Tzav

The Ascent-Offering, continued

6:1 God spoke to Moses, saying,

2 “There are certain sacrificial procedures from which the priests derive little or no personal benefit, such as the ascent-offerings, which are totally consumed on the Altar, and the high priest’s daily grain-offering.1 This being the case, you should convey these laws to the priests with particular emphasis, impressing upon them the importance of following them conscientiously nonetheless. Therefore, in transmitting these laws, do not just ‘speak’ to Aaron, as usual, but command Aaron and his sons emphatically, saying, ‘I previously taught you the procedure for sacrificing an ascent-offering, but only up to and including how you are to burn it up on the Altar.2 This is the regulation regarding how you are to treat the ascent-offering after having placed it on the fire atop the Altar:3Although, after it is slaughtered, it should preferably be placed on the Altar-fire during the day, it remains the same, valid ascent-offering as long as it was placed on the fire pile atop the Altar anytime during the whole night, until morning, inasmuch as the fire of the Altar will be burning on it throughout the night.4

If, after the animal has been placed on the Altar to burn, it is discovered that it should not have been designated as a sacrifice, since it was disqualified for such use even before it had been brought into the Tabernacle precincts (e.g., if it had been used in an act of bestiality), then it must not be allowed to continue to burn, but be taken down from the Altar. If, however, it was discovered that it had become disqualified solely on account of some defect that it incurred after it had been brought into the Tabernacle precincts, it may remain on the Altar and continue to burn.

These same regulations—i.e., that the parts of the animal that must be burned up may be placed on the Altar anytime during the night, and those governing which animals, if found to be disqualified, may remain on the Altar—apply to all animal sacrifices, not only to ascent-offerings.

Tending the Fire on the Altar

3Every morning, a priest must be appointed to carry out the following procedure. The designated priest must don his linen tunic, but first he must don his linen trousers directly on his flesh. After donning the tunic, he must put on his turban and a linen sash.5 So attired, he must, using a rake, lift out the innermost mass of ashes into which the fire has consumed the daily evening ascent-offering, as well as all the other offerings, upon the Altar. If there are still any unconsumed portions of the sacrifices among these ashes, the priest must put them back into the fire to burn.The priest must then deposit these ashes next to thesouth side of the Altar, to the east of the ramp. Similarly, the ashes of the Inner Altar and the ashes from the burnt wicks of the Candelabrum must be deposited at this location.6 All these ashes will miraculously sink into the ground there.7 This daily removal and deposition of ashes is part of the sacrificial rite, and must therefore be performed by the priest attired in his priestly uniform, despite the risk that these garments might be sullied by the ashes—just as all the other sacrificial rites (such as slaughtering, receiving and applying blood, burning up) must be performed in the finery of the priestly uniform, despite the risk that the garments might become sullied thereby.

4Since only the innermost mass of ashes must be removed daily, the remaining ashes will eventually accumulate to the point that they impede the fire’s ability to consume the offerings. When this happens, the priest appointed to perform the daily ritual of removing the ashes must then remove the rest of the ashes, as will be described presently. But since this occasional removal of ash is not a sacrificial rite but only a perfunctory maintenance task, the priestly garments worn when performing actual sacrificial procedures should not be allowed to become sullied by this task.8 Accordingly, although the priest is not technically required to first change out of his usual priestly garments,9 he should nonetheless first remove his usualpriestly garments and put on other priestly garments, of inferior quality, and then he must take the ashes out to a designated ritually undefiled place outside the camp, i.e., neither to the place designated for depositing defiled stones10 nor to a cemetery. This undefiled place will be known as “the ash depository.”11

5 The fire burning on the Altar must not be allowed to go out, for although Divine fire descends from heaven to consume the sacrifices, you must start burning them up with fire produced by human agency.12 The priest chosen each day for the task must kindle fresh wood upon it every morning, and he must arrange the cut-up pieces of the morning daily ascent-offering directly upon it—i.e., this should be the first sacrifice offered up each morning, such that no parts of any other sacrifice intervene between it and the fresh logs placed on the fire each morning. The priests must burn up the fats of the peace-offerings,as well as any other sacrifices that may be offered up that day, upon the remains of the morning daily offering, i.e., only after the morning daily offering has been offered up. Similarly, the last sacrifice offered up each day must be the afternoon daily offering.

