According to the Book of Joshua, many things changed when the Israelites entered the land of Canaan and ended their wanderings in the desert. Land was conquered and divided, Israelite families could build their homes, and the tabernacle could be set up more permanently. On today’s daf, the Talmud explores whether this big moment in Jewish history also changed how sacrifices were offered.
In Numbers 15:2-5, God commands the Israelites: “When you enter the land that I am giving you to settle in, and would present an offering by fire … You shall also offer, with the burnt offering or the sacrifice, a quarter of a hin of wine as a libation for each sheep.” Is God here commanding something new? Were libations not offered together with animal sacrifices in the wilderness? Or is God just insisting that sacrifices should continue in the same way that they already had been in the wilderness?
The Talmud today quotes a beraita which teaches:
The verse speaks to require libations upon a great altar.
According to this interpretation, during their time in the wilderness, Israelites bringing animal sacrifices on the central altar in the tabernacle weren’t obligated to bring wine libations too. The command in Numbers thus marks a change in ritual practice when the people are more permanently settled.
The Talmud next interrogates this statement.
Do you say that it refers to a great altar, or is it even to a small altar?
When it states: “Into the land of your dwellings, which I give to you,” the verse is speaking of an altar that is used by everyone; this is the statement of Rabbi Yishmael.
In the days before the Temple in Jerusalem, the Israelites were permitted to offer sacrifices both at the large altar in the tabernacle, and in smaller private altars closer to home. Perhaps the verse in Numbers is meant to teach that libations are required on a private altar and not only on the public altar?
Rabbi Yishmael rejects this possibility. Because the verse uses the second-person plural version of “to you,” he understands the verse to be insisting that wine libations be brought together with sacrifices on the communally owned altar in the tabernacle. But Rabbi Akiva has a different take:
When it states: “Into the land of your dwellings,” the verse is speaking of an altar that is used in all your dwellings.
It is only when the Israelites come to the land of Israel and spread themselves out that more local altars become useful. Rabbi Akiva reads Numbers 15:2 then as saying that even sacrifices on these smaller altars must include wine libations.
What to make of these two opinions? The anonymous voice of the Talmud extrapolates from this dispute to a more general conclusion:
When (you analyze the matter) you will find that you can say, according to the statement of Rabbi Yishmael, libations were not offered in the wilderness. And according to the statement of Rabbi Akiva libations were offered in the wilderness.
Let’s unpack the Talmud’s logic. According to Rabbi Yishmael, the verse comes to require libations on the great altar, which implies that they were not already being offered on the great altar in the wilderness; otherwise, why would the Torah have had to command it? And since private altars didn’t yet exist, then according to Rabbi Yishmael, there were no wine libations in the wilderness at all. According to Rabbi Akiva, however, the verse is meant to give guidance on smaller regional altars. So it’s possible to infer that libations were already being offered on the great altar in the wilderness.
The Talmud doesn’t try to resolve this debate, so I won’t either. But regardless of which opinion is more historically accurate, both point to a shared understanding that entering the land of Israel, conquering it and settling it all had not only political and social effects, but ritual effects. Our contexts, where we are and where we’re going, shape how we relate to God and each other. To ignore the broader historical and cultural contexts within which we operate is to miss out on the profound specificity of our most important relationships.
Read all of Zevachim 109 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on January 3, 2026. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
