Commentaire sur Pesahim 5:11

תמיד נשחט – the daily whole offering made at the time between the beginning of the decline of the sun and sunset (i.e., afternoon) is slaughtered all the rest of the days of the year at the eighth and one-half hour [of the day] (=2:30 pm). For the time of the slaughter of the daily whole offering is from when the shadows of the evening decline which is from six and one-half hours (=12:30 pm) as the sun declines to the west, as for half of the sixth and half of the seventh [hours], it (i.e., the sun) stands in the middle of the firmament. And the shadow does not decline other than the shadow of each person underneath it. And we make the slaughter [of the sacrifice] later by two hours after its time because of the vows and donations for it is impossible to offer them after the daily whole offering of the afternoon, as it is written (Leviticus 6:5): “and turn into smoke the fat parts of the offerings of well-being.” On the daily whole offering of the morning, he completed all the sacrifices entirely, so that there should not be anything later than the daily whole offering of the afternoon. And even on Shabbat where we do not offer vows and donations, we make the time of the slaughtering of the daily offering later because of the habit of vows and donations of the weekday. And on the Eve of Passover, when the Passover offering is made after the daily whole offering of the afternoon is sacrificed, we advance it one hour and do it at seven and one-half hours (=1:30 pm).

Introduction The following four chapters of mishnah deal with the Pesah sacrifice and discuss how it was offered in Jerusalem. Our mishnah deals with the afternoon tamid (daily) offering. Every day there were two tamid offerings, one in the morning and one in the afternoon (Numbers 28:3-4; Exodus 29:39). Usually the afternoon tamid was the last offering of the day. The one exception was the Pesah sacrifice which was offered after the tamid. Our mishnah comes to teach that normally the tamid was sacrificed later in the afternoon, but on the eve of Pesah they would sacrifice the tamid earlier in order to leave more time to sacrifice the Pesah.

חל להיות בע"ש – for there is also the roasting of the Passover sacrifice that does not override the Sabbath, and one must roast it while it is still daylight, we advance it establish it according to the law that it would be slaughtered at six and one-half hours (=12:30 pm).

The [afternoon] tamid is slaughtered at eight and a half hours and is offered at nine and a half hours. On normal days the afternoon tamid is slaughtered at eight and a half hours (remember the day is divided into twelve equal hours). It is offered at nine and a half hours. This leaves another two and a half hours to perform other tasks, such as various grain and incense offerings and lighting the menorah, the last thing done in the Temple before nightfall.

וקרב בשבע ומחצה – the completion of its offering is at seven and one-half hours (1:30 pm) for we tarry one hour while performing this ritual.

On the eve of Pesah it is slaughtered at seven and a half hours and offered at eight and a half hours, whether it is a weekday or Shabbat. On the eve of Pesah they moved the tamid sacrifice up one hour to give more time afterwards to sacrifice the pesah. This was true whether the eve of Pesah fell on Shabbat or on a weekday.

If the eve of Pesah fell on the eve of Shabbat it is slaughtered at six and a half hours and offered at seven and a half hours, and the pesah offering after it. The only exception to this was when the eve of Pesah fell on the eve of Shabbat. In this case they had to finish roasting the pesah lamb before Shabbat began since cooking is prohibited on Shabbat. Therefore, they offered the tamid sacrifice as early as possible at six and a half hours which is when the sun begins to set. The afternoon tamid cannot be offered earlier because at an earlier time it is not afternoon. They would then immediately begin to slaughter and prepare the pesah lamb.

ששחטו שלא לשמו – such as when they were slaughtered for the sake of peace-offerings, or that the blood was received in the bowl out of which the sprinkling is done or brings the blood to the altar or he cast the blood on the altar.

Introduction There are four parts of the offering of an animal which need to be performed before an animal sacrifice can be eaten or burned on the altar: slaughtering, catching the blood in a vessel, bring the blood to the altar and the sprinkling of the blood on the altar. All four of these actions must be done with the proper intent in mind. That is to say the person performing these four actions must be at all times intend to offer the animal as the specific sacrifice which he is intending to perform. Our mishnah teaches that a pesah for which one of these actions is done with the wrong intent is not a valid pesah offering.

או לשמו ושלא לשמו – such as that it was slaughtered for its sake but received the blood not for its sake.

