Study Zevachim folio 55B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
במאי קא מיפלגי? תנא קמא סבר: תלתא קראי כתיבי; חד לגופיה – דניבעי פתח אהל מועד, וחד להכשיר צדדין, וחד לפסול צידי צדדין. וצפון לא איצטריך קרא.
The Talmud clarifies: With regard to what do they disagree? The first tanna holds that 3 verses are written. One verse serves to teach the halakha itself, that we require that the slaughter take place at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. And one verse serves to render fit slaughter at the sides, i.e., the entire length of the Temple courtyard eastward from the entrance, and not only that part which is directly in front of the entrance. And one verse serves to disqualify the sides of the sides, i.e., those parts of the courtyard that are not in front of the entrance at all. And it was not necessary to have a verse teach the fitness of slaughtering in the north, as it can be derived via an a fortiori inference.
ורבי אליעזר סבר: חד לגופיה – דניבעי פתח אהל מועד, וחד להכשיר צפון, וחד להכשיר צדדין. וצידי צדדין לא איצטריך קרא.
And R' Eliezer holds that one verse is necessary to teach the halakha itself, that we require slaughter at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. And one verse serves to render fit slaughter in the north of the courtyard. And one verse serves to render fit slaughter at the sides of the courtyard. But according to him, it was not necessary to have a verse teach that the sides of the sides are not fit for the slaughter of the offering.
מאי שנא הכא – דכתיב: ״פתח אהל מועד״, ומאי שנא התם – דכתיב: ״לפני אהל מועד״? קא משמע לן כדרב יהודה אמר שמואל; דאמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל: שלמים ששחטן קודם שיפתחו דלתות ההיכל – פסולין, שנאמר: ״ושחטו פתח אהל מועד״ – בזמן שהוא פתוח, ולא בזמן שהוא נעול.
§ The Talmud asks: What is different here that it is written: “At the entrance to the Tent of Meeting” (Leviticus 3:2), and what is different there that it is written: “Before the Tent of Meeting” (Leviticus 3:8, 13)? The Talmud answers: This teaches us a matter in accordance with that which Rav Yehuda says that Shmuel says. As Rav Yehuda says that Shmuel says: Peace offerings that one slaughtered in the Temple before the doors of the Sanctuary were opened are disqualified, as it is stated with regard to peace offerings: “And he should slaughter it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting” (Leviticus 3:2), which teaches that it must be slaughtered when the entrance is open and serves as an actual entrance, and not when it is locked. As long as the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, or in the Temple the doors to the Sanctuary, remain closed, one may not sacrifice the peace offerings, and if they are sacrificed, they are disqualified.