We opened this chapter with a mishnah that states animal offerings may not be made outside the temple. What about non-animal offerings? A mishnah on today’s daf discusses:
With regard to the handful of a meal offering, the frankincense, the incense, the meal offering of priests, the meal offering of the anointed priest, and the meal offering brought with the libations (that accompany animal offerings), in a case where one sacrificed even an olive bulk from any one of these outside the Temple, he is liable.
Rabbi Eliezer deems him exempt unless he sacrifices the whole of any one of these items outside the Temple. But any of them that one sacrificed inside the courtyard but left over an olive bulk from them and then sacrificed that outside the courtyard, he is liable.
Meal and incense offerings are different from animals because they are not discrete units, but measured out. This means one could potentially offer just a little bit of grain outside the Temple. The mishnah asserts that if this “little bit” amounts to the volume of an olive or more (the Talmud’s standard measure for the smallest legally significant volume), that person is liable. Rabbi Eliezer, however, holds that the person is exempt unless the entire volume required for the offering is offered outside the Temple. What would render someone liable, according to Rabbi Eliezer, would be if they made the sacrifice inside the courtyard, left over an olive bulk from it, and then offered that outside of the Temple courtyard.
The Gemara begins its discussion of this mishnah by quoting a beraita:
A person who offers an olive bulk of incense outside of the Temple courtyard is liable. One who offers the measurement of half a peras inside the Temple is exempt.
This beraita is problematic. The priests are required to burn an entire peras (much more than an olive bulk) of incense in the Temple courtyard. According to this beraita, offering less than the minimum amount of incense outside of the Temple renders the individual liable, while offering less than the minimum of incense within the Temple renders the individual exempt. So is offering an olive bulk of incense legally significant?
At first, the Gemara attempts to understand the meaning of the beraita by explaining that the exemption refers to a case in which a non-priest burns incense inside of the Temple. In that circumstance, the non-priest is exempt. It is a weak response and is accordingly immediately rejected: Why on earth would a non-priest, who is forbidden from performing sacrifices inside the Temple, be exempt in this case? Even if the non-priest burns less than the required amount of incense, the beraita makes it clear that a person is liable for burning an olive bulk — an even smaller amount of incense — and considers there to be some sacrificial act being performed, even if the amount is less than the minimum.
Rabbi Zeira then enters the scene. According to his understanding of the beraita, the exemption is not for the individual. Rather, it means that if the priest burns half of the required amount of incense inside of the Temple, the community is still exempt from the requirement to burn incense.
Yet even with his explanation, Rabbi Zeira is still troubled by the beraita. According to Rabbi Zeira, everyone, even Rabbi Eliezer, agrees that if a priest burns less than a peras of incense the community has nonetheless still fulfilled its obligation to burn incense. Yet in the mishnah, Rabbi Eliezer stated that burning an olive bulk of incense outside of the Temple is exempt. Because it is less than the required amount, no act of ritual incense-burning has actually taken place. How can he now hold that a community can fulfill its obligation to burn incense when less than the required amount is burned?
Rabbi Zeira’s question prompts a discussion between the famed pairing of Abaye and Rabba, each of whom attempts to render Rabbi Eliezer’s opinion consistent. As is so often the case, the rabbis are arguably less concerned with finding the right answer than they are with simply understanding every position held.
Read all of Zevachim 109 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on January 1, 2026. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