A pesah sacrifice which a person slaughtered another purpose, or caught [the blood] or brought it or sprinkled its [blood] for another purpose; As stated above in the introduction, if any of the four activities are done with the intent of the animal serving another purpose besides a pesah, then the animal cannot be used as a pesah sacrifice.

או שלא לשמו – this ending part [of our Mishnah] teaches us that we consider from one form of Divine service to another, for if he thought at the time of the Divine service for this one on the service of its fellow [sacrifice] to perform with that thought, it is invalid, such when he said: “Behold I slaughter for its sake on the condition to cast its blood not for its sake, the sacrifice (i.e., festive peace-offering) is invalid immediately, and even if he didn’t perform the second as an invalid thought like the case as he thought, and that is the implication of our Mishnah, or that he thought at ther time of the slaughter to cast the blood not for its sake, we derive this from the Biblical verse, as it is written (Exodus 12:27): “You shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD’…” until it would be that the sacrifice is for the Passover offering and it implies to be indispensable.

Or for its own purpose and for another purpose; or for another purpose and for its own purpose, it is disqualified. The mishnah now emphasizes that even if one began one of the activities, for instance slaughtering, with one intention in mind and completed the activity with another intention, the sacrifice is disqualified. The entire activity from beginning to end must be performed with the correct intention in mind. The mishnah will now illustrate these possibilities.

How is it “for its own purpose” and [then] “for another purpose”? For the purpose of being a pesah sacrifice [first] and [then] for the purpose of being a well-being offering. In the previous section we learned that even if one of the actions was first performed “for its own purpose” meaning for it to be a pesah and then “for another purpose”, that it is disqualified. The mishnah now illustrates such an example. He began to slaughter the animal (or any of the other three actions) with the intent of it being a pesah and then while still performing the act he intended it to be a well-being offering. Even though he began the act with the correct intent, it is still disqualified.

[How is it] “for another purpose” and [then] “for its own purpose”? For the purpose of being a well-being offering [first] and [then] for the purpose of being a pesah sacrifice. In this case he began to perform one of the actions with the incorrect intent, for instance for the animal to be a well-being offering, and then he completed the action with the correct intent, for the animal to be pesah. Even though he completed the action with the correct intent, the sacrifice is still disqualified because he began even one of the actions with the incorrect intent.

שחטו שלא לאוכליו – a sick person or an old person or a minor who are unable to eat an olive’s bulk of meat and there aren’t other appointments to office other than these. It is invalid since it is written (Exodus 12:4): “according to what each household will eat.”

Introduction This mishnah continues to discuss ways in which improper intent can disqualify the pesah sacrifice. The second half of the mishnah discusses a pesah which was offered at the wrong time of day.

למנוייו – he was registered for this group and he slaughtered it for another group.

If he slaughtered it for those who cannot eat it or for those who are not registered for it, for uncircumcised persons or for unclean persons, it is unfit. This section lists people who cannot for various reasons eat the pesah sacrifice. If he slaughters the lamb with the intent of it being eaten only by people from these categories then the sacrifice is unfit. There are four categories of people listed here. 1) “Those who cannot eat it” refers to sick or old people who will not be able to eat even a minimum amount of the sacrificial meat. 2) Before the sacrifice is slaughtered a group of people must register themselves for eating the sacrifice meaning they intend to be the group that eats the sacrifice. Unregistered people may not eat from the pesah. If he sacrifices it for people who are not registered for that specific pesah, it is unfit. 3) The pesah may not be eaten by uncircumcised males (Exodus 12:48). 4) In order to eat the pesah a person must be ritually clean.

לערלים – For Israelites whose brothers died on account of circumcisions, and these are invalid to eat the Passover sacrifice, as it is written (Exodus 12:48): “But no uncircumcised person may eat of it.” And those who are impure are forbidden to Holy things and they are liable to extirpation on their eating it.

[If he slaughtered it] for those who can eat it and for those who cannot eat it, for those who are registered for it and for those who are not registered for it, for circumcised and for uncircumcised persons, for unclean and for clean persons, it is fit. This section teaches that if he slaughtered the pesah with a group of people in mind, some of whom could eat it and some of whom could not, the pesah is still valid. As long as at least one of the people for whom he sacrificed it can eat it, it is valid.

