Commentaire sur Kinim 1:1
חַטַּאת הָעוֹף נַעֲשֵׂית לְמַטָּה, וְחַטַּאת בְּהֵמָה לְמַעְלָה. עוֹלַת הָעוֹף נַעֲשֵׂית לְמַעְלָה, וְעוֹלַת הַבְּהֵמָה לְמַטָּה. אִם שִׁנָּה בָּזֶה וּבָזֶה, פָּסוּל. סֵדֶר קִנִּים כָּךְ הוּא. הַחוֹבָה, אֶחָד חַטָּאת וְאֶחָד עוֹלָה. בִּנְדָרִים וּנְדָבוֹת, כֻּלָּן עוֹלוֹת. אֵיזֶהוּ נֶדֶר, הָאוֹמֵר הֲרֵי עָלַי עוֹלָה. וְאֵיזוֹ הִיא נְדָבָה, הָאוֹמֵר הֲרֵי זוֹ עוֹלָה. מַה בֵּין נְדָרִים לִנְדָבוֹת. אֶלָּא שֶׁהַנְּדָרִים, מֵתוּ אוֹ נִגְנְבוּ, חַיָּבִים בְּאַחֲרָיוּתָם. וּנְדָבוֹת, מֵתוּ אוֹ נִגְנְבוּ, אֵין חַיָּבִים בְּאַחֲרָיוּתָן:
[Le sang] d'un oiseau offrande pour le péché est placé au-dessous [de la ligne médiane de l'autel], et [le sang] d'un sacrifice animal pour le péché [est placé] au-dessus [de la ligne médiane de l'autel]. [Le sang de] l'holocauste d'un oiseau est placé au-dessus, et [le sang] d'un animal de l'holocauste [est placé] en dessous. S'il [le Kohen] a modifié [le service] de l'un ou l'autre, il l'a invalidé.
Bartenura on Mishnah Kinnim
חטאת העוף נעשית למטה – from the red line [encircling the Temple altar at precisely half its height], as it is written (Leviticus 5:9): “He shall sprinkle some of the blood of the purification (i.e., sin-offering) on the side of the altar, and what remains of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar,” the wall that its remainder is poured out toward the bottom of the altar (see Talmud Zevakhim 64b), and this is the lower wall below the red line, for the upper wall, that is from the [red] line and above, sometimes, it is poured out to the surrounding ledge (which was five cubits above the altar’s base, six cubits from the ground; it was one cubit wide on all sides, surrounding the altar. The priests would walk on this ledge while performing certain sacrificial functions), such as that he performed it above the surrounding ledge, that the [red] line is a cubit below the surrounding ledge.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kinnim
Introduction
The first mishnah of our tractate deals with a few general rules regarding bird and other sacrifices.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kinnim
וחטאת בהמה למעלה – as it is written (Leviticus 4:25, 30, 34): “[The priest shall take with his finger some of the blood of the purification offering and put it] on the horns of the altar [of burnt offering],” on the integral portion of the horn [of the altar].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kinnim
A bird hatat is performed below [the red line], but a beast hatat is performed above [the red line]. A bird olah is performed above, but a beast olah below. If he changed this procedure with either, then the offering is disqualified. There was a red line that ran through the middle of the altar. The blood of the bird hatat was sprinkled below this line, whereas the beast hatat (cow, sheep or goat) is sprinkled above the altar, on the corners of the altar. The opposite is true of the olah the bird olah is done above and the beast olah is done below. These rules must be followed precisely and if they are not, the sacrifice is invalid.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kinnim
עולת העוף למעלה – The burnt offering of the bird is above, as it is written (Leviticus 1:15): “[The priest shall bring it to the altar,] pinch off its head, and turn the whole into smoke on the altar; and its blood shall be drained [against the side of the altar],” just as the burning on the altar/letting rise in smoke is at the top of the altar, so the pinching and the wringing out [of the blood of the sacrifice] is at the top of the altar.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kinnim
The seder [ordered ritual] in the case of kinnim is as follows: In the case of obligatory offerings, one [bird] is a hatat and one an olah. In the case of vows and freewill offerings, however, all are olot. As I explained in the introduction, when one brings a ken (a pair of birds) as a mandatory sacrifice, one bird is an olah and one is a hatat. However, if one voluntarily dedicates a ken, both birds are olot.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kinnim
ושל בהמה למטה – as it is written concerning it (Leviticus 4:7): “[The priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of aromatic incense, which is in the Tent of Meeting, before the LORD,] and all the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar/אל-יסוד המזבח of burnt offering.”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kinnim
What constitutes a vow? When one says: "It is incumbent upon me to bring an olah." And what constitutes a freewill-offering? When one says: "Behold, this shall be an olah." What is the [practical] difference between vows and freewill offerings? In the case of vows, if they die or are stolen, one is responsible for their replacement; But in the case of freewill offerings, if they die or are stolen, one is not responsible for their replacement. The mishnah now explains the difference between a vow offering (a neder) and a freewill offering (a nedavah). A neder is when one promises to bring a certain type of offering, either an olah or a shelamim (wellbeing offering). For example if he promises to bring a bird olah, he must bring two birds as an olah. If he sets aside a bird and it is lost or stolen before it can be sacrificed, he must bring a replacement. The case of the nedavah is different. In this case, one points at an animal and promises to bring that animal as a sacrifice. For instance, he points at a sheep and promises to bring it. If the sheep is lost or dies, he is not responsible for its replacement because he was only responsible to bring that sheep as long as it was alive or available. Note that this last section is not connected specifically to our tractate which deals with bird sacrifices. Rather it is a general rule with regard to voluntary sacrifices.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kinnim
ואם שינה בזה ובזה פסול – this that is invalid if he performed the act [of offering] the sin-offering of the bird above [the red line], specifically regarding the sprinkling. But the pinching of the bird’s head of a sin-offering, even above [the red line] is kosher/fit, for pinching of the bird’s head is kosher in every place of the altar. But the burnt-offering of birds does not have sprinkling of blood, but only the wringing/squeezing out the blood, and if he performed it below [the red line] it is invalid.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kinnim
סדר קנים של חובה אחד חטאת ואחד עולה – as for example, in the case of a man suffering from gonorrhea/זב, a woman who experiences a flow of menstrual-type blood on three consecutive days during a time of the month when she is not due to experience menstrual bleeding/זבה and a woman after childbirth vaginally/יולדת, and ritual impurity with regard to the Temple and its sacred articles/טומאת מקדש וקדשיו and hearing the sound of an imprecation/שמיעת קול אלה and an erroneous statement without legal consequences/ביטוי שפתים, for all of them bring a bird in poverty, but rather that the man suffering from gonorrhea and the woman who experiences a flow of menstrual-type blood bring a bird, whether they are in poverty or in wealth, and even though there are bird-offerings of the convert which are obligations, and both of them are burnt-offerings, the Tanna/teacher was not troubled by them, because they are not all that frequent.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kinnim
בנדרים ונדבות כולן עולות – because only burnt-offerings and peace-offerings are brought for vows and free-will offerings, but birds are not brought as peace-offerings, therefore, vows and free-will offerings are all burnt-offerings.
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