QUESTION: Chizkiyah and Rebbi Yochanan disagree about when Kodshei Kodashim become exempt from Me'ilah. Chizkiyah maintains that Kodshei Kodashim are exempt from Me'ilah from the moment they are slaughtered properly ("Heter Shechitah"), since the Shechitah is the first stage in making the meat permitted to Kohanim. According to Chizkiyah, even if there was no proper Kabalas ha'Dam or Zerikas ha'Dam, the meat becomes exempt from Me'ilah. Rebbi Yochanan maintains that Kodshei Kodashim are exempt from Me'ilah from the moment of Zerikas ha'Dam ("Heter Achilah"), at which point the meat actually becomes permitted to the Kohanim.

Chizkiyah's opinion is difficult to understand in light of the words of the Mishnah (2a).

(a) The Mishnah says that Kodshei Kodashim are exempt from the laws of Me'ilah "from the moment they become permitted to the Kohanim" ("She'as Heter la'Kohanim"). These words clearly imply that the meat becomes exempt from Me'ilah at the moment of the Zerikah, which is when the Kohanim become permitted to eat the meat of the Korban.

(b) Moreover, the Mishnah states that if a Korban was slaughtered in the correct place (in the northern part of the Azarah) and its blood was received in the incorrect place (in the southern part of the Azarah) or by a person unfit to perform the Kabalas ha'Dam, the laws of Me'ilah apply to the Korban even though it was slaughtered properly. Similarly, the Mishnah states that if the Shechitah was performed in the proper place but the Zerikah was performed at night, the laws of Me'ilah apply even though the Shechitah was done properly. According to Chizkiyah, there should be no Isur of Me'ilah, since the Korban had a "Heter Shechitah"! How does Chizkiyah understand the Mishnah? (TOSFOS DH Heter)

(a) TOSFOS answers that the words "She'as Heter l'Kohanim" do not mean that Me'ilah applies until it is permitted for the Kohanim to eat the meat of the Korban (at the time of Zerikas ha'Dam). Rather, these words mean that Me'ilah applies until it is permitted for the Kohanim to perform the service that is normally performed with the Korban (Holachah, Kabalah, Zerikah). It is at the moment of Shechitah that it becomes permitted for the Kohanim to perform the service of offering the Korban. (See previous Insight.)

(b) Chizkiyah understands that when the Mishnah discusses a case in which the blood of the Korban was received in the southern part of the Azarah (or by Pesulim), the Mishnah is specifically discussing a situation in which the blood was received in the south or by Pesulim before the Shechitah itself was completed (that is, the Kabalas ha'Dam was done in an improper place as soon as the blood began to gush out, before the Shechitah was completed). Since the Shechitah was not yet completed at the moment that the Kabalas ha'Dam was performed (improperly), the Korban is not considered to have had a "She'as Heter" and the laws of Me'ilah still apply, even according to Chizkiyah.

This explanation does not explain the case in which the Shechitah was done during the day and Kabalas ha'Dam was done at night (since the Shechitah was completed during the day before the Kabalah was started, at night). However, Tosfos explains that perhaps, according to Chizkiyah, the Mishnah is referring to a case in which the animal was slaughtered so close to nightfall that it was physically impossible to receive its blood during the day. Since it was not possible to do the Kabalas ha'Dam in a valid manner (during the day), the Shechitah is not considered a Shechitah that permits the Korban to be offered, and the laws of Me'ilah remain.

(Why, though, does the Gemara not bring support for Rebbi Yochanan's opinion from the Mishnah later (9a) that states clearly that Me'ilah is removed from a Chatas and Olah (Kodshei Kodashim) from the time of Zerikas ha'Dam? See ZEVACH TODAH. This, however, is not a question according to our Girsa in the Mishnah, which reads "Ein Mo'alin" instead of "v'Ein Mo'alin"; see SHITAH MEKUBETZES to 9a, #5.)

QUESITON: The Gemara attempts to prove from the Mishnah (2a) that the Isur of Me'ilah is removed from a Korban when the Kabalas ha'Dam is performed ("Heter Zerikah"; see Insights to Me'ilah 4:2). The Mishnah says that cases of a Korban that had a "She'as Heter la'Kohanim" include a case of "Lanah" (it was left overnight), it became Tamei, or it was taken out of the Azarah. The Gemara presumes that "Lanah" refers to the blood being left overnight. That is, Kabalas ha'Dam was performed but the blood was left overnight before the Zerikah was performed. The words of the Mishnah are proof that the Isur of Me'ilah is removed at the moment of Kabalah ("Heter Zerikah"), since the Mishnah calls this a case of "She'as Heter la'Kohanim."

