Chapter And Verse?
‘Has The Time For Slaughter Arrived?’
(Yoma 28a)
The Mishnah on our daf relates that before slaughtering the tamid shel shachar, the one in charge would send someone up to an elevated place to ascertain that dawn had indeed arrived. The Mishnah explains that this precaution was instituted because it once happened that the tamid was slaughtered before dawn because the moon’s light was mistaken for that of the sun. The animal therefore had to be burned in the Beis Ha’sereifa (the burning place for invalid offerings).
What is the biblical source for the Mishnah’s ruling?
‘On The Day Of Your Slaughter’
Rashi (sv “zman ha’shechita”) explains that the basis for invalidating a sacrifice that is slaughtered before dawn is Vayikra 19:6: “b’yom zivchachem – on the day of your slaughter.” These words teach us that it must be slaughtered during the day, not at night.
‘You Shall Make In The Morning’
Rabbenu Chananel (bottom of 29a, sv “shachatu es hatamid”) derives this rule from a different verse, Bamidbar 28:4: “es hakeves echad ta’aseh babover v’es hakeves ha’sheni ta’asehbein ha’arbaim – the one lamb you shall make in the morning and the second lamb you shall make in the afternoon.” This indicates that the tamid shel shachar may not be slaughtered before dawn.
Explaining Rashi
The Brisker Rav (Kuntres Krias ha’Torah, Yoma and Sukkah, p.14b) explains why Rashi rejected Rabbenu Chananel’s source even though Bamidbar 28:4 specifically concerns the tamid (whereas Vayikra 19:6 concerns a shelamim). Bamidbar 28:4 does not teach us that a tamid slaughtered prior to dawn is invalid; it merely teaches us that the tamid obligation cannot be fulfilled before morning. If not for Vayikra 19:6, we would have thought that a tamid slaughtered at night, though invalid as a tamid, is nevertheless valid as an olas nedava. We would have said that another korban should be offered after daybreak to fulfill the tamid obligation but the first one is not a korban pasul and thus need not be burned in the Beis Ha’sereifa. Vayikra 19:6 teaches us that a nighttime slaughtered korban is invalid – it retains no status as a korban – and must be burned.
Explaining Rabbenu Chananel
The Brisker Rav explains Rabbenu Chananel’s view as follows: Once we know from Bamidbar 28:4 that a tamid slaughtered at night is invalid, we know that that tamid cannot be considered a korban nedavah either because the tamid must be the first korban of the day (as the Gemara, 34a, derives from Vayikra 6:5; see Tosafos 29a, sv “elah”).