6 The fire that will burn upon the Altar must also serve as the source of the fire used to kindle the lamps of the Candelabrum, which must be lit regularly, every evening.14

The just-articulated prohibition against letting the Altar-fire go out is herewith repeated in order to make anyone who infringes it liable to two rounds of lashes: The fire on the Altarmust not go out.

When the Tabernacle will be succeeded by the permanent Temple, the priests must maintain multiple fires on the Altar: at least one for burning the sacrifices and one for producing the coals used to burn incense every day on the Inner Altar, with the possible addition of two others—one for keeping wood burning in case the main fire needs to be augmented and one for burning those portions of the sacrifices that were not consumed by the main fire.15 In addition, the priests must make another fire on Yom Kippur for producing the coals used to burn the incense used in the sacrificial rites of that day.16

Grain-Offerings, continued

7 This is the regulation of the grain-offering: It was mentioned previously17 that Aaron’s sons must bring it, before burning it up, to the southwest corner of the Altar; in doing so, they are presenting it simultaneously “before God,” i.e., at the west side of the Altar, which faces the entrance to the Sanctuary, and at the “front” of the Altar, i.e., its south side, the location of the ramp used to ascend the Altar.

8The officiating priest must lift out its memorial portion from the whole of it, i.e., the entire prescribed amount of flour must be present in the vessel when he removes the memorial portion from it. He must remove the memorial portion with his actual fist; i.e., he must not remove an equivalent amount with some implement. The priest must remove the memorial portion from the fine wheat flour of the grain-offering as well as from its oil, i.e., from the part of the flour where the most oil has accumulated. What was stipulated above with regard to the unbaked grain-offering18 applies to all grain-offerings: after removing the memorial portion of the grain and oil, the priestmust remove all the frankincense that is on the grain-offering in order to burn it up, too,as the grain-offering’smemorial portion on the Altar. Burning up the memorial portion must be done with the intention that it be pleasing to God.

If two or more grain-offerings become intermingled such that it is impossible to remove the memorial portion of each one separately, they are both or all invalid.

9 Aaron and his sons must eat whatever is left over from it. It must be eaten as unleavened bread in a holy place—specifically, they must eat it in the Courtyard surrounding the Tent of Meeting.

10The requirement that the priests’ portion be eaten unleavened is also subject to a passive commandment: it must not be baked leavened, even though I have given it to them as their portion from My fire-offerings. It is a sacrifice of superior holiness, meaning that it must be eaten within the Tabernacle precincts, as just stated, and it must be eaten by the end of the night following the day it was offered up;19 whatever is leftover on the next day must be burned up.20

If the grain-offering is brought to atone for sin, then, like the grain-offering brought as avariable sin-offering,21 it is disqualified if the priest does not separate and burn up its memorial portion with the intention that it be considered a sin-offering; but if the grain-offering is brought as a voluntary offering, then, just like the animal guilt-offering is not disqualified if the priest does not slaughter it with the intention that it be considered a guilt-offering,22 it is similarly not disqualified if the priest separates and burns up the memorial portion without any specific intention regarding its purpose.

11As will be seen later,23 even if a priest hasa blemish that disqualifies him from officiating in the sacrificial rites, he is still allowed to eat of the priests’ portions of the sacrifices, including those of superior holiness. Moreover, every such male among Aaron’s descendants is entitled to receive his own, equal portion of the priests’ portions, which he may then eat, together with the priests who are not disqualified from officiating.This is an eternal entitlement, which will be in force throughout your generations,that such priests will receive from the fire-offerings of God, i.e., from those sacrifices a portion of which is burned up on the Altar.

