Zevachim 113: The Para Aduma's Preparation Outside of the Temple, Liability

Very brief thoughts on today (and yesterday's) daf:

• Yesterday's daf introduced perek XIV
• we learned about when an animal is sacrificed unusually and thus it must be prepared to be used in the Temple but not as a sacrifice
• we learned earlier about the para aduma, red heifer, which was killed and burned near the special pit near the Mount of Olives without implicating the person doing this for performing this service in an inappropriate place
• The service leader isn't liable because it only applies to animals as sacrifices in the Temple
• The Gemara focuses on the place where the red heifer was prepared
• Why was this used if it was not mentioned in the Torah? Was it pure of any defilement?  But all of the land was pure of defilement
• The Gemara points to how the different Sages understood the great flood
• Rabbi Yochanan says that HaAretz was not affected by the flood and so there is no reason to assume that bones might be buried randomly beneath them
• Reish Lakish says that the water of the flood did affect Israel and so the land had to be checked carefully to ensure that it was ritually pure