Hot answers tagged korban
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See Tosfos "me'alyah", Pesachim 3b, where it says most were sheep.
Background: A non-Jew came and told R' Yehuda ben Beseirah that he routinely goes to Jerusalem to eat from the Korban Pesach (which is forbidden to non-Jews). R' Yehuda wasn't going to Jerusalem himself, and so couldn't notify the Jews there. So he came up with a plan for the non-Jew to get ...
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Moses makes it clear that when the Jews enter the Promised Land, eventually one special place shall be chosen, and that will be the only place that animal sacrifices are authorized. That place is the Temple in Jerusalem.
Today the Temple does not stand; it's unclear exactly where on the Temple Mount area the altar stood; there are numerous uncertainties ...
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The Torah made it very clear (Deuteronomy 12:5-18) that once the Jews would reach "the rest and inheritance ...the place G-d will choose" (i.e. the Temple in Jerusalem), that would be the place for sacrificial service. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans around the year 70, and thus there haven't been sacrifices since. Thus, many of the roles of ...
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It's not a contradiction. The second part is a clause which comes in to effect should the first law be violated.
It's like the Rambam says: You're not allowed to substitute an animal for one which has already been consecrated. If you do, the original animal is consecrated, and the animal which was substituted is also regarded as consecrated. As the ...
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The minimum of an average person had to go to the Bais Hamikdash for the 3 Regolim and that meant a Korban Olas Re'iya and a Chagiga. In addition, on Erev Pesach they had to bring a Korban Pesach (which was brought in groups as opposed to the individual).
As far as how often a person would have to go to the Mikdash, even if a person is obligated to bring a ...
7
As mentioned in other answers, we don't offer sacrifices these days because once the Beit Hamikdash was established as the permanent House of G-d we are no longer allowed to offer Korbanot anywhere else. Although the Rambam holds that we do not need the Temple to be standing in order to offer Korbanot, the Korbanot still must be offerred on the Temple Mount. ...
6
Rambam (in the introduction to his Commentary on the Mishnah) says that it is because the Torah itself introduces the concept of slaughtering for nonsacred purposes immediately following the rules about sacrifices (Deut. 12:11, 15).
It may also be due to the fact that kosher slaughter is basically an optional mitzvah (you don't have to eat meat), except in ...
6
A lot of ink has been spilled on this topic. Kaftor Vaferach (ch. 6) reports that Rabbeinu Yechiel of Paris (who immigrated to the Land of Israel, with his students, sometime in the 1250s) proposed in 5017 (1257) to go to Jerusalem and offer korbanos, and mentions the concerns about tum'ah (which he goes on to dismiss, since public korbanos override it) and ...
6
The Taz (OC 473:4) suggests the reason is so that we can eat it, because it is forbidden to eat roasted meat on the Seder night.
The Mishna Berura (:23) quotes two other reasons. First, that we use an egg, which is commonly served at a meal to mourners, to represent our mourning the loss of the Beit HaMikdash and the Korbanot. Second, the word for egg in ...
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There is a dispute in Beitzah 20b whether voluntary offerings can be brought on Yom Tov, but the final halachah is that they cannot; the only private korbanos that can be brought on that day are the ones in which one is obligated for Yom Tov - the olas re'iyah, shalmei chagigah and shalmei simchah (Rambam, Hil. Chagigah 1:8).
[The mishnah you quoted means ...
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Not sure I quite understand your question, but here goes:
1.) The traditional Jewish forms of Temple worship (bowing, incense, animal sacrifice, wine libation) are prohibited vis-a-vis an idol, regardless of whether that's the normal way of worshiping it. "Serving deities in the manner they are conventionally served" prohibits other forms of worship.
2.) ...
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There are 4 basic categories of animals that are used in Sacrifices.
Cows
Goats
Sheep
Birds
Goats were used for sacrifices anytime that there is a "Kaparah" or "atonement" related to the sacrifice. I.e. if the purpose of the sacrifice is to correct some wrong, then a goat is used.
Sheep are used for any sacrifices where the focus is on either the ...
4
Speculation:
It could be that the Sages weren't comfortable with innovating a beracha with unlimited scope, given the problems with unnecessarily invoking God's name. The Torah had [infinitely] more authority to create such an open-ended option, even for something as serious as a korban.
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In the times of the Beis HaMikdash, a person who survived a potentially life-threatening situation brought a Korban Todah, to express his gratitude to Hashem. (Vayikra 7:12 Rashi and Rashbam)
Nowadays, when we no longer have the Beis HaMikdash and Korbonos cannot be brought on the altar, we substitute Birchas HaGomel a public proclamation of gratitude to ...
