Table of Contents
Leviticus 3
Leviticus 3
1 And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offer it of the herd; whether it be a male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord.
2 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.
3 And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the Lord; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards,
4 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away.
5 And Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.
6 And if his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering unto the Lord be of the flock; male or female, he shall offer it without blemish.
7 If he offer a lamb for his offering, then shall he offer it before the Lord.
8 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron's sons shall sprinkle the blood thereof round about upon the altar.
9 And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the Lord; the fat thereof, and the whole rump, it shall he take off hard by the backbone; and the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards,
10 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away.
11 And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire unto the Lord.
12 And if his offering be a goat, then he shall offer it before the Lord.
13 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of it, and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation: and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle the blood thereof upon the altar round about.
14 And he shall offer thereof his offering, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards,
15 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away.
16 And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the Lord's.
17 It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.
Notes
Cross Reference
Commentary
Rashi
Verse 1
h.שלמים PEACE-OFFERINGS — They are so called because they bring peace (שלום) into the world. Another explanation is: they are called שלמים because through them there is “peace” (harmony and lack of envy) to the altar, to the priests and to the owners (since all these receive a portion) (cf. Rashi on Exodus 29:22 and our Note thereon; see also Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Chapter 16 2).
Verse 3
h.'ואת כל החלב וגו [AND HE SHALL OFFER … ALL THE FAT THAT COVERETH THE INWARDS] AND ALL THE FAT [THAT IS UPON THE INWARDS] — These apparently redundant words are intended to include in the command the fat also that lies upon the maw. This is the opinion of Rabbi Ishmael; Rabbi Akiba holds that they are intended to include only the fat that is on the gut (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Section 14 6; cf. Chullin 49b).
Verse 4
h.הכסלים — Flancs in O. F. — It speaks of the fat which is on (על) the kidneys being also on (על) the flanks because the fat that is upon the kidneys is, when the animal is living, on the uppermost part of the flanks, and they (the kidneys) are in a downward position. This is the fat which is under the loins — what are called lombles in O. F.; it is that white fat which is visible upon the upper part of the flanks, but on their lower part the flesh covers it, (and this latter portion of the fat is therefore not upon but under the flanks).
h.היותרת is the protecting wall (membrane) over the liver which is called abris in O. F. In the Aramaic language it is called חצרא דכבדא the lobe of the liver.
h.על הכבד — This must mean that he shall take a little of the liver with it, for in another place it distinctly states, (Leviticus 9:10) “and the יותרת מן הכבד [he caused to ascend in fumes]” (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Section 14 8).
h.על הכבד על הכליות — means, besides the part of the liver and besides the kidneys shall he remove this (the יותרת).
Verse 5
h.העולה על means [HE SHALL BURN IT] BESIDES THE BURNT OFFERING. Scripture thus teaches us that the continual burnt-offering should be placed on the wood-pile before any other sacrifice (cf. Zevachim 89a; Tosafot on Zevachim 89a 1.1. כל התדיר and Rashi on Exodus 6:5).
Verse 7
h.אם כשב IF [HE OFFER] A LAMB — Because there is amongst the fat-portions of the lamb something which is not amongst the fat-portions of the goat, — for of the lamb the fat-tail (אליה) is offered, — therefore they (the law regarding the lamb and that regarding the goat) have been divided into two separate paragraphs (whilst in the case of the free-will עולה they are contained in one paragraph, Leviticus 1:10—13, since there is no difference in the laws regarding these two animals) (cf. Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Chapter 18 4).
Verse 8
h.וזרקו AND [AARON'S SONS] SHALL DASH THE BLOOD THEREOF [ROUND ABOUT] — two applications of the blood are necessary so as to constitute four (cf. Rashi on Leviticus 1:5). He (the priest) dashes the blood with a vessel (Zevachim 55a); it is only the blood of the sin-offering that he applies with his finger (Zevachim 53a).
Verse 9
h.חלבו means: the choicest part in it; and what is this? The whole fat-tail.
h.לעמת הָעֶצָה — i. e. above the kidneys which give counsel (עֵצָה) (cf. Rashi on Exodus 29:22 and Note thereon).
Verse 11
h.'לחם אשה לה means: it is the food of the fire in honour of the Lord. (The translation is not: it is food, a fire offering unto the Lord; לחם is construct, and the words must be translated as Rashi does).
h.לחם is a general expression for food. Similar is, (Jeremiah 11:19) “let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof (בלחמו)”; (Daniel 5:1) “[Belshazzar] made a great banquet (לחם)”; (Ecclesiastes 10:19) “It is for laughter that a banquet (לחם) is made”.
Verse 17
h.חקת עולם This whole verse is well expounded in Torath Cohanim (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Chapter 20 6-8).