Anything—i.e., any non-sacrificial meat or any sacrificial meat of lesser holiness—that touches a sacrifice of superior holiness, such as the grain-offering, and thereby absorbs some of its juice or flavor,24 will become holy like it, as follows: (a) it will become disqualified if the sacrifice it touched becomes disqualified, and (b) the same restrictions regarding who may eat the sacrifice of superior holiness (only priests), where this sacrifice may be eaten (only in the Tabernacle precincts), and when (by the end of the night following the day it was offered up)25 will apply to it, as well.’ ”

Obligatory Offerings of the Priests

Second Reading12 God spoke to Moses, saying,

13 “There is a special grain-offering that the high priest is required to offer up every day of his tenure. This is the offering of Aaron and his descendants for all time that they must offer up to God beginning on the day when one of them is anointed as high priest: one-tenth of an ephah of fine wheat flour as a perpetual grain-offering, half of which he must offer up in the morning and half of which he must offer up in the evening.

14Each half-measure of flour is further subdivided into six portions, each of which is then kneaded into dough with a quarter of a log of oil. Both sets of six loaves must be made, i.e., fried, in oil in a shallow frying pan; but each loaf must be brought to the frying pan only after it has first been scalded in water and fully baked in an oven. Just like a regular grain-offering made in a frying pan, thisgrain-offering must be broken into pieces,26 but each loaf of this grain-offering need only be broken into halves, not quarters. You must offer it up with the intention to please God.

15 The priest from among his sons who is anointed to succeed him and serve as high priest in his stead must likewise prepare this offering and offer it up every day of his tenure, half in the morning and half in the evening. This grain-offering is an eternal allotment given to God by the high priest on behalf of the entire community, and therefore, (a) unlike any other grain-offering brought by a priest, a ‘memorial portion’ is separated from it, but (b) because it is nonetheless brought by a priest, all of it—i.e., not only the ‘memorial portion’ but the rest of it, as well—must be burned up.27

16All other priests must offer up this same grain-offering on the day they are installed as priests, but instead of offering up half of it in the morning and half in the evening, they offer up all twelve loaves at the same time.28 Furthermore, as stated previously,29 since these offerings are brought by the priests on their own behalf, not on behalf of the community, no ‘memorial portion’ is separated out from them, for every grain-offering brought bya priest on his own behalf must be wholly burned up as a single unit.30 No part of it may be eaten;however, it still requires oil and frankincense.”31

Sin-Offerings, continued

17 God spoke to Moses, saying,

18 “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘This is the regulation of the sin-offering: The sin-offering must be slaughtered “before God,” i.e., within the precincts of the Tabernacle Courtyard, and specifically, as mentioned previously,32 in the same place where the ascent-offering is slaughtered, i.e., to the north of the Altar.33 (This requirement applies to all sin-offerings, even the variable sin-offering,34 which, because it may be brought as grain35—in which case it does not require slaughtering altogether—you might assume to be exempt from this requirement even if it is brought as an animal.36)A sin-offering is a sacrifice of superior holiness, meaning that it must be eaten within the Tabernacle precincts by the end of the night following the day it was offered up.37

19 Any priest who ison duty38 when the blood is being applied to the Altar and who is fit to offer it up as a sin-offering—i.e., who is not defiled39—may share in the priests’ portions of the meat andeat it. It must be eaten in a holy place, i.e., in the Courtyard of the Tent of Meeting. It may not be eaten before its blood has been applied to the Altar; the same applies to all sacrifices that are eaten.40

