole nation pelted him with their etrogim. (10:8)
RememberTwenty-four watches shared the service - and on Shemini Atzeret the bull was assigned by lottery, all watches equal. (10:12-13)
PM 1What makes a sacrifice unfit
- Almost anyone may slaughter. Even the unfit and the non-priest may slaughter, even as a first preference - there is no slaughter by a non-priest that invalidates; only the ritually impure is barred at the outset, and even his slaughter, after the fact, is valid. (1:1-2)
- Slaughter needs a mind. One who slaughters absentmindedly, merely busying himself, disqualifies the offering; and a minor may never slaughter a sacrifice, because settled intent is required and he does not have it. (1:3, 1:6)
- Where you stand decides it. For slaughter, what matters is where the animal stands; for receiving the blood, what matters is where the priest stands - so a kohen standing in the south who reaches north to receive the blood has invalidated it, though the same reach to slaughter would be fine. (1:8-9)
- Wholeness and boundary. A single foot outside the Courtyard during slaughter voids the offering; blood carried even one step by an unfit person can never be repaired; and an olive's bulk of meat or fats must remain when the blood is cast. (1:14, 1:27, 1:30)
RememberThe high priest's forehead-plate arouses favor for an offering brought in impurity - mercy stitched into the severity. (1:34)