אשם הוא, “it is an guilt offering.” according to Rashi, these two, at first glance superfluous words, seeing that the subject in this paragraph is the guilt offering, teach something about the guilt offering about a person who died before he had a chance to present this offering; alternately, it speaks of a guilt offering whose owner had attained atonement for his guilt before it was offered up through another means. For instance: normally, if the original animal had been sanctified and been lost before the priest appointed by its owner could slaughter it, so that he had substituted another animal for the lost one and performed all the ritual with it, the Torah teaches what is to be done with such an animal when it was found. Normally, the rules for disposition of such an animal are that it is to be offered as sacrifice on the altar when the altar “has summer vacation,” i.e. is not very busy with offerings that are mandatory for people to present. If such an animal had been entrusted to a shepherd to graze, in order to keep it alive until needed, and it was slaughtered without any specific designation, it is fit to be offered as a burnt offering. According to Rashi (in the Talmud Sukkah folio 56a the expression “summer vacation,” is to be understood as something similar to “dessert;” it is consumed in order to tickle one’s palate, not to still one’s hunger.

כל זכר, “every male (priest).” This is meant to include priests, who because of a physical blemish, are not allowed to perform service in the Temple.

קדש קדשים הוא, “is it;” This expression is meant to include communal offerings that may not be eaten except by male members of the priesthood.

הוא, “it is most holy.” (the offering) this excludes such offerings as the ram brought by the Nazarene at the end of his term of abstentions, and the mandatory thanksgiving offerings, known as תודה, whose status is not “the most holy.”

והכהן המקריב, “and the priest who offers, etc.” The singular mode used here for “the priest,” is misleading, as it includes all the priests belonging to this particular watch, i.e.doing service on that day. All of them are described by the Torah as כהן. (Karney Or)

אם על תודה יקריבנו, “If he offers this offering as a thanksgiving offering;” it does require placing his weight on it with his hands before slaughtering, and elevating it, i.e. swinging it, after the slaughtering; (Sifra)

והקריב על זבח, “he will offer with the meat offering, etc;” the word על meaning “with” also in על חלת לחם, is also to be understood as meaning: “with”; we have an example of this in Leviticus 25, 31 על שדה הארץ, “it will be considered as belonging with the field of the earth.”

וסלת מורכבת, “and fine flour mixed in well soaked oil.” This teaches that the cakes the Torah speaks of must be soaked well in oil.

חלות בלולות בשמן, wafers mixed with oil. Here we have one addition followed by another addition, (חלות and רקיקות) something unusual. It suggests that actually it is meant to be a limitation, i.e. that this is not to be treated like other gift offerings in which a whole log of oil is used, whereas here only half a log of oil is used. (Compare Rashi on Menachot 89)

תרומה לה, “as a gift to the Lord;” (author questions rhetorically why no measurements are given) I do not know the measurements of this gift; the Sifra writes that we might derive it from a similar verse in Numbers 18 where the תרומת מעשר is described as being one tenth of the regular tithe, i.e. slightly less that 1% of the total.

לכהן הזורק את דם השלמים לו יהיה, “it shall belong to the priest who sprinkles the blood of it.” The remainder may be eaten by the owners.

ואם נדר, “but if the sacrifice is fulfillment of a vow by the donor, etc.;” the donor had made the vow while he had been in distress.(Ibn Ezra)

ביום הקריבו את זבחו יאכל, “his meat offering must be eaten on the day that he offered it and the day following;” immediately after the priest had completed his ritual.

ביום השלישי באש ישרף, “anything remaining of it on the morning of the third day must be burned.” Our sages derive from the apparently superfluous words: “it (the leftover) has to be burned on the third day,” that any leftovers of any sacrificial meat must be burned by day after it may no longer be eaten. (Sifra).

כל טהור יאכל בשר, “everyone that is ritually clean may eat of the meat.” The verse refers, of course, to meat of sacrificial offerings, as ordinary meat may be eaten also by ritually unclean people.

וטומאתו עליו, “while he is still ritually unclean;” Rashi explains here that we did not find a specific warning that ritually unclean people must not eat sacrificial meat, (although the penalty has been spelled out, something most unusual) but that it can be derived from a גזרה שוה, when two laws contain similar expressions to clarify each other. In this instance we find three times that the Torah decrees the karet penalty for people eating sacrificial things while in a state of physical ritual impurity. (Compare Talmud tractate Shavuot, folio 7 where the three verses are spelled out) [Our author devotes a whole page to this complicated manner of deriving such laws by linking it to the written Torah. Since, unfortunately, the subject is not applicable until we will have a Temple again I have decided to delete these details. Ed.]

