Bavli Menaḥot
About This Entry
The classical talmudic rabbis continued to study the sacrificial laws that had no practical application after the destruction of the Temple. In this passage from b. Menaḥot 110a, one sage asserts that Torah study obviates the need for sacrifice, while a second sage asserts that studying the laws of sacrifice is equivalent to offering the sacrifice. (See “Serving God without the Temple.”)
Rava says: Anyone who engages in Torah [study] need not [bring] a burnt offering, nor a sin [lit., purification—Ed.] offering, nor a meal offering, nor a guilt offering.
R. Isaac said: What [is the meaning of that] which is written: This is the law of the sin [lit., purification—Ed.] offering (Leviticus 6:18) and This is the law of the guilt offering (Leviticus 7:1)? [These verses teach that] anyone who engages in [studying] the law of the sin [lit., purification—Ed.] offering [is] as though he sacrificed a sin [lit., purification—Ed.] offering, and anyone who engages in [studying] the law of a guilt offering [is] as though he sacrificed a guilt offering.
Notes
Words in brackets appear in the original translation unless otherwise noted.
Credits
From Koren Talmud Bavli, Noé Edition, trans. Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz (Jerusalem: Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019). Accessed via the William Davidson digital edition, sefaria.org. Adapted with permission of Koren Publishers Ltd.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.
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