Kommentar zu Tamid 4:4

לא היו כופתין אותו (they did not twist/tie together the four feet of the lamb) – of the daily offering with two front hands to themselves or the two legs to themselves, in order that he should not act like the religious practices of the heathens, for such they would do when they performed slaughtering for idolatry (see Talmud Tamid 31b).

Introduction The mishnah now describes the slaughtering of the morning tamid.

אלא מעקידין אותו – the hand with the foot, like the Binding of Isaac.

They would not tie up the lamb but rather they would string its legs together. The lamb was not tied to something else to keep it from running away. Rather it was strung up, with one forefoot tied to one of the hind feet. Note that the word for “strung its legs together” in Hebrew is “akedah” which is the same word used for the binding of Isaac.

ראשו לדרום – it was slaughtered on the north side of the altar (see Leviticus 1:11) , according to the law of the burnt-offering, and he would turn its head to the south, and its face to the west, so that if it would sprinkle excrement, it would not be adjacent to the altar.

Those who merited [to bring up] the limbs took hold of it. Thus it was strung up: its head was to the south while its face was turned to the west. The slaughterer stood to the east of it, facing the west. The animal was held still by those priests who had won the right to bring the limbs up to the ramp. It was slaughtered on the northern side of the Temple courtyard, with its head toward the south, the location of the altar. Its head was turned west, so that it faced the Sanctuary and the slaughterer stood on the opposite side, also facing the Sanctuary.

של שחר – the daily-offering sacrifice was slaughtered on the northwestern corner, because in the morning, the sun is in the east and shines opposite it to the west, and the Biblical verse states (Numbers 28:3): “as a regular burnt offering every day, two yearling lambs without blemish” corresponding to the day for the day (שנים ליום), meaning to say, corresponding to the sun, for the sun is called daylight.

The morning tamid was killed by the north-western corner of the altar at the second ring. The evening tamid was killed by the north-eastern corner at the second ring. The morning and evening tamid were sacrificed by different corners of the altar. The “rings” referred to here are rings that were set in the floor of the courtyard, on the northern side of the altar.

ושל בין הערבים – that the sun is in the west and shines opposite the east, it was slaughtered on the northeastern corner.

While one slaughtered another received the blood. He then proceeded to the north-eastern corner and cast the blood on the eastern and northern sides; he then proceeded to the southwestern corner and cast the blood on the western and southern sides. The remnant of the blood he poured out at the southern base of the altar. Once the tamid was slaughtered another priest received the blood in a vessel. By casting the blood on two corners of the altar, he could cast it against both sides. In this way, with two shpritzes he could hit all four sides of the altar. He would pour out the remainder of the blood on the southern base of the altar.

בטבעת שניה – far from the altar, because the altar was high and would obscure everything. But Yohanan the High Priest established six orders of rings, in each order, four rings, for twenty-four priestly divisions, and they were established on the floor and made like a bow, and since they would not tie together the daily offering, as it is taught at the beginning of our chapter, they would bring in the neck of the animal in those rings at the time of the ritual slaughtering and would wedge in the head of the ring in the ground.

ונותן מזרחית צפונית – first. After he slaughtered the morning burnt-offering in the northwest corner, he would go to the eastern side and stand on the ground and sprinkle the blood in the utensil below from the SIKRA/red paint and place two gifts which are four, one which is like two on the northeastern corner, and he would go to the southwestern corner and place one which is like two on the southwestern corner.

לא היה שובר את הרגל – like the manner in which the slaughterers would do when they cut/sever the leg with the flesh that is upon it, but rather, they make an incision from under the knee and its surrounding parts that is sold with the head and they suspend it and flay the leg with the the rest of the animal. But surely it comes to tell us that the knee is included in the flying.

He did not use to break the leg, but he made a hole in it at the [knee-] joint and suspended it from there.
He then began to flay it until he came to the breast.
When he came to the breast he cut off the head and gave it to the one who merited [bringing it onto the ramp].
He then cut off the legs [up to the knees] and gave them to the one who merited [bringing them onto the ramp].
He then finished the flaying.
He tore out the heart and squeezed out the blood in it.
He then cut off the forelegs and gave them to the one who merited [bringing them onto the ramp].
He then went back to the right leg and cut it off and gave it to the one who merited [to bring it onto the ramp], and the two testicles with it.
He then tore it [the remaining carcass] open so that it was all exposed before him.
He took the fat and put it on top of the place where the head had been severed.
He took the innards and gave them to the one to who had merited washing them.
The stomach was washed very thoroughly in the washing chamber, while the entrails were washed at least three times on marble tables which stood between the pillars.
The mishnah now describes in detail how the tamid was flayed. I think that most of this mishnah is self-explanatory, especially after it has been translated. The flaying is described in great detail, because it was an important part of the sacrificial process. Today, when most of us are greatly-distanced from the sources of the meat that we eat (or don’t eat), we might forget that cows don’t magically turn into steaks and hamburgers. The mishnah is a good reminder that inside a cow, or sheep or any animal, are internal organs that need to be removed, and for sacrifice, cleaned, before they can be put on the altar.

ערכובו (ham) – like the knee (the inner part of the knee).

מרק את ההפשט (stripped off the hide) – for behold it was not flayed other than to the breast and the hide was still attached to it.

