Vayikra 1:14-17 ויקרא א׳:י״ד-י״ז

מן העוף. וְלֹא כָּל הָעוֹף; לְפִי שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר תָּמִים זָכָר בַּבָּקָר בַּכְּשָׂבִים וּבָעִזִּים — תַּמּוּת וְזַכְרוּת בִּבְהֵמָה וְאֵין תַּמּוּת וְזַכְרוּת בְּעוֹפוֹת — יָכוֹל אַף מְחֻסַּר אֵבֶר, תַּ"ל מִן הָעוֹף (שם):

מן העוף [AND IF A BURNT OFFERING … BE] OF FOWLS — of (i.e. of some of) but not of every description of fowls (cf. Rashi on Leviticus 1.2 and Rashi on Leviticus 1:10). Since Scripture states, (Leviticus 22:19) “[Ye shall offer, to be accepted for you,] a male without blemish (תמים זכר) of the oxen, of the sheep and of the goats”, it is evident (cf. Rashi on Leviticus 1.2 and Rashi on Leviticus 1:10) that unblemished condition and male sex in sacrifices are required only in the case of cattle, but unblemished condition and male sex are not required in the case of fowls. If, then, the condition of the fowl is immaterial one might think that a fowl may be brought as a sacrifice even if it lacks a limb! Scripture therefore states: “of fowls” — but not all fowls (Sifra, Emor, Section 7 2; Kiddushin 24b).

תרים. גְּדוֹלִים וְלֹא קְטַנִּים:

התרים TURTLEDOVES — Grown-up ones only may be offered but not young ones.

בני יונה. קְטַנִּים וְלֹא גְּדוֹלִים:

בני יונה YOUNG DOVES — Young doves only may be offered but not grown-up ones (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Chapter 8 4; Chullin 22a).

מן התרים או מן בני היונה. פְּרָט לִתְחִלַּת הַצִּהוּב שֶׁבָּזֶה וְשֶׁבָּזֶה שֶׁהוּא פָּסוּל, שֶׁגָּדוֹל הוּא אֵצֶל בְּנֵי יוֹנָה וְקָטָן אֵצֶל תּוֹרִים (חולין כ"ב):

מן התרים או מן בני היונה OF TURTLEDOVES AND OF YOUNG DOVES — The word מן is intended to exclude birds in the first stage of their plumage becoming golden-coloured in the case of the one as of the other, for this stage makes the bird unfit for sacrifice, since such a bird is a grown-up one in the case of בני יונה and a young one in the case of תורים (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Chapter 8 5; Chullin 22b).

והקריבו. אֲפִלּוּ פְּרֵדָה אַחַת יָבִיא (ספרא):

והקריבו [AND THE PRIEST] SHALL OFFER IT — It — even a single bird he may offer (not necessarily more than one, as might be assumed from the plural תורים and בני יונה) (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Section 7 1; Zevachim 65a).

הכהן, ומלק. אֵין מְלִיקָה בִּכְלִי אֶלָּא בְּעַצְמוֹ שֶׁל כֹּהֵן, קוֹצֵץ בְּצִפָּרְנוֹ מִמּוּל הָעֹרֶף וְחוֹתֵךְ מַפְרַקְתּוֹ עַד שֶׁמַּגִּיעַ לַסִּימָנִין וְקוֹצְצָן (שם):

הכהן … ומלק THE PRIEST SHALL … NIP OFF [ITS HEAD] — The nipping of the bird’s head must not be done with an instrument but by the priest’s very self:) he nips with his finger-nail close by the nape, cuts right through the neck-bone until he comes to the “organs” (the wind pipe and the gullet) and cuts them through too (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Section 7 3; Zevachim 65a).

ונמצה דמו. לְשׁוֹן מִיץ אַפַּיִם (משלי ל'), כִּי אָפֵס הַמֵּץ (ישעיהו ט"ז), כּוֹבֵשׁ בֵּית הַשְּׁחִיטָה עַל קִיר הַמִּזְבֵּחַ וְהַדָּם מִתְמַצֶּה וְיוֹרֵד (זבחים ס"ה):

ונמצה דמו AND THE BLOOD THEREOF SHALL BE WRUNG OUT — The word ונמצה is connected in meaning with (Proverbs 30:33) “the pressing out (מיץ) of wrath”; (Isaiah 16:4) “for extortion (המץ) is at an end). — He presses the place where the neck has been cut (בית השחיטה) against the wall and the blood thus drains itself out) and runs down the wall (cf. Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Section 7 7; Zevachim 64b).

