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The Midrash Tanchuma (Vayikra 1:8) asks your question:
ולמה קריבין קרבן מן העוף ומן הכבשים ומן הצאן ומן העזים ולא מן הדגים, שנאמר, [ו] אם מן העוף עולה קרבנו, אלא בשביל שהם בשר ודם כמו האדם ויוצאין מבטן אמן כמו האדם, מכפרים על האדם. אבל הדגים, ביצים הם ויוצאין מהן וחיין.
And why do we offer up sacrifices from birds, sheep and goats but not from fish?
Because ...
20
This discrepancy was noticed by the Mishneh LaMelech in his Parshas Derachim Derech Mitzvosecha 4:487, and the Minchas Chinuch § 487, among others.
As mentioned, the Chinuch leaves out the mitzvah against a zar eating terumah, and he replaces it with the prohibition against bringing the Pesach offering on a private altar. He brings this as Mitzvah #467.
The ...
17
Tosafot to Yoma 25a discuss whether the kohanim sat down to eat korbanot in the 'azarah. They suggest three approaches:
They would eat standing up in the 'azarah, due to the prohibition on sitting there. Only kodashim kalim (eaten throughout the city) could be eaten sitting down.
The prohibition on sitting in the 'azarah does not apply to things which are ...
15
Rav Hirsch writes in his commentary to the Bible, on Gen. 4:4, the first time that animal sacrifice is mentioned:
First, idolatry did not yet exist. It follows, then, that the offering
are not a mere concession to polytheism. The offerings antedate
polytheism. They are as old as mankind itself, and they are a natural
expression of human thoughts and ...
11
Mishnah Zevachim 14:4-8 describe the times that bamot were permitted and forbidden:
Before the mishkan was set up - bamot permitted
Once the mishkan was set up in the desert - bamot forbidden
While the mishkan was in Gilgal - bamot permitted
While the mishkan was in Shiloh - bamot forbidden
While the mishkan was in Nov and Giv'on - bamot permitted
Once the ...
10
The Korban does need to be brought on an altar (Rambam Maaseh Korbanot 19:1). This altar though does not have the requirements of horns, a ramp, a base, and square corners which regular altars (including a Bamah Gedolah, though that isn't the case here (Megilla 9b)) have (Zevachim 108b). I don't see any other listed exclusions, so presumably other ...
10
Enlightened by the approaches taken in other answers and encouraged by the large number of views, I suggest this analysis as an answer to my own question.
There is agreement on the web that dressed weight is about 50% (e,g, sites below). There is less agreement on the weight of a lamb of a year of age or under.
This site gives the weight of lambs at 12 ...
10
The gemara on Yoma 26a explains that there was just one lottery that covered both services:
א"ר יוחנן אין מפייסין על תמיד של בין הערבים אלא כהן שזכה בו בשחרית זוכה בו ערבית
Rabbi Yoḥanan said: They did not hold a separate lottery for the
slaughtering and sacrifice of the daily afternoon offering. Rather,
the same priest who won a particular privilege ...
9
While this isn't exactly what you're looking for, it's close: the Rama's Toras Ha'Olah, which does go through just about every mitzvah/halakha in Seder Kodshim and explains the reasoning for their details in a super-cool-scientific-mystical way. It's not an encyclopedia in that it isn't in alphabetical order, but it is ordered systematically, by topic.
...
9
From a skeptical standpoint it would probably be easiest to presume that the ancient Israelites merely adopted and or adapted the methods of worship common at the time their religion emerged but I see no reason that those of us that do not share such presuppositions would find such an assumption that compelling.
Our tradition teaches that although animal ...
9
This is a Korban, so the Chelev was burned on the Mizbeach.
Regarding the Gid haNasheh, there is a famous disagreement between the Rambam and the Raavad (Korban Pesach 10:11):
כשאדם אוכל את הפסח חותך הבשר ואוכל וחותך העצמות מן הפרק ומפרקן אם רצה. וכשיגיע לגיד הנשה מוציאו ומניחו עם שאר הגידים והעצמות והקרומות שיוצאין בשעת אכילה. שאין מנקין אותו כשאר הבשר ...
8
The extra blood after each sacrifice was poured at the base of the altar (if it was considered Shirayim, leftover) or the Amah - a channel which led out of the courtyard (if the blood's status is dichuy, invalid to be poured on the base). This is from the Talmud, Zevachim 34b.
The leftover blood which was poured out flowed to Nachal Kidron, and was redeemed ...
8
The עיקר תוי"ט already asks your question ibid
ח: וְדִבְרֵי תֵּימַהּ הֵן, דִּבְהֶדְיָא שָׁנִינוּ בְּמִשְׁנָה ג' פֶּרֶק ב' דִּזְבָחִים חוּץ לִמְקוֹמוֹ פָּסוּל וְאֵין בּוֹ כָּרֵת
So it seems that the Bartenura was either badly copied or else simply used the common phrase חוץ לזמנן או חוץ למקומן "as a matter of habit".
(For similar, see the עיקר ...
8
It's from the Talmud (Pesachim 53b) with the reason given as "for it looks like he is consecrating his animal and consuming an offering outside [of the Temple]". The Shulchan Arukh codifies it as well (OC 469). (The Arukh haShulchan (ibid. :4) notes that the Rambam did not codify this rule, and thinks that he omitted it because he thought it only was true ...
