פירוש על זבחים 2:2

השוחט את הזבח – peace-offerings or other [sacrifices] that are consumed.

Introduction This mishnah begins to deal with the subject of a priest who slaughters a sacrifice with the intent of doing a subsequent activity at the wrong time or wrong place. The wrong intention disqualifies the sacrifice, but in different ways and with different consequences.

כזית מעור האליה – but it comes to tell us that the skin of the fat tail is not like the fat tail itself, for he considers to eat something which is normally eaten, and therefore it is invalid, for if it is like the fat tail, one has in mind the undue intention in the performance of a sacrificial ceremony to eat something which is generally to be offered as incense (i.e., burned) and it is was not invalid, as is taught in the Mishnah (see Mishnah 3 of this chapter) shortly further on, to eat something which is usually eaten or to offer as incense something offered as incense (i.e., entrails) it is invalid.

One who slaughters a sacrifice [intending]: To sprinkle its blood outside [the Temple] or part of its blood outside; To burn its innards or part of its innards outside; To eat its flesh or as much as an olive of its flesh outside, Or to eat as much as an olive of the skin of the fat-tail outside, It is invalid, but it does not involve karet. In all of the cases in this section, the priest sacrifices the animal with the intent of doing one of the activities outside of the Temple. I’m not sure why he would do this, but the message is clear the priest must realize that all of the following are done in the Temple. A) All of the blood that needs to be sprinkled must be sprinkled within the Temple. B) The innards that are burned on the altar must be entirely burned within the Temple. C) The flesh of certain sacrifices must be eaten within the Temple. D) If the priest has the intention of doing any of these steps outside of the Temple, the sacrifice is disqualified. However, the transgression is not punished by karet. The reason probably is that this specific problem, sacrificing it with the intent of doing something with it outside of the Temple, is not directly addressed by the Torah. As we shall see, this is contrasted with “piggul” found in the next section, which is punished by karet.

ואינו ענוש כרת – rhe person who eats it, and even outside, and he is not published with extirpation.

[One he slaughters a sacrifice intending]: To sprinkle its blood or part of its blood the next day, To burn its innards or part of its innards on the next day; To eat its flesh or as much as an olive of its flesh on the next day; Or to eat as much as an olive of the skin of its fat-tail on the next day, It is piggul, and involves kareth. In all of the cases here, the priest sacrifices the animal with the intent of doing something else with it after the time in which the animal must be eaten has expired. For some animals this is one day (until the next morning) and for some it is two days (until the morning after tomorrow). We shall discuss this issue more fully in chapter five. Here we learn that if the priest does any of the activities explained above with the intent of doing them after this time has expired, the animal is considered “piggul”, a word found in Leviticus 7:18. One who eats such a sacrifice is liable for karet, even if he eats it during the time when the sacrifice must be eaten. Note that this is a category different from “notar (remnant)” which is what the sacrifice is called if it is actually left over past the time when it must be eaten. This sacrifice is not actually “notar” rather it was sacrificed with the intent of making it notar. That is sufficient for it to be biblically prohibited.

ולאכול את בשרו למחר – but one cannot establish it for peace-offerings, but rather for the thanksgiving offering and the sin-offering, for whereas regarding peace offerings, it is its appropriate time. But to cast its blood or to burn its sacrificial portions, even for a peace-offering, it would be on the morrow outside its appropriate time.

פגול וחייבים עליו כרת – the person who eats it and even, at its appropriate time, he punished with extirpation.