כל חלב שור, “any of the fat parts above the kidneys and liver of the four legged animals fit for sacrifices on the altar, are forbidden to be eaten.” Contrary to verse 20, where we encountered the penalty for eating while in a state of ritual impurity, though we had not heard about the warning not to do so, here we hear the warning, but must search for where the penalty has been spelled out. We find it in verse 25. The reason why the law has been repeated is to teach us that the law forbidding to eat these fat parts from animals which the Torah has forbidden us to eat, anyway does not apply. [In practice this means that when someone eats an animal that is forbidden to be eaten, he is not penalised additionally for eating those parts of the animal. Ed.] (Sifra)

מן הבהמה אשר יקריב ממנה, “who eats (fat) from the beast which people use to present as offerings;” from that species of beast, although it had never been sanctified as a potential sacrifice. This teaches that fat parts not used exclusively for the altar may be eaten.

וכל דם לא תאכלו, “but you must not eat any kind of blood. We have heard the warning here, now we have to search for the penalty if this law is contravened. It is found in verse 27 in this chapter: כל נפש אשר תאכל כל דם ונכרתה הנפש ההיא, “the soul of any person eating any blood will be cut off (from his people).”

בכל מושבותיכם, “in all your dwellings;” even though any animal outside of the Holy Land is by definition only secular.

המקריב את זבח שלמיו, “he who offers his sacrifice of peaceofferings.” These types of offerings require to be accompanied by libations, need that the weight of the donor be placed on their head with his hands, and they need תנופה, physically being lifted up, the right thigh and breast being given to the officiating priest.

ידיו תביאנה, “he shall bring it with his own hands;” Rashi adds that this means that he (the priest) is to carry it by supporting the hand of the donor while transporting it from the hall in which it is slaughtered. This is why Rashi adds that three priests are needed to do all this.

את החלב על החזה, “the fat with the breast.”

זאת משחת אהרן, “this is the consecrated portion of Aaron, etc.” They have been consecrated as reward for performing these tasks. Another interpretation of the word: משחה: “to be anointed with that oil is a mark of distinction for them.” (compare Exodus 29,29 למשחה בהם)

ביום משחו אותם, “on the day that they were anointed.” The prefix letter ב has been used here instead of the more common prefix מ the meaning being: “from the day they were anointed. From this day on, these portions of the sacrificial animals were perpetually given to the priests.

זאת התורה לעולה, “this is the law for the burnt offering;” this is a reference to the skin of the burnt offering which has not been burned up;”

ולמנחה, “and for the gift offering;” this is a reference to the part of this offering that has not been consumed. ולחטאת ולאשם, “and for the sin offering, and for the guilt offering; the meat of which is to be consumed by the priests.

ולמלואים, and for the consecration offerings which we learned about earlier in Exodus chapter 29.

ולזבח השלמים, and for the sacrifice known as peaceofferings. This is a reference to the breast, right thigh, and the parts given to the priests of the mandatory thanksgiving offerings.

להקריב את קרבניהם לה׳ במדבר סיני, “to present their offerings to the Lord in the desert of Sinai. The reason why this line is necessary, although most of us would have understood the chapter without it being repeated, is because until the Israelites had made camp at Mount Sinai they had not offered a single offering (Exodus 24,5) The altar which Moses had built after the battle with Amalek was located at Mount Sinai. (Exodus 17,15) “Mount Chorev” and “Mount Sinai” are two names describing the same Mountain or group of peaks. The Israelites encamped around there for a period of 10 days less than a year from the first day of Sivan (in the first year) to the twentieth day of iyar of the second year. (Numbers 10,11) During the remainder of their journeys, for almost 39 years they did not offer any sacrifices as stated by the prophet Amos 5,25: הזבחים ומנחה הגשתם לי בני ישראל במדבר, “did you offer to Me any sacrifices or oblations in the forty years in the desert?” Even the Passover offering was presented only in Egypt and in the following year, before the Israelites had broken camp.” According to our author, offerings were brought on the Day of Atonement of the second year, but we do not know his source for this.