Dear Rav Kornfeld, Shlita, and the Members of the Kollel Iyun HaDaf, she'Yichyu
We greatly appreciate all of the work the Kollel does to assist the learning of Daf Yomi. May Hash-m shower you and the whole Kollel with all of His blessings.
The members of our Daf Yomi Shiur posed the following question:
The Gemara in Zevachim (Daf 60a) quotes Rabbi Yehuda who says that on Erev Pesach, when thousands of Pesachim were offered, a Kohen would take one cup and scoop up some of the mixture of blood on the floor of the Azara and throw it on the Mizbeach. He did this so that in case the blood of someone's Korban Pesach spilled, this cup would be Machshir the Korban.
It seems from this Gemara that this procedure was done after many Pesachim had already been offered. The problem is, since the blood is the Matir for the Eimurin, how could the Eimurin of a Pesach be offered on the Mizbeach if its blood had been spilled and not yet thrown on the Mizbeach? It seems unlikely they waited to burn the Eimurin until this procedure could be done first with the blood.
Perhaps one could answer that as soon as a cup of blood was spilled, the Kohen would scoop up some blood from the floor of the Azara and throw it on the Mizbeach so that the blood of a given Pesach would precede its Eimurin. But a careful reading of the Gemara seems to imply that this procedure was done once or two times. This impression is even stronger if you look at the original source of the Beraisa (Pesachim 65a).
We eagerly await to be enlightened.
Baruch Robinson, Magid Shiur
Cong. Or Torah, Skokie, Illinois
1) It seems to me that this question can be answered with the help of the Gemara in Pesachim (77b) which states that the Eimurin prevent the Korban from being Kosher only if they are available but have not yet been offered. If, however, the Eimurin were lost or became Tamei, this does not disqualify the Korban. (Rashi DH Eimurim writes that this is based on the Gemara in Pesachim 59b.)
2) So in the Gemara in Zevachim 60a, even if the blood of someone's Korban Pesach was spilled and the Eimurim were offered before the blood scooped up in the cup was thrown on the Mizbe'ach, the Korban still would be Kosher because this is not worse than the Eimurim being lost entirely.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom