Mishneh Torah, Sacrificial Procedure 4-6

Sugya Map

• Issue: The temporal boundaries of sacrificial avodah (service) and the necessity of kavanah (intent) in the four primary services.
• Nafka Mina: Whether slaughtering at night or with wrong intent permanently invalidates the korban (sacrifice) or merely prevents the fulfillment of the owner's obligation.
• Primary Sources: Leviticus 7:38, Leviticus 7:15, Zevachim 2a, Zevachim 46b, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Ma'aseh HaKorbanot 4:1-10.

Text Snapshot

Rambam states: "All of the sacrifices may be offered only during the day... [based on] 'On the day when He commanded' Leviticus 7:38... When the sun sets, the blood is disqualified." Nuance: Rambam clarifies that while shechitah (slaughter) is not technically an avodah (as a non-priest may perform it), it is bound to the daytime requirement because the avodah of zerikah (sprinkling) must occur on the day of slaughter.

Readings

• Yekhahen Pe'er: Explains the difficulty of deriving shechitah from the verse "on the day He commanded," given that shechitah is not avodah. He resolves that since zerikah must be on the day of slaughter, if one slaughters at night, the subsequent zerikah would necessarily fall outside the required window, thus invalidating the process.
• Kessef Mishneh: Analyzes the Rambam's stance on "intentless" slaughter. He notes that while standard burnt/peace offerings are acceptable without specific intent, the Rambam’s silence on sin/guilt offerings suggests they may be more stringent, highlighting the tension between performative ma'aseh and cognitive kavanah.

Friction

• Kushya: If shechitah is not an avodah (priestly service), why does the Rambam include it in the category of acts requiring specific intent Zevachim 2a?
• Terutz: The act of shechitah is the ptichah (opening) of the sacrificial process. Without proper intent at this stage, the "chain of service" (slaughter, receiving, transport, sprinkling) is severed. The intent is not merely a mental state but a functional requirement to link the animal to its specific legal category.

Intertext

• Megillah 20b: Confirms that shechitah is daytime-only, paralleling the logic in Hilchot Ma'aseh HaKorbanot 4:1.
• Hilchot Pesulei HaMukdashim 14:1: Reaffirms that the kohen's intent, not the owner's, defines the sacrifice's validity.

Psak/Practice

The principle that "the eager hasten to perform mitzvot" applies even when the law provides a window (e.g., eimorim at night). Meta-halachically, this establishes a heuristic: Bedieved (after the fact) leniency should never be the target of lechatchilah (initial) conduct.

Takeaway

Sacrificial validity is a sequence, not a static state; the shechitah is the "anchor" that dictates the legality of all subsequent avodot. If the anchor is dropped in the dark, the entire vessel drifts.