One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
הלכות מעשה הקרבנות
Maaseh HaKorbanot 16-18
Sefer Avodah · What a spoken vow obligates, how exactly it must be fulfilled, and why every offering has one address
60
MAX ESRONIM OF FLOUR IN ONE VESSEL
1830
ESRONIM PER TYPE IF YOU FORGOT YOUR VOW ENTIRELY
140
LUGIM OF WINE IF YOU FORGOT THE AMOUNT VOWED
2
LOGS OF WOOD, A CUBIT LONG, FOR A VOW OF WOOD
Ch 16What Your Vow Obligates
- Upgrade counts, downgrade does not. Vow a lamb and bring a ram, you fulfilled it; vow a large animal and bring a small one, you did not. A specified color or gender must match exactly (16:1-2)
- Bring the average. Not the frailest of the species, whose value is minimal, and not necessarily the finest; if he brought a frail unblemished animal he fulfilled the vow after the fact (16:4)
- Ambiguity is read generously. "One of my oxen is consecrated" with two in the herd, the larger is consecrated; a vow "for the altar" means a handful of frankincense, the only thing offered entirely as is (16:8, 16:11)
- Only from what is yours. One who is obligated in an offering may bring it only from ordinary property, not from second-tithe money; libations must always come from ordinary funds (16:15, 16:17)
RememberWhen your words to God are unclear, the halacha rules in favor of your generosity: the bigger ox is the holy one.
Ch 17As You Vowed, Not As You Set Aside
- The vow fixes the form. Vowed an oven-baked meal-offering, a pit-baked one fails; vowed a flat pan and brought a deep pan, the offering is acceptable but the vow is unfulfilled; said "these cakes" in one vessel and switched, it is invalid (17:1-3)
- Sixty is the ceiling. An individual brings at most 60 esronim in one vessel; vow 121 and you bring 60, 60, and 1 in three vessels (17:6-7)
- Forgetting multiplies. Forgot the number and the vessels, bring 1 through 60 esronim in sixty vessels; forgot the type too, repeat the ladder for all five types, 1830 esronim each (17:8)
- Wine has legal sizes. Libations come in 3, 4, or 6 lugim; a vow of 5 is told "complete it to six"; 1 or 2 exempt; forgot the amount, bring 140 lugim, the most ever offered in one day (17:12-15)
Remember"As you vowed," not as you set aside: the binding moment is the sentence, and heaven kept the receipt.
Ch 18One Address Only
- Only in the chosen house. A positive mitzvah to offer every sacrifice there and to transport obligated animals even from abroad; offering outside willfully is karet, from "lest you offer in any place that you see" (18:1-2)
- Slaughter alone is liable. Even without offering it up, slaughtering sacrificial animals outside the Courtyard carries karet when willful, a sin-offering when unknowing (18:3)
- Only what is fit counts. No liability for an animal unfit to come before God: within seven days of birth, an animal whose mother was slaughtered that day, or a sin-offering consigned to death (18:6-8)
- A gift is always in season. A zav, zavah, new mother, or metzora still counting purification days is exempt for a sin-offering slaughtered outside, but liable for a burnt-offering, for it is a present and not the machinery of atonement (18:9)
- Geometry matters. The entire animal must be inside the Courtyard; neck in and body out is liable; two people holding one knife outside are exempt (18:15-16)
RememberThe prohibition of outside slaughter is a tribute: it applies only to what truly belonged inside.