נטל את הפדר – [forbidden] fat.

נותנו על בית השחיטה – this is the way of honor/respect of above (i.e., God), so that he would not see the soiling/staining of the blood from the ritual slaughtering.

והכרס מדיחין אותה – from the secretions/excrement that is within it, separately.

בבית המדיחין – a chamber that was in the Temple. But they would not rinse it with the rest of the innards, so that it would not become soiled.

שלשה פעמים – since the feces do not come out from them other than with pressure, because they are thin.

במיעוטה – at the very least. But if he wishes to supplement rinsing them more than three times, he increases it.

ואצבע הכבד (the lobe of the liver) – he would separate from the liver.

He then took a knife and separated the lung from the liver and the finger of the liver from the liver, but he did not remove it from its place.
He cut out the breast and gave it to the one to the one who had merited [bringing it onto the ramp].
He came to the right flank and cut into it as far as the spine, without touching the spine, until he came to the place between two small ribs.
He cut it off and gave it to the one who had merited [bringing it onto the ramp], with the liver attached to it.
He then came to the neck, and he left two ribs on each side of it, cut it off and gave it to the one to the one who had merited [bringing it onto the ramp], with the windpipe and the heart and the lung attached to it.
He then came to the left flank in which he left the two thin ribs above and two thin ribs below; and he had done similarly with the other flank.
Thus he left two on each side above and two on each side below.
He cut it off and gave it to the one to the one who had merited [bringing it onto the ramp], and the spine with it and the spleen attached to it.
This was really the largest piece, but the right flank was called the largest, because the liver was attached to it.
He then came to the tail bone, which he cut off and gave it to the one who had merited [bringing it onto the ramp], along with the tail, the finger of the liver and the two kidneys.
He then took the left leg and cut it off and gave it to the one who had merited [bringing it onto the ramp].
Thus they were all standing in a row with the limbs in their hands
The first had the head and the [right] hind leg. The head was in his right hand with its nose towards his arm, its horns between his fingers, and the place where it was severed turned upwards with the fat covering it. The right leg was in his left hand with the place where the flaying began turned away from him.
The second had the two fore legs, the right leg in his right hand and the left leg in his left hand, the place where the flaying began turned away from him.
The third had the tail bone and the other hind leg, the tail bone in his right hand with the tail hanging between his fingers and the finger of the liver and the two kidneys with it, and the left hind leg in his left hand with the place where the flaying began turned away from him.
The fourth had the breast and the neck, the breast in his right hand and the neck in his left hand, its ribs being between two of his fingers.
The fifth had the two flanks, the right one in his right hand, and the left one in his left hand, with the place where the flaying began turned away from him.
The sixth had the innards on a platter with the knees on top of them.
The seventh had the fine flour.
The eighth had the griddle cakes.
The ninth had the wine.
They went and placed them on the lower half of the ramp on its western side, and salted them (see Leviticus 2:13).
They then came down and went to the Chamber of Hewn Stone to recite the Shema.
Today’s mishnah gives an intricate description of the butchering of the tamid offering. Most of the mishnah is self-explanatory (although unless you’re a butcher or a scientist who has dissected a sheep, you might have trouble picturing the parts).
By the end of the mishnah, each of the parts that is put onto the altar is in the hands of the priest who won the lottery to bring that piece onto the ramp. They then go back to the Chamber of Hewn Stone to recite the Shema. We shall talk about this when we learn the next chapter.

ולא היה מזיזה ממקומה – to the lobe of the liver from its place, for it was offered with the haunch and the tail, and the liver was with the right rib, and the lung with the throat/larynx with the wind-pipe and two ribs with it, as will be explained shortly.

דופן ימני – he cuts/severs near the spine/backbone, but he leaves two ribs above the spine/backbone and two ribs below the spine/backbone.

והרגל של ימין בשמאלו (the right hind-leg in his left hand) – and even though he brings limbs to the ramp of [Divine] Service, and [Divine] Service is invalidated on the left side, since it is not indispensable to atonement, it is permissible as is brought in [Tractate] Yoma.

ובית עורו לחוץ (and the flayed end outward) – the place where they flay the hide which is near the heads of he fingers.

בזך – It is the Aramaic translation of (Numbers 7:14): “one ladle” – one dish, vessel, censer.

השביעי בסולת – for the meal-offering of libations that is with the daily-offering

בחביתין – the meal-offering of cakes of the High Priest, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening that is offered every day (see Tractate Tamid, Chapter 3, Mishnah 1). But that they interrupted for cakes between the fine flour and the libations that are the needs of the daily-offering is because he name meal-offering is that both fine flour and cakes have the title of a meal-offering, for that reason both are explained together.

מחצי ולמטה במערבו – but not from the upper half of the ramp, in order that it would be recognized when one goes to the altar from when they return after the recitation of the Shema. But especially on weekdays, they would place the limbs of the daily-offering in the west, to the side of the Divine Presence, but on Sabbaths of the Additional Offering/Musaf, where the obligations of the day were in the west, the parts of the daily-offering were in the east, as is explained in the Tractate Sukkah, in Chapter [Five] of the Flute/החליל [51b – and Tractate Skekalim, Chapter 8, Mishnah 8].

לקרות את שמע – and all the rest of the blessings, as is brought further in the next chapter (Chapter 5, Mishnah 1).