Dear Rabbis,
Please help me! I can't sleep anymore. Where was the wings of the bird torn exactly but not completely torn and why were they torn a little bit but not completely in the first place? Was it maybe to open up the body of the bird in order to be able to take out the inner organs that were thrown on the ash heap? If so can a body of a bird be ripped open at all when you tear him by his wings? And if this is so why this method to tear the bird by his wings in order to open up the body? Please help me. I know it's chol hamoed but you're my very last strawl. Chag sameach and many thanks for reading this. Ashira
Ahira, Mannheim, Germany
I think that the following may answer your question. After the Melikah, when the Kohen pierced the back of the head of the bird until he cut the trachea and esophagus, the result was a large incision. The front of the neck of the bird did not have to be severed, just the back of the neck. Hence, it would make the most sense to retrieve the inner organs (as you mentioned that are thrown on the ash heap) starting from the place where there was already an incision.
Rashi and others explain that the reference to the wings is a command to open it from the area near the wings, meaning the area where the incision had already been made. There is no question that a body of a small bird could easily be torn apart by the wings, especially after it is dead and there is a gaping incision where the back of the neck used to be.
Of course, the service of the sacrifices is not one which is done because it makes sense, but rather because Hash-m commanded us to do so in this fashion. If we would be commanded to open it up from its knee, we would do that too. However, it happens to be that this is the most efficient way to open the bird up once it has had Melikah.
All the best,
Yaakov Montrose