Where the Peace-Offering May Be Slaughtered at the Tent of Meeting

"And he shall slaughter it" (Leviticus 3:2), "and he shall slaughter it" (verse 8), "and he shall slaughter it" (verse 13). What does Scripture teach? Since it is said "when the place is far from you, then you shall slaughter" (Deuteronomy 12:21), at a distant place you slaughter ordinary food, and you do not slaughter at a near place; this excludes ordinary animals, that they not be slaughtered in the courtyard. I would know only that unblemished animals fit to be offered are excluded; whence to include blemished animals? I include blemished animals, since they are of a kind fit to be offered. Whence to include a wild animal? I include the wild animal, since it is slaughtered like a domestic beast. Whence to include birds? Therefore Scripture teaches "and he shall slaughter it," "and he shall slaughter it," "and he shall slaughter it." One might think one may not eat it but may feed it to a dog; therefore it teaches "it" (Exodus 22:30): that you may cast to the dog, but you may not cast to the dog ordinary food slaughtered in the courtyard. "And he shall slaughter it at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting" (Leviticus 3:2), "before the Tent of Meeting" (verses 8, 13), to render fit all directions for offerings of lesser holiness, and all the more the north. For if offerings of highest holiness, which were not made fit in all directions, were made fit in the north, then offerings of lesser holiness, which were made fit in all directions, surely should be made fit in the north. Rabbi Eleazar says: the verse comes only to render the north fit by a fortiori argument: if offerings of lesser holiness, made fit in all directions, were not made fit in the place beside offerings of highest holiness, then offerings of highest holiness, made fit only in the north, surely should not be made fit in the place beside offerings of lesser holiness; therefore Scripture teaches "and he shall slaughter it at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting." Wherein do they differ? The Sages hold three verses are written: one for the body of the tent, that one make an entrance of the Tent of Meeting; one to render the north fit; and one to render the sides fit. The sides of the sides need no verse. Why does it write here "the entrance of the Tent of Meeting" and there "and he shall slaughter it before the Tent of Meeting"? As Rav Judah said in the name of Samuel: peace-offerings slaughtered before the doors of the Sanctuary were opened are invalid, as it says "and he shall slaughter it at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting," when it is open and not when it is shut; and so in the Tabernacle, before the Levites set up the Tabernacle, and after they dismantled it, they are invalid. Rabbi Yochanan said: peace-offerings slaughtered within the Sanctuary itself are valid, as it says "at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting," and the subordinate place should not be stricter than the principal. They objected: Rabbi Judah ben Beteira says, whence that if gentiles surrounded the whole courtyard, the priests may enter the Sanctuary and eat there offerings of highest holiness and the remnants of meal-offerings? Scripture teaches "in the most holy place you shall eat it." And why not say here too "in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting they shall eat it," and the subordinate should not be stricter than the principal? It is not so: there it is service, and service performed in the master's place we say the subordinate should not be stricter than the principal; but eating, since a person does not eat in his master's presence, the verse's reason applies, and otherwise we would not say the subordinate should not be stricter than the principal.