ומלק, והקטיר, ונמצה. אֶ"לֹ כֵּן מֵאַחַר שֶׁהוּא מַקְטִיר הוּא מוֹצֶה? אֶלָּא מַה הַקְטָרָה הָרֹאשׁ בְּעַצְמוֹ וְהַגּוּף בְּעַצְמוֹ, אַף מְלִיקָה כֵּן. וּפְשׁוּטוֹ שֶׁל מִקְרָא מְסֹרָס הוּא — וּמָלַק וְהִקְטִיר, וְקֹדֶם הַקְטָרָה וְנִמְצָה דָמוֹ כְּבָר:

ומלק … והקטיר …ונמצה AND HE SHALL NIP OFF … AND CAUSE IT TO ASCEND IN FUMES … AND [THE BLOOD] SHALL BE WRUNG OUT — Is it possible to say so? Since he has burnt it can he squeeze the blood out?! But the wording is intended to suggest the following: How is it with the burning of the sacrifice? The head is separate and the body is separate (since it states here ומלק את ראשו והקטיר, and in v. 17 it is enjoined והקטיר אתו i. e. the body; vv. 16—17 speaking of the rites performed on the body)! So, too, the nipping has to be thus (i. e. has to have the effect of severing the head from the body so that it may be burnt apart from the body; the מליקה accordingly denotes here complete severance, whilst in 5:8 this is forbidden. The translation therefore is: and he shall nip off the head so that he may burn it on the altar) (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Section 7 5; Zevachim 65a). According to the literal sense of the verse, however, the wording is inverted: he shall nip off [the head] and burn it, and before the burning the blood shall have been pressed out already (ונמצה has therefore a future-perfect meaning: “and its blood shall have been pressed out”).

מראתו. מְקוֹם הָרְעִי, זֶה הַזֶּפֶק (ספרא):

מראתו [AND HE SHALL REMOVE] ITS CROP — The word is connected in meaning with the word רעי in Rabbinical Hebrew (or the Biblical ראי; cf. Nahum 3:6); it thus denotes the place of the רעי, the digested food, i. e. the crop (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Section 7 9).

בנצתה. עִם בְּנֵי מֵעֶיהָ, וְנוֹצָה לְשׁוֹן דָּבָר הַמָּאוּס, כְּמוֹ כִּי נָצוּ גַּם נָעוּ (איכה ד'), וְזֶהוּ שֶׁתִּרְגֵּם אֻנְקְלוֹס בְּאוּכְלֵיהּ; וְזֶהוּ מִדְרָשׁוֹ שֶׁל אַבָּא יוֹסֵי בֶּן חָנָן שֶׁאָמַר נוֹטֵל אֶת הַקֻּרְקְבָן עִמָּהּ; וְרַבּוֹתֵינוּ זִ"לִ אָמְרוּ קוֹדֵר סְבִיב הַזֶּפֶק בְּסַכִּין כְּעֵין אֲרֻבָּה וְנוֹטְלוֹ עִם הַנּוֹצָה שֶׁעַל הָעוֹר (ספרא); בְּעוֹלַת בְּהֵמָה שֶׁאֵינָהּ אוֹכֶלֶת אֶלָּא בְּאֵבוּס בְּעָלֶיהָ, נֶאֱמַר וְהַקֶּרֶב וְהַכְּרָעַיִם יִרְחַץ בַּמָּיִם וְהִקְטִיר, וּבָעוֹף שֶׁנָּזוֹן מִן הַגָּזֵל, נֶאֱמַר וְהִשְלִיךְ אֶת הַמֵּעַיִם, שֶׁאָכַל מִן הַגָּזֵל (ויקרא רבה ג'):

בנצתה means together with its entrails (not with its feathers which meaning the word נוצה usually has). The word נוצה is really an expression for anything that is loathsome. Similar is (Lamentations 4:15) “[depart, depart, touch not:] for they are become loathsome (נצו) and are fled away”.) That is also what Onkelos means when he translates באוכליה, “with the digested food” found in the entrails (excrement). This, too, is the interpretation of the verse given by Abba José ben Chanan who states: he removes the stomach (being the organ which contains digested food) together with it (the crop). But our Rabbis, of blessed memory, taking נוצה; in its usual sense of “feathers”, say: with a knife he cuts out around the crop an opening like a flap and removes it together with the feathers on the skin (of that spot) (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Section 7 9; Zevachim 65a). — In the case of the burnt offering of the cattle which eats only from the crib of its owner it is stated, (v. 13) “But he shall lave the inwards and the legs with water: and [the priest] shall offer it”; in the case of a fowl, however, which feeds itself from what it picks up of other people’s property (lit., “of robbery”) it states, “he shall cast the entrails away”, because it (the bird) eats that which is stolen (Leviticus Rabbah 3 4).

