The Priest Pinches the Bird Offering at the Altar Top

"His offering" -- turtledoves and young pigeons, but the means of making it fit are not turtledoves and young pigeons. Is this not logical? If sparrows, which are not fit to atone within, are fit to atone outside, then turtledoves and young pigeons, which are fit to atone within, should all the more be fit to atone outside; Scripture teaches "his offering" -- turtledoves and young pigeons, but the means of making it fit are not turtledoves and young pigeons. And by an inference to sparrows that they are fit to atone within: if turtledoves and young pigeons, not fit to atone outside, are fit to atone within, then sparrows, fit to atone outside, should be fit to atone within; Scripture teaches, "and he shall bring from the turtledoves or from the young pigeons his offering" -- you have among birds only turtledoves and young pigeons. Rabbi Yehudah says... [the same is the law for the poor man; how do we know it for the rich man?] Scripture teaches "his offering" -- turtledoves and young pigeons, but the means of making it fit are not turtledoves and young pigeons. "And he shall bring it" -- why does Scripture say this? Since it is stated "from the turtledoves or from the young pigeons," one might think the one who freely offers a bird must bring no fewer than two pairs; Scripture teaches "and he shall bring it" -- even a single pair. "To the altar" -- why does Scripture say "the priest"? To fix a priest for it. And he shall pinch -- teaching that the pinching is done only by a priest. Is this not logical? Just as the animal of the flock, for which the north side is fixed, has no priest fixed for it, so pinching, for which the north is not fixed, should have no priest fixed for it; Scripture teaches "the priest" -- to fix a priest for it. One might think he may pinch it with a knife; Scripture teaches "the priest, and he shall pinch." Rabbi Akiva said: Could it enter your mind that a non-priest draws near the altar? Rather, what does "priest" teach? That the pinching is done with the priest's own body [his fingernail]. One might think he may pinch it either above or below; Scripture teaches "and he shall pinch and turn into smoke" -- just as the burning is at the top of the altar, so the pinching is at the top of the altar. "And he shall pinch" -- that the pinching is from the back of the neck. Or is it from the front of the throat? It says here "and he shall pinch" and it says there "and he shall pinch" (Leviticus 5:8); just as there it is from the back of the neck, so here from the back of the neck. If so, just as there he pinches and does not sever, so here he pinches and does not sever; Scripture teaches "and he shall pinch and turn into smoke" -- just as the burning is the head by itself and the body by itself, so too here, and so on. And how do we know the head is burned by itself and the body by itself? When it says "and the priest shall turn it into smoke at the altar," the burning of the body is stated; so how do I uphold "and he shall pinch and turn into smoke"? Scripture speaks of the burning of the head. "And its blood shall be drained out" -- all its blood; he grasps the head and the body and drains from both. "On the wall of the altar" -- and not on the wall of the ramp, nor on the wall of the foundation, nor on the wall of the sanctuary, on the upper wall. One might think on the lower wall, and there is an argument: an animal whose sin-offering is given above has its burnt-offering below; a bird whose sin-offering is below should have its burnt-offering below; Scripture teaches "and he shall turn into smoke at the altar and its blood shall be drained on the wall of the altar" -- the place stated for burning is the place stated for draining: just as burning is above, so draining is above. How does he do it? He stands on the surrounding ledge at the southeast corner and pinches the head from the back of its neck and severs it and drains its blood on the wall of the altar. If he did it below his feet, even one cubit, it is fit. Rabbi Nehemiah and Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov say: the whole act was done only at the top of the altar; what is between them? Abbaye and Rava both say the difference is whether one may make a pyre upon the surrounding ledge. Rabbi Eliezer says: Since it is stated "this is the law of the animal and the bird" (Leviticus 11:46), in what law is an animal equal to a bird? Just as the bird's preparation is from the neck, so the animal's slaughter is from the neck. If so, just as there from the back of the neck, so here from the back of the neck; Scripture teaches "and he shall pinch its head from the back of its neck" (Leviticus 5:8) -- the head of this one from the back of its neck, but not the head of another from the back of its neck. How does one pinch in a bird sin-offering? He cuts the spine and the neck-bone without most of the flesh until he reaches the gullet or the windpipe, cuts one pipe or most of it together with most of the flesh; and in a burnt-offering, both pipes or most of both. The sprinkling of a bird's blood is done by priests and not by priestesses, by an inference from the animal of the flock: just as the animal of the flock, for which no priest is fixed for its slaughter, has a priest fixed for its sprinkling, so the bird, for which a priest is fixed for its pinching, should all the more have a priest fixed for its sprinkling.