Once in a while, the Gemara doesn’t understand a word in the Mishnah. Often, it’s the name of an obscure animal, plant or other item that is difficult to identify. Today, it’s a place. Here is the mishnah:
With regard to bulls and goats that are burned: When they are burned in accordance with their mitzvah, they are burned in the place of the ashes, and they render the garments of the priests impure. And if these offerings are not burned in accordance with their mitzvah, they are burned in the place of the bira, and they do not render the garments impure.
If you are familiar with modern Hebrew, that is unlikely to help you much here. The word bi-RAH, with emphasis on the second syllable, means capital city. The word BI-rah, emphasis on the first syllable, means beer. Neither makes much sense in this context, though the first is a clue.
Ancient etymologies are more helpful. Bira, in ancient texts, often means castle or fortress, likely a cognate with the Assyrian word birtu. So we’re probably looking for some kind of fortified tower.
The Gemara is similarly unsure what the mishnah’s beit habira — literally, house of the bira — means.
What is bira?
Rabba bar bar Hana says that Rabbi Yohanan says: There is a place on the Temple Mount, and its name is bira.
Reish Lakish says: The entire Temple is called the bira, as it is stated “to build the Temple (bira) for which I have made provision.” (1 Chronicles 29:19)
The Gemara presents two possibilities: Bira is the name of a specific place on the Temple mount, or it refers to the Temple as a whole (because the term beit habira is used this way in a verse in Chronicles). The second opinion may also be influenced by the fact that the Talmud sometimes refers to the Temple using the similar-sounding term beit habechira (literally: chosen house) which differs only in one letter.
Yet all this isn’t overly helpful, especially since we know that disqualified sacrifices were taken outside the Temple for burning. The place we are looking for is neither the Temple nor a specific location in the Temple. We find a more useful answer in the writings of Josephus, a Jewish historian who lived while the Temple stood and witnessed its destruction. In The Jewish Wars, Josephus testifies that there was a tower that stood to the north of the Temple that was once called bira, but was renamed Antonia after the Roman Emperor Antonius. This would explain why the rabbis aren’t familiar with it by this name. But the rabbis seem unaware of this tradition.
Later rabbinic interpreters continue to work on the puzzle. The early medieval midrashic collection Pesikta Rabbati has a version of the exchange above that quotes Rabbi Yohanan as saying bira was the name of a tower that stood on the Mount of Olives, to the east of the Temple across the Kidron Valley. This is more plausible as, like Josephus’ tower, it is outside the Temple grounds.
Writing in late 19th-century Iraq, Rabbi Yosef Hayyim offers an abundance of creative suggestions based around the four letters of the word bira: bet, yod, resh and hey. These are far more fanciful, adding spiritual depth to the interpretation even if they are not historically accurate. He notes, for instance, that the Temple name associated with Abraham was “mountain.” The Hebrew word for mountain, har, is two letters: hey and resh. The numerical value of the remaining letters in the word bira, yod (ten) and bet (two) is 12. Together, all of this represents the 12 tribes assembled at the Temple’s establishment. A powerful image, but not a practical explanation.
For now, the place of the bira remains a mystery.
Read all of Zevachim 104 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on December 27, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