לאוכליו ושלא לאוכליו כשר – and it is not similar to for its sake and not for its sake, for invalid that is there – is his being invalid in his body. For the thought that makes him invalid was in the body of the sacrifice, but for those eat it and for those who don’t eat it, the thought does not invalidate ממthe body of the sacrifice, but rather something which is outside of it.

If he slaughtered it before midday, it is disqualified, because it is said, “[and all of the assembled congregation of Israelites shall slaughter it] at twilight” (Exodus 12:6). According to the rabbis “twilight” is when the sun has already reached its peak and has begun to descend to the west. This is from six and a half hours and onwards. If the pesah was slaughtered before this time it is invalid.

ממרס בדמו – that the blood not become congealed so that it would be worthy for casting/tossing.

If he slaughtered it before the [evening] tamid, it is fit, providing that a person stirs its blood until [that of] the tamid is sprinkled. [Nevertheless] if it was sprinkled [before the tamid], it is fit. The pesah should a priori be slaughtered after the evening tamid (daily offering). We learned this above in mishnah one. However, ex post facto, even if it was slaughtered before the tamid, it is still valid, provided that a person stirs the blood of the pesah so that it can be sprinkled on the altar after the blood of the tamid is sprinkled. However, even this requirement is only “a priori” if the blood of the pesah is sprinkled before that of the tamid it is still valid.

ואם זרק קודם לתמיד כשר – since even though the Passover offering is later than the daily whole burnt offering because it is written concerning it (Deuteronomy 16:7 – see Pesahim 59a): “[and none of the flesh of] what you slaughter on the evening…,” and “at twilight” (Exodus 12:6) does not made invalid through this.

השוחט את הפסח על החמץ – that is to say, at the time of the slaughtering [of the Passover offering], there was leaven in the domain of the slaughterer or one of the members of his group, even if there was no Hametz in the courtyard [of the Temple]

Introduction Exodus 34:25 states, “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with anything leavened.” The sages interpret this verse to mean that the pesah cannot be sacrificed by a person who still has chametz in his possession. Our mishnah discusses various aspects of this prohibition.

He violates a negative commandment - of (Exodus 34:25): “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with anything leavened,” and the sacrifice itself is not made invalid.

One who slaughters the pesah with chametz [in his possession] violates a negative commandment. The negative commandment which he violates is the one in Exodus 34:25, quoted above in the introduction.

אף תמיד – of the twilight on the Eve of Passover that was slaughtered with leaven that for there was leaven in the domain of the slaughterer or the person offering the sacrifice violates a negative commandment, for he expounds upon the word, “[the blood of] My sacrifice” (Exodus 34:26) that is special to me, and that is the whole daily-offering , but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

Rabbi Judah says: also the [evening] tamid. Rabbi Judah extends this prohibition to include the evening tamid offered on the fourteenth of Nisan. According to a midrash, Rabbi Judah derives this from the word “My sacrifice” in Exodus 34:25. A tamid might be referred to by God as “My sacrifice” because it is not eaten but rather wholly burnt on the altar. Alternatively (get the pun!) he may read the word “My sacrifice” as being a plural word meaning “sacrifices”, in which case the verse reads “You shall not offer the blood of sacrifices with anything leavened.” In any case, Rabbi Judah holds that one who sacrifices the evening tamid on the fourteenth of Nisan while in possession of chametz has violated a negative commandment.

ר' שמעון אומר הפסח בי"ד – that he slaughtered it with leaven for its sake, he is liable because of “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with anything leavened,” (Exodus 34:25) for the Passover Sacrifice is valid/fit and the slaughtering is appropriate and it is for the purpose of slaughtering.