The Gemara refutes this proof by saying that when the Mishnah says that "it was left overnight," it does not refer to the blood, but rather to the meat of the Korban. The blood, though, was sprinkled on the Mizbe'ach, and thus there is no Me'ilah because the meat became permitted to the Kohanim ("Heter Achilah").

The Gemara attempts to bring another proof that Kabalas ha'Dam removes Me'ilah ("Heter Zerikah") from the last part of the Mishnah. The Mishnah says that a case of a Korban that did not have a "She'as Heter la'Kohanim" is when Pesulim (Kohanim disqualified from performing Avodah) performed the Kabalas ha'Dam and "they sprinkled" the blood on the Mizbe'ach. The Gemara says that the Mishnah cannot mean that the Pesulim did both the Kabalah and the Zerikah, because the Korban becomes invalidated with the Kabalah of the Pesulim alone, and it is not necessary for the Pesulim to do Zerikah as well in order to invalidate the Korban. Rather, the Mishnah must mean that Pesulim did the Kabalah, and Kesherim (Kohanim who are fit to perform the Avodah) did the Zerikah. The Mishnah's intent is to teach the inference that when Kesherim did the Kabalah and Pesulim did the Zerikah, the Korban is considered to have had a She'as Heter la'Kohanim -- the valid Kabalas ha'Dam that was performed. This proves that "Heter Zerikah" removes the Isur of Me'ilah.

Rav Yosef refutes this proof based on the Mishnah in Zevachim (92a). The Mishnah there states that when the blood of an invalid Korban Chatas splashes on a garment, the garment does not require Kibus (laundering), regardless of whether the Chatas had a "She'as ha'Kosher" or not. Only blood that is fit for Zerikas ha'Dam requires Kibus when it splashes on a garment (as derived from Vayikra 6:20), excluding blood of an invalid Chatas, which is not fit for Zerikah. The Mishnah says that cases of a Chatas that had a She'as ha'Kosher is "Lanah" (it was left overnight), it became Tamei, or it was taken out of the Azarah. A case of a Chatas that did not have a She'as ha'Kosher is when Pesulim did the Kabalah and "they sprinkled" the blood. No inference can be made from those words in that Mishnah because, in any case, Kibus is not required. Even when the Kabalah and Zerikah were both done by Kesherim and the Chatas was not invalidated, there is no requirement for Kibus, because the requirement for Kibus applies only to blood that splashes on a garment before Zerikah.

RASHI (DH she'Lan), when explaining the first case in which the Korban Chatas had a She'as ha'Kosher, says that the "blood or the meat" was left overnight.

Rashi's words are difficult to understand. Rashi says that even if the meat was left overnight, there is no requirement of Kibus, since the Korban is Pasul. However, if the meat was left overnight, this means that Zerikas ha'Dam was performed. If Zerikas ha'Dam was performed, then even if the Korban is an entirely valid Chatas, there is no requirement of Kibus, since the requirement of Kibus applies only when blood splashed before Zerikas ha'Dam! (RASHASH)

(a) The MATAN B'SESER answers that, indeed, if the meat was left overnight after the Zerikah was performed, Kibus would not be required even for a valid Chatas. The only reason why Rashi writes that the meat was left overnight is that when the Mishnah here (2a) mentions the Pesul of "Lanah," it is referring to either when the meat was left overnight (according to the opinion that maintains "Heter Achilah") or when the blood was left overnight (according to the opinion that maintains "Heter Zerikah").

(b) The TAKANAS EZRA answers that Rashi wants to express a straightforward case for which a garment never requires washing, whether because the Chatas is Pasul or because the blood was already sprinkled on the Mizbe'ach. If the Korban never had a She'as ha'Kosher, then it does not require washing because the blood was never fit for Zerikah. If it did have a She'as ha'Kosher, then it is exempt from Kibus for a different reason -- the blood was already sprinkled on the Mizbe'ach. (D. BLOOM)