Study Zevachim folio 32B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
סמיכה נמי כתיב: ״לפני ה׳״! אפשר דמעייל ידיה וסמיך. שחיטה נמי אפשר דעביד סכין ארוכה ושחיט!
With regard to placing hands on the head of an offering as well, it is written: “Before YHWH.” The Talmud answers that it is possible, in a case where he inserts his hands into the Temple courtyard and places them on the head of the offering while he remains outside. The Talmud asks: But with regard to slaughter also, it is possible, in a case where he fashions a long knife and slaughters the animal while standing outside the Temple courtyard.
הא מני – שמעון התימני היא. דתניא: ״ושחט את בן הבקר לפני ה׳״ – ולא השוחט לפני ה׳. שמעון התימני אומר: מנין שיהיו ידיו של שוחט לפנים מן הנשחט? תלמוד לומר: ״ושחט את בן הבקר לפני ה׳״ – שוחט את בן הבקר יהא לפני ה׳.
The Talmud answers: In accordance with whose opinion is this? It is in accordance with the opinion of Shimon HaTimni, who holds that the one who slaughters an offering must stand inside the Temple courtyard. This is as it is taught in a baraita, that when the verse states: “And he should slaughter the bull before YHWH” (Leviticus 1:5), it teaches that the bull must be inside the Temple courtyard, but the slaughterer need not be “before YHWH.” Therefore, he may stand outside the Temple courtyard and slaughter the offering that is inside. Shimon HaTimni says: From where is it derived that the hands of the slaughterer must be farther inside the Temple courtyard than the animal that is slaughtered? The verse states: “And he should slaughter the bull before YHWH,” which teaches that the slaughterer of the bull must be before YHWH.
אמר עולא אמר ריש לקיש: טמא שהכניס ידו לפנים – לוקה. שנאמר: ״בכל קדש לא תגע וגו׳״ – מקיש ביאה לנגיעה; מה נגיעה במקצת שמה נגיעה, אף ביאה במקצת שמה ביאה.
§ Apropos the question of whether partial entry into the Temple courtyard is considered entry, Ulla says that Reish Lakish says: A ritually impure individual who inserted his hand inside the Temple courtyard is flogged for transgressing the prohibition of entering the Temple while impure, as it is stated with regard to the impurity of a woman who gave birth: “Every consecrated item she should not touch, and to the Temple she should not come, until the days of her purification are complete” (Leviticus 12:4). The verse juxtaposes entry into the courtyard to touching a sacred item. Just as touching with even a part of the body is considered touching, so too, entry with part of the body is considered entry.