Rabbi Shimon says: [If he slaughters] the pesah [with chametz] on the fourteenth for its own purpose, he is liable; [if] for a different purpose, he is exempt. But [for] all other sacrifices, whether slaughtered for their own purpose or for a different purpose, he is exempt. [If he slaughters the pesah with chametz] on the festival for its own purpose, he is exempt; if for a different purpose, he is liable; But [for] all other sacrifices [slaughtered on the festival with chametz], whether for their own purpose or for another purpose, he is liable, except [in the case or] a sin-offering which he slaughtered for a different purpose. Rabbi Shimon makes several refinements as to when a person is liable for transgressing Exodus 34:25. The first section deals with sacrifices made on the fourteenth of Nisan. If he slaughters the pesah with the intent of it being a pesah he is liable (all of the below cases refer to someone in possession of chametz when making the sacrifice). However, if he slaughters the pesah with the intent of it being a different sacrifice the pesah itself is not valid. Since it is not a valid pesah, he has not transgressed Exodus 34:25 which refers only to slaughtering a valid pesah while in possession of chametz. If he slaughters a different sacrifice on the fourteenth of Nisan while owning chametz he is not liable, whether or not the sacrifice was offered with the proper intent. Rabbi Shimon holds that the verse applies only to a valid pesah and not to other sacrifices. The third section refers to one who slaughters an animal as a pesah sacrifice during the festival. The sacrifice is invalid since he can’t offer a pesah after the fourteenth of Nisan. Therefore, he has not transgressed the verse. On the other hand, if he sacrificed it with another intent, then the sacrifice is considered to be a valid well-being offering. In such a case, he is liable for making a sacrifice during Pesah while owning chametz. Rabbi Shimon derives this from Exodus 23:18, “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with anything leavened”, a verse nearly identical to Exodus 34:25. From this verse he derives a prohibition of offering any valid sacrifice on Pesah while in possession of chametz. Finally, if he offers any other sacrifice during Pesah while in possession of chametz, he has transgressed, as we explained above. This is true whether or not the sacrifice was done with the proper intent. The only exception is a sin-offering which is disqualified if offered with the improper intent during Pesah. Since it is a disqualified offering, he has not transgressed by slaughtering it while in possession of chametz.

שלא לשמו פטור – that it is invalid and it is a slaughtering that is not worthy and not for the sake of slaughtering.

ושאר כל הזבחים – that were slaughtered on the fourteen [of Nisan] after noon with leaven.

בין לשמן בין שלא לשמן פטור – for even though they are fit, as it is taught in the Mishnah (Tractate Zevakhim, Chapter 1, Mishnah 1 AND Tractate Yadayim, Chapter 4, Mishnah 2): “All the animal offerings that were slaughtered not for their own name are valid, etc.” nevertheless, they are exempt, as it is written: (Exodus 34:25): “My sacrifice,” “My sacrifice” twice: “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice [with anything leavened].” (Exodus 24:25) and (Exodus 23:18): ‘You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with anything leavened.” And what Halakha did the All-Merciful separate them and not write “My sacrifice” in one verse? And everything is implied, whether regarding the Passover offering or regarding all the rest of the animal sacrifices, to tell you that at the time when there is an animal sacrifice that is, on the fourteenth [of Nisan] when there is the Passover offering, he is not liable for the rest of the animal sacrifices, and at the time when there isn’t an animal sacrifice, such as during the Passover, he is liable for the other animal sacrifices if they were slaughtered with leaven.

ובמועד – during the Passover holiday, if it was for the sake/in its name that it was slaughtered for the Passover offering with leaven,

it is exempt from “You shall not offer [the blood of My sacrifice with anything leavened]” (Exodus 34:25), for a Passover offering that was not at its appropriate time, for its sake, is invalid, and it is a slaughtering that is not appropriate.

שלא לשמו – but for the sake of peace-offerings,

one is liable, for this is what it refers to that it should be the appropriate slaughtering, and he is liable because of “You shall not offer,” with the negative commandment of (Exodus 13:7), “no leaven shall be seen with you” and (Exodus 12:19): “no leaven shall be found in your houses for seven days.”

ושאר כל הזבחים – that were slaughtered during the Festival [of Passover] with leaven.

בין לשמן בין שלא לשמן חייב – for the Biblical verse on the rest of the offerings is also a warning.

חוץ מן החטאת ששחטה שלא לשמה – and it is invalid because it is written regarding the slaughtering of a sin-offering, it and not what was slaughtered not for its own sake.

הפסח נשחט בשלש כתות – [whether the community is large/many] whether the community is small, and all of them would be able to slaughter at the same time, it is Mitzvah to divide up into three groups one after the other.

