Zevachim 86B

בשרירי. מנא הני מילי?

with regard to hardened limbs that were dried by the fire but have not yet been reduced to ash. The Mishnah teaches that before midnight, such limbs should be returned to the altar. The Talmud asks: From where is this matter derived that midnight determines whether or not they should be returned?

אמר רב, כתוב אחד אומר: ״כל הלילה״ והקטיר, וכתוב אחד אומר: ״כל הלילה... והרים״.

Rav says: One verse states: All night and he should burn the burnt offering, which indicates that there is a mitzva to burn the limbs of a burnt offering all night, as the verse states: “It is the burnt offering on the pyre upon the altar all night until the morning” (Leviticus 6:2). And one verse states: “All night until the morning…and he should remove the ashes that the fire has consumed of the burnt offering on the altar, and he should put them beside the altar” (Leviticus 6:2–3), which indicates that one may remove the ashes at any time during the night, including the limbs of a burnt offering that were already hardened by the fire. How can these texts be reconciled?

חלקיהו, חציו להקטרה וחציו להרמה.

Rav explains: Divide the night into two parts: Half of the night, i.e., until midnight, is designated for the mitzva of burning, and during this time, that which is dislodged from the altar should be returned; and half of the night, i.e., after midnight, is designated for removing.

מתיב רב כהנא: בכל יום תורם את המזבח מקרות הגבר, או סמוך לו מלפניו [או] מאחריו. ביום הכיפורים ⁠– בחצות. ברגלים ⁠– באשמורת הראשונה. ואי סלקא דעתך מחצות דאורייתא, היכי מקדמינן והיכי מאחרינן?

With regard to Rav’s assertion that one may begin to remove the ashes only after midnight, Rav Kahana raises an objection from a Mishnah (Yoma 20a): Every day the priests would remove the ashes from the altar and place them on the east side of the ramp at the rooster’s crow or close to the time of its crowing, whether before it or after it, as there was no insistence on a precise time. On Yom Kippur they would remove the ashes at midnight. On the Festivals the ashes were removed even earlier, at the end of the 1st watch. Rav Kahana concludes his objection: And if it enters your mind that the proper time for removing the ashes by Torah law is from midnight, how do we advance the removal of the ashes on the Festivals, and how do we delay their removal the rest of the year?