Slaughtering the Most Holy Offerings Atop the Altar

Our Rabbis taught: Regarding the most holy offerings that one slaughtered on top of the altar, Rabbi Yose says: it is as if they were slaughtered in the north [the proper place for such slaughter]. Rabbi Yose bar Rabbi Yehudah says: from the middle of the altar northward counts as the north, and from the middle of the altar southward counts as the south. Rabbi Asi said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: Rabbi Yose held that the whole altar stands in the north. And what does "as if" mean? You might have thought that we require the slaughter to be on the side of the altar and here there is none; therefore he teaches us [that it is valid even on top]. Rabbi Zeira said to Rabbi Asi: But then, according to Rabbi Yose bar Rabbi Yehudah too, half should count as north and half as south. And if you say it is indeed so, did you not yourself say in the name of Rabbi Yochanan that Rabbi Yose bar Rabbi Yehudah concedes that if one slaughtered the offering on the ground opposite the altar they are invalid? He said to him: thus said Rabbi Yochanan, both derived their ruling from a single verse, "And you shall sacrifice upon it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings" (Exodus 20:24). Rabbi Yose holds: either the whole altar is for the burnt offering or the whole is for the peace offerings. Rabbi Yose bar Yehudah holds: divide it, half for the burnt offering and half for the peace offerings. For if it should enter your mind that the whole is valid for a burnt offering, then now that it is valid for a burnt offering, need it be said it is valid for peace offerings? And the other holds: it was necessary, for it might enter your mind to say this applies only to a burnt offering, for which the place is cramped, but for peace offerings, for which the place is not cramped, say it is not valid; therefore he teaches us [that it is]. Rav said: if the altar was damaged, all the holy offerings slaughtered there are invalid; there is a verse for this in our hands and we have forgotten it. When Rav Kahana went up [to the Land of Israel], he found Rabbi Shimon the son of Rabbi sitting and saying in the name of Rabbi Yishmael bar Rabbi Yose: from where do we know that if the altar was damaged, all the holy offerings slaughtered there are invalid? Because it is said, "And you shall sacrifice upon it [your burnt offerings]" - and do you really sacrifice upon it? Rather, only when it is whole and not when it is deficient. He said: this is the very verse that escaped Rav. And Rabbi Yochanan says: both this and that [the animals already designated] were invalidated there. In what do they disagree? One master holds that living beings can be permanently rejected, and the other master holds that living beings cannot be permanently rejected.