Introduction This mishnah now begins to describe how the pesah was slaughtered in the Temple. We should note that scholars frequently attempt to estimate how many people actually came to the Temple on Pesah and how many sacrifices were offered there. Clearly, the numbers were impressive but even rough estimates of numbers are impossible. Rabbinic literature, composed at least one hundred years after the destruction, is not considered by most scholars to be a particularly reliable source of history for the Second Temple period. Nevertheless, from this mishnah we can at least detect that Pesah was the busiest time of the year at the Temple, or at least the time of the year when the most sacrifices were offered. Similar descriptions can be found in Philo and Josephus both of whom lived and wrote while the Temple still stood.

שנאמר ושחטו אותו כל קהל עדת ישראל – “assembled,” and “congregation” and “of Israel” , these are three groups.

The pesah is slaughtered in three divisions, as it is said, “And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall slaughter it” (Exodus 12:6): “assembly,” “congregation,” and “Israel.” Because of the large number of lambs that needed to be slaughtered on the eve of Pesah, the people of Israel were divided into three divisions each taking a turn to slaughter the Pesah. The mishnah derives this midrashically from three terms used in the biblical verse: “assembly”, “congregation” and “Israel.” The Talmud explains that a division could not be less than thirty people. Assumedly, they were much larger than that.

בזיכי – large pans/censers to receive the blood in them .

The first division entered, the Temple court was filled, and they closed the doors of the Temple court. Once the first group had entered they would lock the doors so that people from the second group would not push to get in.

שורה שכולה כסף כסף – and this is much better.

They sounded a teki'ah, a teru'ah, and a teki'ah. These are the same notes which we still make on Rosh Hashanah. The tekiah is the single long note and the teruah is the staccato note. What we call “shevarim” (three notes) is a variant version of the “teruah”.

ולא היו לבזיכים שלוים – wide, sharp [rims/saucers] from above and below them in order that they wouldn’t be able to it on the ground lest the Kohanim place them to sit on the ground, until they receive other blood on account that they are any and they might forget them and the blood will congeal and it won’t be appropriate for tossing/casting.

The priests stood in rows, and in their hands were basins of silver and basins of gold, a row which was entirely of silver was of silver, and a row which was entirely of gold was of gold, they were not mixed. And the basins did not have flat bottoms, lest they put them down and the blood becomes congealed. The basins were there to receive the blood after the animal was slaughtered. The separation of gold from silver vessels was done for aesthetic purposes. Since the blood needed to be sprinkled onto the altar, it was crucial that it not become congealed in the basins. Therefore they did not have flat bottoms.

שחט ישראל – if he wanted hat the slaughtering would be fit by a foreigner (i.e., non-Kohen) for all of the sacrifices.

Introduction The mishnah continues to describe the slaughtering process.

וקבל הכהן – [The Kohen received] the blood in the vessel/censer – that when he receives it and onwards is the Mitzvah for the priesthood.

The Israelite killed [the lamb]; If an Israelite wishes to slaughter his own pesah he may do so. Most other sacrifices are slaughtered only by priests. However, in Ezra 6:20 and II Chronicles 30:17, 35:6,11, the Levites are those who slaughter the pesah.

נותנו לחברו – for they are standing like a line.

And the priest caught [the blood]. Only the priest is allowed to catch the blood in the basin, not the Israelite.

וחברו לחברו – for it comes to teach us that (Proverbs 14:28): “A numerous people is the glory of the king.”

He would hand it to his colleague and his colleague [would hand it] to his colleague. And he would receive the full [basin] and give back the empty one. The priest nearest the altar would sprinkle it once over against the base [or the altar]. To expedite the process the priests would pass the blood down the rows which we encountered in yesterday’s mishnah. The priest at the end of row would sprinkle the blood over the base of the altar and then pass the empty basins back so that more blood could be received in them. We should note that the mishnah is precise in the order of activities. The priest should first take the full basin and then give back the empty one. This is because the full basin is one with which a commandment will be performed and one should not pass over the opportunity, even for a moment, to perform a commandment.

ומקבל את המלא – from the hand of the one gives first and afterwards, he returns the empty one, but not the opposite – that he returns the empty one first, for when he extends this to him from his hand it is required to receive it for we cannot forgo the opportunity to observe the commandments.

