Zevachim 64: The Slaughter of Birds as Sin and Burnt Offerings

We move into conversations about birds as offering.  Steinsaltz teaches that fowl do not fall into the same category as formal zevachim, which are slaughtered in an ordinary way.  Today we learn about how birds are slaughtered... in gory detail.  This began in yesterday's daf, where we began to learn a new Mishna.  It taught us that:

• birds as sin offerings are sacrificed at the southwest corner of the altar
• in practice, the sacrifice might happen any place on the altar
• there was a red line painted horizontally around the altar
• the point where that red line met the southwest corner of the altar was the proper location
• a number of rites were performed below the red line:
• sacrificing a bird sin offering
• bringing meal offering near the altar before removing the handful
• pouring out the remaining blood
• a number of rites were performed above the red line:
• the wine libations brought together with animal offerings or on their own
• the water libation on the festival on the festival of Sukkot
• sacrificing a bird burnt offering when there were so many that is was impossible to sacrifice all of them in the southeastern corner where the bird burnt offering was sacrificed
• To ascend to the alter via the ram, one walks along the right side of the ramp toward the southeast corner and circle the altar until they reach the southwest corner
• one should descend by turning on their heels and retracing the path taken when ascending but without retracing the circling

In amud (b) of today's daf, we learn a new Mishna which is much shorter than the other Mishnayot regarding offerings on the altar.  It teaches:

• For the bird sin-offering, the priest pinches off the bird's head by cutting opposite the nape of its neck with his thumbnail 
• the priest keeps the bird's head attached to its body
• The priest sprinkles the bird's blood on the wall of the altar below the red line
• Remaining blood is squeezed from the bird's body over the basin on the altar
• The priests may eat the rest of the bird

A final Mishna is taught at the end of today's daf.  It tells us that:

• For the bird burnt-offering, the priest walked up the ramp, turned to the surrounding ledge to get to the southeast corner of the altar
• The priest pinches off the bird's head by cutting at the nape of its neck with his thumbnail
• the bird's head is separated from its body
• the blood is squeezed out onto the wall of the altar
• the remaining blood is absorbed with salt
• the salt, blood and bird's remains are thrown onto the fire on the altar
• the crop, the feathers, the innards are thrown onto the pile of ashes
• the bird is ripped lengthwise but not separated into two parts
• if the bird is accidentally ripped in half, the offering is valid
• the remaining blood is absorbed with salt and thrown with the body of the bird onto the altar's fire