intended to increase the knowledge, interest, and anticipation of the reader, thereby hastening the realization of our hopes and prayers for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash. "Making the Azarah Fit" Answer: Kodashim Kalim can be slaughtered anywhere in the Azara, but there is, as we shall see, one stipulation. The Mishna indeed reads: "The Thanksgiving Offering (Vayikra 7:12), the Ram of the Nazarite (Bamidbar 6:14) are Kodashim Kalim; and they were slaughtered anywhere in the Azara (Zevachim 5:6). The Peace Offerings(Shelamim)… were slaughtered anywhere in the Azara… (Zeva- chim 5:7). The Firstlings (Bamidbar 18:7), Tithes (of cattle) and the Korban Pesach… were slaughtered anywhere in the Azara… (Zevachim 5:8). Rambam asks, "From whence do we derive (the Halacha) that Kodashim Kalim may be slaughtered anywhere in the Azara, evenbehind the Bayit? It is written with reference to Shelamim, 'And he shall slaughter it at the entrance (opening) of the Ohel Mo'ed (Mishkan) to make every direction fit for slaughter since no particular direction was specified. This ordinance applies to other Kodashim Kalim as well. …Shelamim slaughtered before the openingof the doors of the Heichal are invalid (Ma'asei Korbanot 5:4,5). The Mishne Le'melech (ibid.) refers us to a Tosafot in Yoma 29a for an expanded explanation. "And this ruling (Shelamim slaughtered before the opening of the doors of the Heichal are invalid) applies …to all animal sacrifices." Rashi, on the other hand,interprets the Pasuk literally, "…they shall slaughter (Shelamim) before the entrance of the Ohel Mo'ed" (Vayikra 3:2), means exactly what it says. "We do not learn (from this Pasuk) that (this prohibition of slaughtering a Shelamim when the doors of the Heichal are shut) applies to any other Korban" (Zevachim 61a). Sohow does Rashi understand the Mishna in Tamid 3:7? "The slaughterer (in the Mikdash) did not slaughter (any Korban) until he heard the sound of the opening of the Great Gate (of the Heichal in the early morning)? Rashi and Tosafot (in Menachot 95a, "Mar Amar" and in contra- distinction to the Tosafot cited above) commentthat this Mishna is not an injunction and therfore does not state practical Halacha. The Mishna is merely noting a "Mitzva Be'alma", a simple description as opposed to a hard and fast rule. Therefore if a Tamid were slaughtered before the Heichal doors were opened, it would be perfectly valid. Be that as it may, properMikdash procedure if not de facto Halacha, demanded that the doors of the Heichal be opened before the morning Tamid was slaughtered and this applied to all other Korbanot slaughtered in the Beit HaMikdash as well. The Heichal doors were opened, but the curtain which separated the Ulam from the Heichal and effectively blocked the Heichal from public view always remained closed. The Rambam did not consider that a problem. Basing himself on the Gemara (Zevachim 55b), he ruled, "However (the closed curtain) does not invalidate…" (Ma'aseiKorbanot 5:5). Rashi explains that the curtain was hung in the entrance of the Heichal for "reasons of modesty" i.e. to prevent the Kohanim from gazing into the Heichal during the Avoda. But did the massive Mizbei'ach, which also blocked off part of the Azara from visual contact with the open doors of the Heichal, invalidatethose areas for slaughter of Kodashim Kalim? The Tosafot rules that it did not because the Mizbei'ach was constructed only for the offering of Korbanot, it was not meant to be an invalidating impediment. Chazal originally interpreted the Pasuk "before the entrance of the Ohel Mo'ed" as sanctioning the slaughter of Kodashim Kalim only in front of the Bayit. The open doors of the Heichal symbolized that the Korbanot were slaughtered "before G-d" (note Shemot 29:42). But there were times when the vast numbers of Kodashim KalimKorbanot - especially Erev Pesach - could not be accommodated in that comparatively limited area; there simply was not enough room. So it was necessary to make other areas of the Azara 'fit' for the slaughter of Kodashim Kalim. "R. Yosi son of R. Yehuda said; 'There were two apertures in the Beit Chalifot and their height was eight Amot (roughly 4m.) in order that the whole of the Azara be made fit for… the slaughtering of Kodashim Kalim… (Zevachim 55b). The Ulam, the entry hall anterior to the Heichal, extended 15 Amot beyond the main building of the Bayit both on the northern and on the southern side. These extensions comprised the BeitChalifot where the Kohanim stored their sacrificial knives. The apertures "were built at the (western) corners" of the two extensions so that the space in front of them, right up to the northern and southern walls of the Azara, would be made fit for slaughter, permitting the slaughter of Kodashim Kalim in that part ofthe Azara facing the sides of the Bayit. And how did they make the area behind the Bayit fit for the slaughter of Kodashim Kalim? "Rami the son of Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: 'There was a small passageway, behind the place of the Mercy Seat (i.e Kodesh HaKodashim) which had a height of eight Amot, (constructed) to make the Azara (that part of it which was located behind the extreme western wall of the Bayit) fit… for the slaughter Kodashim Kalim… (Zevachim 55b end). As we noted last week, in order to make that area of the Azara fit for the slaughter of Kodashim Kalim, it would have been necessary to construct another aperturein the western wall of the chamber to the west of the Kodesh HaKodashim as well. This second aperture overlooked the Azara below. But do the two apertures positioned in the exterior western wall of the Bayit and the interior western wall of the Kodashim Kalim really make the area behind the Bayit fit for the slaughter of Kodashim Kalim? They do and Tosafot explains the logic. "Someone who 'sees' the Kodesh HaKodashim (through the two apertures which gave the Kodesh HaKodashim 'air contact' with the Azara behind the Bayit) is certainly not inferior to one who sees the entrance of the Heichal!" These three additional openings, on the northwestern and southwestern corners of the Ulam and behind the Bayit emphasized that these areas of the Azara on the sides and behind the Bayit also were "before G-d". Josephus describes the last battle around the Mikdash area just before the Churban. "At which time one of the (Roman) soldiers… snatched something out the materials that were on fire, and being lifted up by another soldier, he set fire to a golden window, through which there was a passage to the rooms of the Holy House,on the north side of it… (Wars VI, 4:5). The aforementioned aperture located on the northern extension of the Ulam best fits Josephus' description of the "golden window". That's where the Churban began. As Yirmiyahu HaNavi said centuries before, "From the north shall the evil break forth… (Yirmeyahu 1:14). Catriel Sugarman gives illustrated lectures on the Beit
HaMikdash and related topics. He can be reached at(02) 652-7531 or
acatriel@netvision.net.il [The
Parshat Yitro Homepage]
|