אצל המזבח קדמה. בְּמִזְרָחוֹ שֶׁל כֶּבֶשׁ (ספרא):

אצל המזבח קדמה BESIDE THE ALTAR ON THE EAST — i. e. at the east of the כבש (the inclined ascent leading to the top of the altar which was on the south of the altar) (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Chapter 9 3).

אל מקום הדשן. מָקוֹם שֶׁנּוֹתְנִין שָׁם תְּרוּמַת הַדֶּשֶׁן בְּכָל בֹּקֶר וְדִשּׁוּן מִזְבֵּחַ הַפְּנִימִי וְהַמְּנוֹרָה, וְכֻלָּם נִבְלָעִים שָׁם בִּמְקוֹמָן:

אל מקום הדשן BY THE PLACE OF THE ASHES — i. e. that place where they deposited the ashes removed from the altar (תרומת הדשן) each morning (cf. Rashi on Leviticus 6:3, 4) and the ashes removed from the inner altar and the candelabrum (Meilah 12a;Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Chapter 9 3). All these miraculously sunk there in their place (i. e. on the very spot where they were deposited) (Yoma 21a).

ושסע. אֵין שִׁסּוּעַ אֶלָּא בַּיָּד, וְכֵן הוּא אוֹמֵר בְּשִׁמְשׁוֹן וַיְשַׁסְּעֵהוּ כְּשַׁסַּע הַגְּדִי וְגוֹ' (שופטים י"ד):

ושסע AND HE SHALL CLEAVE [IT] — The term שסע is used only for rending with the hands. Similarly it states in the story of Samson (Judges 14:6) “and he rent him (וישסעהו) as he would have rent a kid” (Zevachim 65b).

בכנפיו. עִם כְּנָפָיו — אֵינוֹ צָרִיךְ לִמְרֹט כַּנְפֵי נוֹצָתוֹ:

בכנפיו means: he shall rend it together with its feathers he need not pluck out the feathers that form its plumage before doing so.

בכנפיו. נוֹצָה מַמָּשׁ; וַהֲלֹא אֵין לְךָ הֶדְיוֹט שֶׁמֵּרִיחַ רֵיחַ כְּנָפַיִם נִשְֹרָפִים וְאֵין נַפְשׁוֹ קָצָה עָלָיו, וְלָמָּה אָמַר הַכָּתוּב יַקְרִיב? כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּהֵא הַמִּזְבֵּחַ שָֹבֵעַ וּמְהֻדָּר בְּקָרְבָּנוֹ שֶׁל עָנִי (ויק"ר ג'):

בכנפיו means actually the feathers (not the wings). But surely you will not find even a common sort of man who can smell the odour of burnt feathers without being disgusted with it! Why, then, does Scripture say that it shall be offered with the feathers? In order that the altar should appear full up, as it were, and adorned with the sacrifice of the poor (since the bird with its feathers makes a finer show than without them) (Leviticus Rabbah 3:5).

לא יבדיל. אֵינוֹ מְפָרְקוֹ לְגַמְרֵי, לִשְׁתֵּי חֲתִיכוֹת, אֶלָּא קוֹרְעוֹ מִגַּבּוֹ; נֶאֱמַר בָּעוֹף רֵיחַ נִיחוֹחַ וְנֶאֱמַר בַּבְּהֵמָה רֵיחַ נִיחוֹחַ, לוֹמַר לְךָ אֶחָד הַמַּרְבֶּה וְאֶחָד הַמַּמְעִיט וּבִלְבַד שֶׁיְּכַוֵּן אֶת לִבּוֹ לַשָּׁמַיִם (ספרא):

לא יבדיל BUT HE SHALL NOT SEPARATE IT — he must not break it entirely into two pieces, but only rends it from behind. — It is stated here of a bird-offering “a pleasing odour [to the Lord]” and it is stated (v. 13) of an animal-sacrifice “a pleasing odour [to the Lord]”, to tell you: whether one offers much or little it is equally pleasing to God provided that he directs his heart to Heaven (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Section 9 7; Menachot 110a).