Pesachim 70 a, b

In an attempt to clarify when and how the Paschal lamb will be sacrificed - particularly when the 14 or 15 of Nissan fall on Shabbat - the rabbis compare and contrast this offering to that of the Festival peace-offering.  The rabbis disagree about many factors: which should be sacrificed first, how they should be sacrificed (roasted, etc.), where they can be slaughtered, etc. etc.  Steinsaltz explains that one rabbi, Yehuda ben Dortai, moves with his son far from the Temple to physically distance himself from the rabbinical rulings about the Festival peace-offering on Shabbat - a ruling with which he vehemently disagrees.

The rabbis include both Yehuda ben Dortai's argument and their misgivings about sharing the opinion of a nay-sayer.  However, Yehuda ben Dortai's comments and his indignation survive until today.  Again, one of my very favourite things about reading the Talmud: even when dissident voices are overruled and chided, they are included as part of the text.  

It would be helpful to have greater clarity regarding the actual practices of the rabbis of the time of the Talmud.  If the Temple was already destroyed, would the rabbis not be speaking about what happened in the past, rather than about their current practices?  If I am correct and these conversations regarding Temple sacrifices are somewhat theoretical, why so much time and energy on the small details?  Perhaps the rabbis were attempting to create instructions for all of us should the Temple be rebuilt again.  Or perhaps I am wrong in my understanding and the rabbis were indeed continuing to practice these rites of sacrifice.  

Part of my fascination with Talmud has to do with this highly developed system of internal logic.  Another part has to do with the historical record left for us to explore and understand.  Daily I am witness to rabbis as people -- brilliant people, yes, but people, who just like us are grasping and searching for meaning, letter by letter, metaphor by metaphor.  

As we prepare for Rosh Hashana in our current timeline, I am drawn away from the idea of repentance by my study of Pesach rituals every day.  I work to refocus myself on the relationships between the daily daf and my Jewish life.  Today, I feel a clear connection between the lives of the rabbis, filled with struggles and searches for meaning, and my own small life, where I too struggle and search.