20 Any food that touches its meat and absorbs some of its juice or flavor41 will become holy like it: (a) it becomes disqualified if the sacrifice it touched becomes disqualified, and (b) the same restrictions as to who may eat the sacrifice (only priests), where it may be eaten (only in the Tabernacle precincts), and when it may be eaten (by the end of the night following the day it was slaughtered) now apply to it, as well. Even if the food only touches the meat in one place, the meat’s essence is considered to have spread throughout the entire piece of food, rendering all of it subject to the stringencies applicable to the meat.The same rule applies to food that touches any sacrifice of superior holiness.42

Furthermore, if any of its blood spurts onto a garment, you must wash the area of the garmentonto which it spurted in a holy place, i.e., in the Tabernacle Courtyard. You do not have to wash the entire garment, since, unlike in the previous case, the blood is not considered to have spread instantaneously throughout the entire garment. In contrast to the previous rule, this rule applies only to the blood of sin-offerings and not to that other sacrifices.

21 When food is cooked in a vessel, the vessel absorbs some of the food, its juice, or its flavor. Earthenware vessels and metal vessels differ with regard to how they release what they have absorbed: metal vessels can be purged of what they have absorbed by boiling them in water, but earthenware vessels cannot be purged of what they have absorbed, neither by boiling them in water nor by any other method. Therefore, when sacrificial meat is cooked in an earthenware vessel, whatever the vessel has absorbed from the offering immediately becomes impossible to ever be eaten and is therefore categorized as sacrificial food that cannot or will not be eaten within the permitted time, which must be immediately destroyed. As is the case with food that absorbs sacrificial juice by contact (as described in the previous verse), an earthenware vessel that absorbs sacrificial juice through cooking assumes its properties and is rendered forbidden in its entirety. Therefore, any earthenware vessel in which meat of any sacrifice of superior holiness has been cooked must be shattered forthwith. Once the vessel is shattered, the sacrificial juice is considered to have been eliminated, similar to how sacrificial meat that cannot be eaten within its time limit must be burned up.43 In contrast, ifsacrificial meat is cooked in ametal vessel, the vessel does not have to be shattered. Since the absorbed sacrificial juice can be released (and then consumed) if something else is cooked in the vessel, it does not transform the vessel by its very presence into a forbidden entity.

Nonetheless, if the meat of a sin-offering is cooked in a copper or other metal vessel, it must be purged by boiling it in waterand then rinsed with cold water inside the Tabernacle precincts44 in order to cause it to release the sacrificial food that it absorbed. The vessel may then be used as usual. In contrast to the previous rule, this rule applies only to vessels in which sin-offerings were cooked, not any other sacrifices.45

22 Every male among the priests (who is on duty and is not defiled when the blood is being applied to the Altar, as stated46) may eat of the priests’ portions of the sin-offering—but only adult males, for it is a sacrifice of superior holiness, and such sacrifices may be eaten only by the priests themselves, not by their families. The priests may eat their portions only during the day on which the animal is offered up and/or the following night; whatever is leftover on the next day must be burned up.47

23 But any sin-offering—or in fact, any offering whose blood is supposed to be applied to the Outer Altar—some of whose blood was mistakenly brought into the Tent of Meeting in order to effect atonement in the Sanctuary is thereby rendered invalid andtherefore must not be eaten. Rather,it must be burned in fire.

Guilt-Offerings, continued

7:1With regard to guilt-offerings, we have only discussed so far what circumstances obligate a person to bring such an offering, but not how such an offering is to be sacrificed. The following, then,48 is the regulation of the guilt-offering: You will be taught later49 that once an animal has been designated as a sacrifice, it is forbidden to substitute another animal in its stead, and if someone nonetheless does try to substitute another animal for it, declaring that this second animal is to be sacrificed in place of the first one, the first one is still offered up and the second one acquires the status of a consecrated animal, i.e., it may no longer be used for mundane purposes. What is then done with the second animal depends on what kind of sacrifice it was attempted to substitute it for[myw1] . If the original animal was designated as a guilt-offering, then the second animal is not offered up, because it, i.e., the original animal,retains its status of superior holiness and does not share this status with the second animal. However, since the second animal cannot revert to its mundane status, it must be allowed to graze until it becomes blemished; it is then sold, and other animals are purchased with the proceeds from its sale. In this way, the sacred status of the second animal is transferred to the purchased animals, which are then offered up as communal voluntary ascent-offerings when there are insufficient obligatory sacrifices to keep the Altar occupied (which can easily happen on long summer days), since it is considered somewhat disrespectful to allow the Altar to be left inactive.50