7
As Clint already mentioned, the obligation to bring doves applies to a Zava - one who bleeds between the expected times of her period (to oversimplify). So most women never had this obligation.
Another missing piece is that the woman does not have to bring the doves immediately - she can accumulate the obligations and bring them all together.
As long as ...
7
The prophet Jeremiah (19:5) clearly identifies the baal as one of the gods to which the Caananites offered their children:
וּבָנוּ אֶת בָּמוֹת הַבַּעַל לִשְׂרֹף אֶת
בְּנֵיהֶם בָּאֵשׁ עֹלוֹת לַבָּעַל אֲשֶׁר לֹא צִוִּיתִי וְלֹא
דִבַּרְתִּי וְלֹא עָלְתָה עַל לִבִּי
7
This is a classic ruba d'leisa kaman. In the overall population, a very, very small number of animals are prohibited. Knowing nothing else, presented with an animal before us, we assume it is permitted.
(This is known as "leisa kaman", "it does not appear before us", as the negative outcome is a theoretical. A weaker form of rov is "ruba d'isa kaman", "a ...
7
This is the method of shechitah (ritual slaughtering used today. We are commanded that the method of slaughtering used for animals (for regular eating) must be the same method as used for the altar. This is explained in Talmud Bavli Masechet Chulin 38a. See the Rashi below.
To explain in more detail, the talmud says that we use the method of shechita which ...
7
Why both ideas?
We can address your final question - why did Rashi cite both of these explanations - on a simple, structural level by looking at the Talmud passage Rashi got them from. In Shevu'ot 9a, the Talmud deals with an apparent tension between these two concepts, each of whose transmitters derive them from the same textual point - the fact that this ...
7
The Mishnah in Taanit 4:6 reports that the Jews had five calamities on the 17th of Tammuz, the second was that the tamid offering was not brought anymore, and the Temple was eventually destroyed on the 9th of Av. On Taanit 28b the Sages discuss, whether this refers to the First (587 BCE) or the Second Temple (70 CE), and they conclude that it was the Second ...
7
Rambam Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Ma'aseh HaKorbanot 1:1:
כָּל הַקָּרְבָּנוֹת שֶׁל מִינֵי נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה בָּאִין מֵחֲמִשָּׁה מִינִין בִּלְבַד. מִן הַבָּקָר וּמִן הַכְּבָשִׂים וּמִן הָעִזִּים וּמִן הַתּוֹרִים וּמִן בְּנֵי הַיּוֹנָה:
All sacrifices of living creatures come from the following five species only: Cattle, sheep, goats, turtle doves and ...
7
Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Forbidden Relationships 13:4-5
וכן לדורות, כשירצה הגוי להיכנס לברית, ולהסתופף תחת כנפי השכינה, ויקבל עליו עול תורה--צריך מילה, וטבילה, והרצאת קרבן; ואם נקבה היא, טבילה וקרבן: שנאמר "ככם כגר" (במדבר טו,טו)--מה אתם במילה וטבילה והרצאת קרבן, אף הגר לדורות במילה וטבילה והרצאת קרבן.
ומה הוא קרבן הגר--עולת בהמה, או ...
7
This question is discussed in Chevel Nachalato 8:13, where a number of contemporary Rabbis' approaches are presented.
R. Avigdor Nebenzahl writes that he knows of no good answer to the question, but does note some hints to the shtei halechem, such as Chabad's text of ושני שעירים לכפר as part of musaf.
R. Ya'akov Epstein suggests that there is a hesitance ...
6
In his book "The Temple" Joshua Berman deals with this question around page 13-17.
Shabbat and the Temple/Mishkan are directly interconnected with each other. While we do things which are not allowed on Shabbat outside of the Temple, the construction of the Temple itself can not be done on Shabbat. One of the purposes of Shabbat is the Temple, and one ...
6
The Rambam writes as much in Moreh Nevochim 3:32. It is slightly expanded upon in 3:46.
As an aside, it should be considered with the Rambam at the end of Hilchos Me'ila, which many understand to be a contradiction to that. (For a brief discussion of this point, see here, although it's far from a complete treatment of the issue.)
6
I am trying to figure out mathematically how many people were at a typical Pesach seder in the times of the Temple.
Not mathematically, but Josephus (Wars book 6 chapter 9 section 3) says:
that feast which is called the Passover, when they slay their sacrifices, from the ninth hour till the eleventh, but so that a company not less than ten belong to ...
6
Radak says that Hevel left his Korban tied up, and was awaiting for a fire to come down from heaven to devour it.
כמדומה לי שלא שחט הקרבן אלא הניחו חי קשור באותו מקום הקבוע לו כדי שירד
עליו אש מן השמים לאכלו
6
In Sefer Abudarham, in Shaar Hashlishi which addresses Birkat Hamitsvot, a Teshuva of Rabbi Yosef Ben Pelat. The issue is to find a criterion for blessing on a mitsva. In the Teshuva RYBP wrote that mitsvot that come as consequence of a sin, as returning the stolen object, returning ribbit, are exempted from beracha.
Further RYBP wrote mefurash ...
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