Zevachim 34: Kashrut and Sacrifices

Some brief notes about today's daf:

• animal sacrifices are specific:
• an ordinary sin offering is brought only from a female sheep or goat
• what if a different animal is brought as the offering?
• what if a non-kosher animal is presented as the offering?
• how severe is the penalty for bringing the wrong animal as an offering?
• no substitutions are permitted and yet the punishment for bringing the wrong animal may not be karet
• Reish Lakish says that one who brings a non-kosher animal to the Temple altar is liable to receive malkot, lashes
• Rabbi Yochanan argues that there is no punishment for this action
• Rabbi Yochanan uses the proof text (Vayikra 1:2) to support the idea that this could be a mitzvah aseh, a positive commandment, which is why there is no formal punishment (there is no formal punishment associated with neglecting to fulfill a positive commandment)
• Reish Lakish says that this is a lav haba michlal ase, a negative commandment derived from a positive commandment
• Reish Lakish considers this to be a negative commandment
• Rabbi Ya'akov says that both Reish Lakish and Rabbi Yochanan agree that a negative commandment derived from a positive commandment is actually a positive commandment, and so there is no punishment for bring a non-kosher animal onto the Temple altar
• Instead Rabbi Yaakov states the their argument is about someone who brought a chayyah, a kosher wild animal (ex. a deer, an antelope) onto the altar
• Rabbi Yochanan says that the Torah limits sacrifices to bechemot, domesticated animals; a wild animal goes against the mitzvah to bring an animal offering
• Reish Lakish says that thought the mitzvah teaches us to bring a bechema but a kosher wild animal is acceptable 
• Steinsaltz teaches that Rashi notes that a non-kosher animal are not permitted based on a proof that teaches that sacrifices must be animals that are kosher