2 They must slaughter the guilt-offering in the same place where they slaughter the ascent-offering, i.e. north of the Outer Altar.51Also like the ascent-offering, its blood must be dashed upon the lower half of the northwest and southeast corners of the Altar such that the blood can be considered to be encircling the Altar.52The guilt-offering is not disqualified if it is not slaughtered with the intention that it be considered a guilt-offering53—unlike the sin-offering, which is disqualified if it is not slaughtered with the intention that it be considered a sin-offering.54

3Although the guilt-offering is slaughtered in the same location as the ascent-offering and its blood is applied to the Altar in the same way as that of the ascent-offering, it is not offered up in its entirety as is an ascent-offering; rather, the priest must offer up from it only all of its prescribed fat-portions: the tail; the fat covering the innards, i.e., on the omasum and the reticulum;

4 the two kidneys; the fat that is on them; and the fat that is on the flanks. He must also remove the diaphragm, along with the kidneys—as stated—along with part of the liver.

5 The priest must burn up these fats on the Altar, with the intention that they be a fire-offering to God, i.e., destined to be consumed by fire.

It can sometimes happen that an animal designated as a guilt-offering cannot be sacrificed—for example, if its owner died before sacrificing it, or if it was lost and another animal was offered up in its stead and then the original animal was found. In such cases, the consecrated animal that now cannot be sacrificed must be put out to pasture until it becomes blemished, rendering it unfit to be sacrificed. The procedure described above is then carried out on this animal: it is sold, and other, unconsecrated animals are purchased with the proceeds from its sale. In this way, the sacred status of the original animal is transferred to the purchased animals, which are then offered-up as communal voluntary ascent-offerings when there are insufficient obligatory sacrifices to keep the Altar occupied. The original animal retains the status of a guilt-offering until it has been put out to pasture: until that time, if the priest slaughters it without any particular intention, it may not be offered up as an ascent-offering to keep the Altar active, even though its value was destined for this purpose, since it is still considered a guilt-offering. If, however, the priest slaughters the animal without any particular intention after it had been put out to pasture but before it became blemished, the animal can be offered up as an ascent-offering to keep the Altar active, for that is what was destined to happen to its value in any case.

6 Every male among the priests may eat it, and it must be eaten in a holy place, i.e., within the Tabernacle precincts, for it is a sacrifice of superior holiness, and such sacrifices may be eaten only by priests, not by their families, and only within the Tabernacle precinctsduring the day the animal is offered up and/or the following night.55 It may not be eaten before its blood has been applied to the Altar.56

7 The guilt-offering is like the sin-offering in that they have this same regulation: the parts of it designated as the priests’ portions belong to any priest to eat who is fit to effect atonement through it. This excludes not only priests who have contracted ritual impurity and are still fully in that state,57 but also any priest (a) who has contracted ritual impurity and has immersed himself in a mikveh but is awaiting nightfall to become rid of his impurity; or (b) who has contracted ritual impurity and has both immersed himself in a mikveh and awaited nightfall but is still required to bring a sacrifice in order to rid himself entirely of his impurity, or (c) whose father, mother, sister, brother, son, daughter, or wife died that day.58

Ascent- and Grain-Offerings

8Likewise, with regard to any priest who issimilarly fit to offer up a person’s ascent-offering: that priest is included in the division of the hide of any ascent-offering that he or any other priest has offered up; he receives a portion of it.