זריקה אחת – in the vessel/censer itself and not a gift with the finger, for you do not have a sacrifice that requires a finger other than the sin-offering itself, as it is written (Leviticus 4:30): “[The priest shall take] with his finger [some of its blood and put it on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering].”

כנגד היסוד – in the directions of that are on the altar that the base is below them and he casts while he is upright of the altar and he falls to the base, and because the base does not surround the altar other than the northern side and the western side and he eats on the southern side one cubit and on the east side one cubit as it is explained in the Tractate Middot (Chapter 3, Mishnah 1), therefore it was necessary to say “toward the base.”

קראו את ההלל – each of the three groups.

Introduction This mishnah continues to describe the sacrifice of the Pesah, focusing especially on the singing of Hallel by the Levites.

אם גמרו שנו – When they would begin to slaughter, they would begin to recite [Hallel] and if there many Passover sacrifices and the time of their slaughtering stretched out until they completed and still there were many to slaughter, they would return and recite [Hallel] a second time and if they read it twice and still had not completed the slaughtering of the Passover offerings of that group, they would go back and recite it a third time, and similarly for the second group and the third group.

The first division [then] went out and the second entered; the second went out and the third entered. As did the first, so did the second and the third. As mentioned in mishnah five, those who came to the Temple to offer the sacrifice divided into three groups. Each group would go through the same process described in the above two mishnayot.

אע"פ שמעולם לא שלשו – for the Kohanim were many and zealous.

They recited the Hallel. While the sacrifice was being offered the Levites recited the Hallel. We should note that this is one of the elements of the sacrificial ceremony which was eventually adopted into the seder ritual. Indeed, all early descriptions of the sacrifice and/or seder ritual include the recitation of Psalms, i.e. the Hallel. This includes descriptions in the Bible itself, in Josephus, Philo, the Christian Gospels and of course, in rabbinic literature.

לא הגיעו לאהבתי – even one time.

If they finished it, they repeated, and if they repeated [and were not finished yet], they recited it a third time, though they never did recite it a third time. Rabbi Judah says: the third division never reached, “I love Lord for he hears” (Psalms 116), because the people for it were few. Sometimes the Levites would finish the Hallel before all of the lambs had been slaughtered and their blood sprinkled on the altar. If this happened the Levites would repeat the Hallel a second and even a third time. However, according to the tradition in this mishnah, they never had to repeat it a third time. Rabbi Judah relates that when it came to the third division, the Levites never even got as far as Psalm 116 in reciting the Hallel. Hallel begins at Psalms 113, so if they never even got to Psalm 116 the first time through this is indeed strong evidence that the third division was rather small. Assumedly most people wanted to be in the first two divisions so they could get their lambs slaughtered and start digging in. Even in ancient times people were anxious to begin their Pesah meal some things never change.

שהכהנים מדיחים את העזרה – because there was a great amount of blood , they would rinse it (i.e., the courtyard) on the Sabbath for the canal of water would go in the courtyard and when they would want to rinse it, they would stop up the hole where it (i.e., the water) comes out and the water stretches out over its banks and rinses the entire courtyard [for the courtyard was entirely a floor of alabaster], and afterwards they open the hole and the waters come out.

Introduction The first section of the mishnah teaches that the sacrificial ritual was performed on Shabbat the same way that it was performed during the week. The second section discusses a practice done in order to ensure that blood from each of the lambs had been poured out onto the altar.

מדם התערובות – that is lying on the floor. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

As it was done on weekdays so it was done on Shabbat, except that the priests would mop up the Temple court, against the will of the sages. The ritual was performed on Shabbat in the exact same manner that it was performed during the week. However, the sages would have liked to have seen one difference in how the ritual was performed on Shabbat. As they did during the week, so too on Shabbat the priests would mop up the floor of the Temple courtyard, which had surely become quite dirty with the blood from the many sacrifices. They did this against the will of the sages who thought that mopping up the floor is prohibited on Shabbat. As an aside, we can detect here a note of dissonance between the sages and the priests who ran the Temple. Clearly, these priests did not feel themselves subject to the sages’ authority.

