פרשת צו תש"ח - תורת החטאת

Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, saying: This is the law of the sin-offering: in the place where the burnt-offering is killed shall the sin-offering be killed before the LORD; it is most holy.

And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the LORD; and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall dash its blood against the altar round about.

Do good in Thy favour unto Zion; build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.

The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it; in a holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tent of meeting.

המחטא אתה means the priest who performs those rites connected with it (i. e. those connected with the sprinkling of the blood), he is called the מחטא because it is through him that it becomes a sin-offering.

המחטא אתה means the priest who performs those rites connected with it (i. e. those connected with the sprinkling of the blood), he is called the מחטא because it is through him that it becomes a sin-offering.

The kohen who purges denotes the one who dashes the blood — i.e., the one who purges the sinner of his sin. Many commentators have translated this verb in the sense of “to wash”, or “to render ritually pure” (as in, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be purified” [Psalms 51:9]).

In the place where they kill the burnt-offering shall they kill the guilt-offering: and the blood thereof shall be dashed against the altar round about.

Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy; and when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment, thou shalt wash that whereon it was sprinkled in a holy place.

But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken; and if it be sodden in a brazen vessel, it shall be scoured, and rinsed in water.

ואשר יזה מדמה על הבגד means, and if there is splashed of the blood thereof on a garment, that blood-stained spot in the garment whereon it was splashed shalt thou wash in the forecourt (Sifra, Tzav, Chapter 6 3).

ואשר יזה מדמה על הבגד means, and if there is splashed of the blood thereof on a garment, that blood-stained spot in the garment whereon it was splashed shalt thou wash in the forecourt (Sifra, Tzav, Chapter 6 3).

whatever sprinkles Rabbi Moshe ben Shmu’el Gikatilla HaKohen said that the verb is in the qal form, like “shall bend” [Job 15:29]. When the same verb has a pattaḥ under the yod , it is in the hif‘il form. In both cases the nun of the root disappears. Compare the intransitive “some of her blood sprinkled on the wall” [II Kings 9:33] (with a ḥiriq ) to the causative “he sprinkled” [8:11] (with a pattaḥ ). Although the verb in “some of her blood sprinkled on the wall” has a ḥiriq under the yod , it is still in the qal form, (which normally takes a ṣereh under the yod — as in, “their blood sprinkled” [Isaiah 63:3]). Rabbi Moshe HaKohen was correct in asserting all of the above. Since the peace-offering is holy, God commanded us to wash the bloodstain in a holy place — i.e., the Courtyard of the Tent of Assembly (for the word “holy” does not mean the same as the word “ritually pure”).

sprinkle on it: Scripture omits the subject of the first clause (“the spot”), and the connective between the two clauses (“or”). The sentence should read, “ The spot whereupon any blood should fall on the garment, or if any should sprinkle on it…”. In other words, if someone else should sprinkle blood on “it” (i.e., the flesh of the sin-offering), the kohen should wash the flesh, and eat it afterward. or Scripture omits the subject of the second clause (“the spot”). The sentence should read, “Should any blood sprinkle on the garment, the spot where any falls…”. In other words, you must wash the spot where the blood falls. In this case, to function as the feminine object of the preposition in the second clause, the word “garment” must be both feminine and masculine ( cf . the passage dealing with a former ṣara‘at sufferer who cannot afford the standard sacrifice, where the word for “turtle-dove” appears both with masculine [14:30] and feminine [14:22] numerical adjectives). The tav in you must wash is the sign of the second person masculine singular future.