9With regard to any grain-offering baked in an oven or any grain-offering made in a deep frying pan or in a shallow frying pan, the priest who is fit to offer it up is included in its division; he receives a portion of it.

10However, not all fit priests are includedin the division of the priests’ portions: any grain-offering, whether it must be mixed with oil (referring to all the voluntary grain-offerings) or be dry (referring to the grain-offering of a sinner, or, as will be described later, that of a suspected adulteress, to which oil must not be added) will belong to all the sons of Aaron assigned to serve that day, each individual priest receiving a portion like the other.

Thanksgiving-Offerings

Third Reading11As stated previously,59 a person may offer up a peace-offering as a way of drawing close to God by praising Him for some reason. If a person survived either60 (a) a transoceanic voyage, (b) a trip through the desert, (c) captivity in prison, or (d) an illness that caused him to be bedridden for at least three days (and from which he has now completely recovered61), he is required62 to offer up a special type of peace-offering, as an expression of thanks to God for his survival, as follows: This is the regulation governing the special63 peace-promotingfeast-offering that he must bring to God

12 if he is bringing it in order to give thanks for one of the four just-mentioned reasons:64 he must bring—along with the animal he brings as a peace-offering, which in this case is known as the thanksgiving feast-offering—40 grain-offerings, made out of a total of two ephahs of fine wheat flour and half a log of oil.65 One ephah of flour (and the entire half-log of oil) are to be used to prepare 30 unleavened breads, as follows: 10 unleavened loaves, each made out of 1/30 of an ephah of flour mixed with 1/80 of a log of oil;6610 flat unleavened cakes, each made out of 1/30 of an ephah of flour and then smeared with 1/80 of a log of oil;67 and 10 unleavened loaves, each made out of 1/30 of an ephah of flour mixed with 1/40 of a log of oil, first scalded (i.e., kneaded with boiling water), then baked in an oven, and finally fried in a frying pan, similar to the previously-described obligatory offering for the priests.68

13 He must bring his offering consisting of 30 unleavened loaves along with 10 loaves of leavened bread, each made out of one-tenth of an ephah of flour (kneaded without any oil), together with his peace-promoting feast-offering of thanksgiving. Thus, each loaf of leavened bread will be three times the size of each loaf of unleavened bread.69

The value of the loaves becomes consecrated as soon as they are designated as offerings, and thus, from that point on they may no longer be used for mundane purposes unless redeemed monetarily. In contrast, the loaves themselves do not become consecrated until the animal is slaughtered, and thus, only from that point on may they not be redeemed monetarily, and only from that point on do they become disqualified as offerings if they are taken out of the area in which they must be eaten (in this case, the three desert camps, or later, the Temple city70) or touched by a defiled person.

14 From these 40 loaves, he must bring one of each type of bread-offering as a raised-offering for God, but rather than being burned up on the Altar, they must be given to the priest who dashes the blood of the peace-offering upon the Altar; these four loaves will be his to eat. The other 36 loaves are to be eaten by the offerer and his party.

15The flesh of the thanksgiving-offering, too, is to be eaten by the offerer and his party, except for the portions specified for the Altar71 and the priests.72 The flesh of his thanksgiving peace-offering may not be eaten before its blood has been applied to the Altar,73 and then, it must be eaten during the day it is offered up and/or the following night; he must take special care74 to not leave any of it over until morning. The same time-restriction applies to the loaves brought with the sacrifice. Although this time-restriction generally applies only to sacrifices of superior holiness, the fact that it is here imposed on the thanksgiving peace-offering does not elevate it to this category; it remains a sacrifice of lesser holiness, which may be eaten by non-priests and may be eaten anywhere within any of the three camps (or later, the Temple city).75 Whatever is left over on the next day must be burned up.