Rabbi Judah says: he [a priest] would fill a goblet with the mixed blood [and] he sprinkled it once on the altar, but the sages did not agree with him. Rabbi Judah relates that a priest would fill a goblet with the mixed blood that he found on the floor and then pour the contents of the goblet onto the altar. The reason he would do this is lest the blood of one of the sacrifices had not been sprinkled on the altar. Not having its blood spilled on the altar would render the sacrifice invalid. It was assumed that some of the blood of all of the animals would be in this mixture and therefore pouring it out was sort of an insurance policy. The sages did not agree with Rabbi Judah that this was done in the Temple.

אונקליות – nails whose heads were bent from above.

How did they hang up [the sacrifices] and flay [them]?
There were iron hooks fixed in the walls and in the pillars, on which they hung up [the sacrifices] and flayed [them].
If any one had no place to suspend and flay [their sacrifice], there were there thin smooth staves which he placed on his shoulder and on his fellow’s shoulder, and so hung up [the animal] and flayed [it].
Rabbi Eliezer says: when the fourteenth fell on Shabbat, he placed his hand on his fellow’s shoulder and his fellow’s hand on his shoulder, and he hung up [the sacrifice] and flayed [it].
After the blood of the sacrifice had been thrown onto the altar the next step was to flay the animal so that some of its inner fats could be taken out and offered on the altar. Our mishnah describes how the animal was flayed.
The animal was hung up by its hind legs and its skin was flayed and removed. The hanging was done on fixed hooks in the walls or in pillars which were in the slaughtering area in the Temple courtyard. From section two we can see that there were not always enough hooks to hang up all of the sacrifices. In such a case two people would hold up poles on their shoulders and suspend the animal from them. Rabbi Eliezer holds that on Shabbat these poles could not be carried and therefore instead of using poles they would simply hang up the animal on two people’s shoulders. The rabbis disagree with Rabbi Eliezer. According to their opinion the prohibition of using these poles on Shabbat is only one of “shevut” rabbinically mandated rest on Shabbat. In the Temple, since these prohibitions are not “deoraita” of toraitic origin they are waived. Since the sages hold that the flaying is done in the same way on Shabbat and during the week, this was not listed as a difference in yesterday’s mishnah.

ובעמודים – that were set up in the slaughter house, in the courtyard were small pillars that were called “stumped”/”dwarfed” (see Mishnah Tamid, Chapter 3, Mishnah 5).

חלקים – their scales/skin was branched off/forked.

שחל להיות בשבת – and they are not able to carry the poles.

ידו על כתף חבירו – and they hang it on the membrum of his knees with his arm. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eliezer, for it is permitted to carry the poles since there is no prohibition of acts as Sh’vut (forbidden by the Rabbis as out of harmony with the celebration of the day) in the Temple (see Pesahim 65a).

אימוריו – the fats that were offered on the altar.

Introduction This mishnah completes the description of the sacrificial aspects of the pesah sacrifice. In chapter seven we will describe how it is roasted so that it could be eaten.

במגיס – a bowl; the Aramaic translation of his bowls is “his trays/his bowls.”

Then he tore it and took out its inner fats, placed them in a tray and burnt them on the altar. After the animal was flayed he would tear a hole in it and take out the fats that need to be sacrificed on the altar. We should note that non-priests could do the flaying and the tearing but that only the priest could offer the fats on the altar.

ישבה לה בהר הבית – It is speaking about Shabbat when one cannot bring up their Passover offerings.

The first division went out and sat down on the Temple mount, the second [sat] in the hel, while the third remained in its place. When it grew dark they went out and roasted their pesah lambs. At this point, the sacrificial elements have been completed and the animal is ready to be roasted. On a weekday, the people would now take the sacrifice back to their homes or to wherever in Jerusalem they were planning to eat the pesah meal. However, if the eve of Pesah fell on Shabbat they could not carry the pesah out of the Temple confines. So therefore each division would remain in a certain place. The first division would go out of the Temple and sit on the Temple mount, the second division would sit in the hel, a place right outside the courtyard and the third division remained in the courtyard. When Shabbat was over they would go home and roast their lambs.

בחיל – between the lattice-work (name of one of the approaches of the Temple fortification – see Mishnah Middot, Chapter 2, Mishnah 3) and the wall of the women’s court at the beginning of the ascent to the Temple.

חשיכה יצאו וצלו את פסחיהן – for the roasting of the Passover offering does not override the [prohibitions of the] Sabbath.