Making room TB Pesakhim 58

We began the fifth chapter of our massekhet with daf TB Pesakhim 58. Chapters 5 through 9 discuss various aspects of the korban Pesakh, the Paschal sacrifice. Today’s daf is quite complicated especially for people like me who are unfamiliar with all the rules concerning sacrifices. I’ll try to summarize the daf as clearly as possible.

 In the book of Exodus the Torah teaches us about the Passover sacrifice, “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a yearling male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep watch over it until the fourteenth day of this month; and all the assembled congregation of the Israelites shall slaughter it at twilight.” (12:5-6) The book of Deuteronomy limits where the korban Pesakh, the Passover sacrifice, may be offered, “but at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish His name, there alone shall you slaughter the passover sacrifice, in the evening, at sundown, the time of day when you departed from Egypt.” (16:6) Of course the place where God will choose is Jerusalem.

Our chapter begins to discuss the korban Pesakh’s relationship with the Tamid sacrifice, a twice-daily burnt offering on behalf of the entire people of Israel. One Tamid was offered up in the morning and one was offered up in the afternoon. All other sacrifices like vows (נדרים) and gifts (נדבות) had to be sandwiched between the two Tamidim (plural for Tamid). The only exception was the korban Pesakh which had to be prepared after the afternoon Tamid. Since all of Israel participated by bringing a korban Pesakh, you can imagine more time was needed to be allotted to accommodate all those Passover sacrifices.

“MISHNA: The daily afternoon offering is slaughtered at eight and a half[1] hours of the day, which is two and a half hours after midday, and is sacrificed, i.e., its offering on the altar is completed, at nine and a half hours of the day. On the eves of Passover, when the Paschal lamb must be offered after the daily offering, the daily offering is sacrificed earlier; it is slaughtered at seven and a half hours and sacrificed at eight and a half hours, whether it occurs during the week or on Shabbat. If Passover eve occurs on Shabbat eve, when the Paschal lamb must be offered even earlier to ensure that it will be roasted before the onset of Shabbat, the daily offering is slaughtered at six and a half hours and sacrificed at seven and a half hours, and the Paschal lamb is offered thereafter.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Now everybody agrees that on a regular day the Tamid is slaughtered at 2:30 PM[2] and is offered up at 3:30 PM. Everybody also agrees when erev Pesakh falls on a Friday, the Tamid is moved to 12:30 PM and offered up at 1:30 PM to allow more time for all those korbanot Pesakh (plural of korban Pesakh) because theses sacrifices need to be roasted before the prohibition of cooking begins Friday night. Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva disagree when the Tamid is offered on Shabbat, erev Pesakh in a baraita. Because the baraita is cryptic, Abaye, Rava, and Rabah bar ‘Ulah disagree on what exactly are the positions of Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva.

I am going to reduce the interpretations to the bare minimum because the arguments become quite technical concerning the sacrifices on Shabbat. Since there are no sacrifices like vows (נדרים) and gifts (נדבות) offered up on Shabbat, should the time of the Tamid be changed when erev Pesakh falls on Shabbat?

According to Abaye, Rabbi Yishmael says that the Tamid is slaughtered at 1:30 PM like always on Shabbat. Rabbi Akiva says that the Tamid is slaughtered at 12:30 PM. According to Rava, Yishmael says that the Tamid is slaughtered at 2:30 PM like on a weekday. Rabbi Akiva says that the Tamid is slaughtered at 1:30 PM. Rabah bar ‘Ulah claims that Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva only disagree on the timing of the Tamid on a regular Shabbat. According to him, Rabbi Yishmael says that it is offered up at 2:30 PM and Rabbi Akiva says that is offered up at 1:30 PM.

 

 

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[1] To make the time frames more understandable: In a perfect day where there are 12 hours of day time, from 6 AM to 6 PM, 6 1/2 hours would be 12:30 PM our time; 7 1/2 hours would be 1:30 PM our time; 8 1/2 hours would be 2:30 PM our time.

[2] To make the Gemara easier to understand I'm substituting the perfect daytime hours instead of the way the Talmud uses the flexible term of 6 1/2 hours etc.