16 But if his sacrifice is not a thanksgiving-offering, but just a regular peace-offering brought to fulfill a sacrificial vow or a sacrificial dedication, no accompanying loaves are required, and it may be eaten on the same day he offers up his sacrifice, and in addition, whatever is left over from it may be eaten on the next day as well, until sunset.77

17 However, whatever is left over from the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day must be burned up in fire. If, nonetheless, it is not burned up, or even if the offerer or his party eats some of the flesh past the prescribed time-limit, this does not invalidate the sacrifice. Similarly, the flesh of any sacrifice that was not eaten (or cannot or will not be eaten79) within its prescribed time must be burned up.80

18In contrast, if, when the peace-offering is slaughtered, the slaughterer articulates81 his intent that some of the flesh of his peace-offering be eaten on the third day, the offering will not be accepted by God; it will not count for the one who offers it; rather, it will thereby become contemptible, and the person who eats of it will bear his sin—he will suffer excision82 (i.e., he will die prematurely and childless83)—even if he does not actually eat the flesh of the peace-offering on or after the third day, but eats it all within the prescribed two-day limit. (The same rule regarding a thanksgiving-offering will be given later.84)

19 The flesh of a peace-offering that touches anything defiled must not be eaten. It must be burned in fire. Even if something defiled touches only part of the flesh, it defiles all the flesh, and none of it may be eaten.

In contrast, if part of the flesh of a sacrifice is taken out of the area in which it is required to remain (i.e., for sacrifices of superior holiness, the precincts of the Tabernacle; for sacrifices of lesser holiness, the Israelite camp), thereby being rendered unfit for consumption, the rest of the flesh, which remained within the prescribed area, remains fit for consumption: anyone normally qualified to eat this flesh and who is not ritually defiled may eat this flesh.

Whereas the flesh of ascent-offerings is not eaten at all, and the flesh of sin-offerings and guilt-offerings may be eaten only by priests, with regard to the flesh of peace-offerings, anyone who is not ritually defiled may eat the flesh.

20But with regard to a person who eats the flesh of a peace-offering whose fat was offered up to God (or any other consecrated meat85) while he is ritually defiled, this is forbidden, and that person will be cut off from his people—he will die prematurely and childless.86

21 A person who touches anything ritually defiled—whether the source of defilement be a human corpse, the carcass of a spiritually defiled animal, or the carcass of any spiritually-defiled loathsome creature—and then deliberately eats of the flesh of a peace-offering whose fat was offered up to God (or any other consecrated meat), or enters the Tabernacle precincts, that person will be cut off from his people, i.e., he will die prematurely and childless. If, however, he inadvertently ate consecrated meat or entered the Tabernacle precincts while he was ritually defiled, then he must atone for having done so with a sin-offering, as described previously:87 if he originally knew that he was defiled but then forgot, and committed the sin while unaware that he was defiled, he must bring a variable sin-offering; if he had not originally been aware that he was defiled when he committed the sin, he must bring a regular sin-offering.

In contrast, an undefiled person who eats defiled sacrificial meat is punished with lashes rather than with excision.’ ”88

Forbidden Fat and Blood

22 God spoke to Moses, saying:

23 “Speak to the Israelites, saying: ‘As you recall,89 you may not eat any of the types of fat that constitute sacrificial fire-offerings, whether such fat be from an ox (or other bovine), a sheep, or a goat, and even if the specific animal is not offered up as a sacrifice but simply slaughtered to be eaten.

24Furthermore, it will be explained later90 that when a permitted animal dies by any means other than properly performed ritual slaughter, or is discovered after slaughtering to have been suffering from a disease or injury from which it would have died had it not been slaughtered first, the flesh of this dead animal imparts ritual defilement. In contrast, the fat of carrion (i.e., of a permitted animal that died by any means other than ritual slaughter) and the fat of a ritually slaughtered animal with a fatal disease or injury does not impart ritual defilement, and therefore may be used for any type of work.

Nonetheless, even though you may use such fats, you must not eat them, both because (a) it is forbidden to eat sacrificial fat, as above, and because (b) it is forbidden to eat any part of carrion or of a fatally injured or diseased animal.

