Study Zevachim folio 40A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אמר מר: אין לי אלא מתן שבע שמעכבות בכל מקום. היכא? אמר רב פפא: בפרה ובנגעים.
The Talmud analyzes the baraita in detail. The Master said in the baraita: I have a derivation only with regard to the 7 placements on the Curtain separating between the Sanctuary and Holy of Holies, that they are indispensable, as these 7 are indispensable in all cases. The Talmud asks: Where are the 7 indispensable? Rav Pappa says: In the case of the red heifer (see Numbers 19:2–4), and in the purification process of one afflicted with leprous marks (see Leviticus 14:16).
מתן ארבע מנין? תלמוד לומר: ״כן יעשה״. מאי שנא מתן שבע – דכתיבן וכפילן, מתן ארבע נמי – כתיבן וכפילן!
The baraita continues: From where is it derived that the same applies to the 4 placements on the inner altar? The verse states: “So should he do” (Leviticus 4:20). The Talmud asks: What is different about 7 placements, that they should be indispensable? If you say that the reason is that the 7 placements are written and repeated, by means of the terms “And he should do…as he did,” which teaches that they are indispensable, I can say that the 4 placements as well are written and repeated. Why then should their halakha be any different?
אמר רבי ירמיה: לא נצרכא אלא לרבי שמעון. דתניא, למעלה אומר: ״קרן״–״קרנות״ – שתים; למטה הוא אומר: ״קרן״–״קרנות״ – ארבע. דברי רבי שמעון.
R' Yirmeya says: This is necessary only according to the opinion of R' Shimon, who maintains that only two placements are written in this chapter, while the other two are derived through a juxtaposition. Consequently, a specific derivation is required for these. As it is taught in a baraita with regard to the placements on the inner altar: Above, in the case of the bull for an unwitting sin of the anointed priest, the verse states corner in the plural form of corners (see Leviticus 4:7), i.e., it says “corners [karnot],” in the plural, where it could have written corner, in the singular. These are two corners. And below, with regard to the bull for an unwitting communal sin, it again states corner in the plural form of corners (see Leviticus 4:18). Together these amount to 4 corners. This is the statement of R' Shimon.