Here we’ll talk about the limbs of a chatat (sin offering), which are supposed to be eaten, and the limbs of an olah (burnt offering), which is fully burned on the Mizbeach (altar). If they became mixed, what do we do in that type of situation?
The Mishnah says: If the limbs of a korban (offering) chatat became mixed up with the limbs of a korban olah, you can’t eat them, and you’re not allowed to burn them either. You’re not allowed to eat both of them because part of it, which is the olah, is not allowed to be eaten. It has to be fully burned. At the same time, the korban chatat is not allowed to be burned on the Mizbeach. It has to be eaten. So what do you do in this type of situation? What do I do with the limbs of the animal that’s in front of me? How do I treat them?
Rabbi Eliezer omer yitnu lema'alah. It says, Rabbi Eliezer, you put them all on the fire on top of the Mizbeach. You burn all of them. The limbs of the olah are supposed to be burned, so that’s okay. But what do you do with the limbs of the korban chatat? “Chatat,” says Rabbi Eliezer, “v'ro'eh ani et besar chatat milma'alan k'ilu hen etzim.” I view the chatat meat that’s on top of the Mizbeach as if it’s wood, like it’s fuel for the fire.
In other words, Rabbi Eliezer understands the prohibition against burning the limbs of the korban chatat to apply only when you have kavanah, when you have intention to burn them as part of the korban. But if a person burns them in order to fuel the fire, that would not be a problem. That would actually be allowed. That’s a way to take care of the situation. And the kohen (priest), who’s bringing the animal or the parts of the limb onto the Mizbeach, has to keep in mind that whatever limbs of the korban chatat are not being used on the Mizbeach as a korban, but are there for fuel.
Vechachamim (Sages) omrim te'ubar tzuratan veyetze'u lebeit HaSereifah. Vechachamim disagree and say the korban chatat is not supposed to be put in the fire. You’re not allowed to use it even as firewood. So you’ve got a problem. They say there’s no way to permit burning the limbs on the Mizbeach, so what you should do is leave them until the morning. Their appearance changes at that point in time. All the moisture has left the korban. Once morning hits, the korban becomes notar. The Torah tells us that the limbs of the korban chatat and the olah have to be eaten or burned by the next morning. If they’re not, then they become notar. They’re left over and they’re disqualified. And we take them to a spot called the Beit HaSereifah, where the invalid korbanot are burned. That’s in a part of the courtyard.
So here, you leave them out until the appearance changes. And then veyetze'u lebeit HaSereifah: they’re taken out to the place where the invalid korbanot are burned. So according to the Hachamim, we’re stuck in a situation where we have no recourse; we have no choice. We can’t eat the animal in question, the limbs, because it may be from the korban olah. We can’t burn the entire animal, because whatever we’re burning may be from the korban chatat, which is not allowed to be burned. So we’re stuck here. We can’t do anything. We have to wait until morning, when keeping them becomes a problem. And we have to put it in the fire as notar.