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Quoth Rabbi Kornfield (from http://www.shemayisrael.com/parsha/kornfeld/archives/vayikra58.htm):
Although this practice may seem bizarre to the uninitiated, the early commentaries point out the profound and enduring effect that offering a sacrifice has on a sinner. Man, like animal, is a physical organism of flesh and blood. Both are driven by their ...
4
The Rambam (Hil. Pesulei Hamukdashin 4:1, from Temurah 15b ff) points out that this is a law given to Moshe (ודברים אלו כולם מפי משה רבנו נשמעו). He may be stressing that point in order to explain how indeed the rules for treating such animals can override the rule about avoiding tzaar baalei chaim.
[It's actually a matter of dispute as to whether the ...
4
Yes, this did happen.
Verse 12:31 states:
So he called for Moses and Aaron at night, and he said, "Get up and get out from among my people, both you, as well as the children of Israel, and go, worship the Lord as you have spoken.
Rashi says on this:
and go, worship the Lord as you have spoken: Everything is as you said, not as I said. “Neither ...
4
Bamidbar 15:14 says that a convert must bring an offering "throughout your generations". Sifre Zuta says that the inclusion of this phrase teaches that converts are accepted at any time. Haamek Davar states that the convert or their descendant must bring an offering when the Temple is rebuilt.
4
According to R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, in various places in his commentary on the Torah, the ox, typically used for plowing fields, represents humans' power to do effect change in the world. Thus, any time we sacrifice an ox on God's altar, we're dedicating that power within ourselves to His service.
4
The Mishna (Zevachim 3:1) states:
כל הפסולין ששחטו שחיטתן כשרה שהשחיטה כשרה בזרים בנשים ובעבדים ובטמאים אפילו בקדשי קדשים
Anyone who is invalid for Temple service who slaughtered [a sacrifice], the slaughter is valid, for slaughtering [sacrifices] is valid even for non-priests, women, slaves and even impure people, even for the holiest of sacrifices.
...
3
Indeed the laws of firstborn animals (bechor) apply today and the Shulchan Aruch (YD 320:6) rules that we should avoid creating bechorot because the laws are very complex and people will likely make mistakes, AND because we can't bring them as korbanot nowadays anyway. He suggests that you sell to a gentile a part of the pregnant mother to make you a partner ...
3
The part about the animal facing west is indeed applied to other korbanos: that's the position they should be when the owner performs semichah (leaning) on them before they are slaughtered (Yoma 36a, cited as halachah in Rambam, Hil. Maaseh Hakorbanos 3:14). Since "in the place where they do semichah they slaughter it, and semichah should be immediately ...
3
Tzaar baalei chayim is usually measured by the ratio of animal pain to human gain. I guess the gain is considered high/necessary enough here?
The Noda BiHudah says directly killing the animal in any normal sort of way, e.g. deer hunting, is not considered tzaar baalei chayim per se. But yes, starvation is more problematic.
3
Rabbi Nathan Lopes-Cardozo deals with this question by suggesting that we have not progressed past this form of imperfect worship; rather we have regressed and will need to rise to the level of appreciating it. Therefore, to eventually progress to the purest form of worship it will be required that we first experience the "concession."
3
This question is related to another and I believe the answers are the same. The sugya is in Krisus 8b-9a. The resolution there is essentially that the korban isn't m'akev (which we learn from a gzeiras hakasuv).
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Of the various animal sacrifices, a cow (or more often, a bull) was considered the most expensive and often most choice. (Mind you, a pauper who can afford nothing but grain who brings it with meaning is valued over the mogul who thinks he can pay off G-d with a nice bull.)
Sforno discusses it being of the most utility to us, and also that its gestation ...
2
I would add as an answer, that perhaps, as the Torah describes within the context of wandering in the desert, animal slaughter without the context of sacrifice should be looked down upon.
See Vayikra Chapter 17:
1 And HaShem spoke unto Moses,
saying:
2 Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons,
and unto all the children of Israel,
and say unto ...
2
There is also an idea, found in the Zohar and later kabbalistic and chassidic literature, that each of the major types of animal life "evolves" spiritually from the corresponding "face" of the Chayos Hakodesh (a type of angel described in Ezekiel ch. 1 passim). The Chayos are described as having four "faces": a lion, a bull, an eagle, and a human being. The ...
2
I think the simple Pshat is that the blood on the door post was for the Jewish people. It was for them to realize that it is because of adherence to this Mitzvah of Korbon Pesach that they are being spared.
The main thrust of the Korbon Pesach (see Ramban, Rambam) is a repudiation of Idolatry. These animals were worshiped as God's by the Egyptians. We ...
2
The Mahral says it represents the separation of the Jews from Egyptian Culture: That means all the Laws involved are a separation of the Jews from their Egyptian neighbors. The Jews were so entrenched in that very same culture that they needed to be separated in an extreme fashion.This Korbon allowed them to be freed of Egypt and Egyptian culture.
First we ...
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