Study Zevachim folio 86A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
יכול יחלוץ גידין ועצמות, ויעלה בשר לגבי מזבח? תלמוד לומר: ״והקטיר הכהן את הכל״. הא כיצד? מחוברין – יעלו, פירשו – אפילו הן בראש המזבח, ירדו.
then one might have thought that a priest must first remove the tendons and bones from an offering and then sacrifice the flesh upon the altar. Therefore, the verse states: “And the priest should make the whole smoke on the altar,” including the tendons and bones. How can these texts be reconciled? If they were attached to the flesh, they should ascend. If they separated from the flesh, then even if they are already at the top of the altar, they should descend.
מאן תנא דשמעת ליה דאמר: פירשו ירדו? רבי היא, דתניא: ״והקטיר הכהן את הכל המזבחה״ – לרבות העצמות והגידין והקרנים והטלפים, אפילו פירשו.
The Talmud notes: Who is the tanna that you heard that says if they separated they should descend? It is R' Yehuda HaNasi, as it is taught in a baraita: “And the priest should make the whole smoke on the altar” (Leviticus 1:9); the term “the whole” serves to include the bones, and the tendons, and the horns, and the hooves, among those items that are offered on the altar, even if they separated from the flesh of the offering.
ואלא מה אני מקיים: ״ועשית עלתיך הבשר והדם״? לומר לך: עיכולי עולה אתה מחזיר, ואי אתה מחזיר עיכולי גידין ועצמות.
But if so, how do I realize the meaning of the verse: “And you should offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood” (Deuteronomy 12:27), which indicates that only the flesh and blood of an offering ascend upon the altar? This verse is necessary to tell you an additional halakha, that you return the consumed flesh of a burnt offering to the fire if it is dislodged from it, but you do not return the consumed tendons and bones if they are dislodged from the fire.