25 For with regard to whoever eats such fat from animal species from which sacrifices are brought as fire-offerings to God, the person who eats it will be cut off from his people—he will die prematurely and childless.91

In contrast, fat from animal species that are not offered up as sacrifices, i.e., of wild animals that are permitted to be eaten, is permitted to be eaten.92

26As you further recall,93 you must also not consume any blood in any of your dwelling places, even outside the Land of Israel.94 This prohibition applies to the blood of fowl and to that of animals; the blood of permitted fish and grasshoppers, however, is permitted.

27As is the case with forbidden fat, with regard to any person who consumes any blood, that person will be cut off from his people—he will die prematurely and childless.’ ”

Peace-Offerings: The Priests’ Perquisites

28 God spoke to Moses, saying:

29 “Speak to the Israelites, saying: ‘When someone brings his peace-promoting feast-offering to God, he must bring, from his peace-promoting feast-offering, his sacrifice to God—i.e., those partsofthe animal that are to be burned up on the Altar (the fat95) and those parts that are to be given to the priest (the breast and the right thigh96 [i.e., the middle section of the right hind leg97])—together, in the following manner:

30 His own hands must bring the fire-offerings of God, i.e., the fat, which the priest must bring from the slaughtering place, placed on top of the breast and the thigh. The priest brings the breast and thigh, not to burn them up on the Altar but to wave them with the offerer as a wave-offering before God, as follows: A second priest takes first the fat and then the breast and thigh from the first priest and places them in the hand of the offerer, such that the breast and thigh are now on top of the fat.98 The second priest then places his hand under the offerer’s hand, and the offerer and the second priest, while standing in one place, together “wave” the fat, the breast, and the thigh—i.e., move them to the north and back to the starting position, then to the south and back, then to the east and back, and then to the west and back—and then raise them and lower them to the starting position, and finally lower them and raise them back to the starting position.99

If the offerer is a woman, the priest waves and raises and lowers the fat and meat by himself on her behalf.100

31The second priest then takes first the breast and thigh and then the fat from the hand of the offerer and places them into the hand of a third priest, such that the fat is again on top of the breast and thigh.101 The third priest must then put down the meat, ascend the Altar with the fat, and burn up the fat on the Altar, and only after it is burned up will the breast and thigh be permitted to Aaron and his sons to eat.

32Together with the breast, you must give the middle section of the right thigh to the priest, as a raised-offering taken from your peace-promoting feast-offerings, as described above.

33Any of the sons of Aaron who is fit to offer up the blood of the peace-offering when it is sprinkled and the fat when it is burned up—i.e., is not defiled at these times—will have a share in the breast and the middle section of the right thigh. These entitlements may not be eaten before the animal’s blood has been applied to the Altar.’102

34Then address the Israelites in My name, in the first person: ‘For I have taken the breast used as the wave-offering and the thigh used as the raised-offering from the Israelites, i.e., from their peace-promoting feast-offerings, and I have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons, as an eternal entitlement from the Israelites.’ (Since both the breast and the thigh are waved and raised, the terms “wave-offering” and “raised-offering” apply to both.103)

35Then continue addressing them directly, referring to Me in the third person: ‘This is what is due to the priests from the fire-offerings of God,by virtue of Aaron’s anointment and his sons’ anointment on the day that He brought them near to Him to be priests for God,

36 which God commanded to give them from the Israelites on the day that He anointed them. This perquisite will not only be Aaron’s and his sons’, but will be an eternal entitlement for all priests throughout all their generations.’ ”

37The above is the regulation for the ascent-offering, the grain-offering, the sin-offering, the guilt-offering, the installation-offerings, and the peace-offering,

38concerning which God commanded Moses at the foot of104 Mount Sinai on the 1^st of Nisan, the day He commanded the Israelites to offer up their sacrifices to God in the Sinai Desert.