Baruch Hashem, the hostages are home!
A brief thought for today, about how simple knowledge of reality can shape our impression of the sugya. Yesterday’s daf (Zevachim 28) discussed the alya, the fatty tail specifically of a sheep and not a goat, and how this was offered on the mizbe’ach. Who cares that much about the fat tail? And why specifically a sheep?
Rav Steinsaltz explained it well with a black and white drawing in the Hebrew Steinsaltz gemara, that we are dealing with a particular breed of sheep, common to Israel and the surrounding region. I asked ChatGPT to draw me one of these fat tailed sheep, and here is its rendering:
Or, here it is in the black and white Hebrew:
He writes: the alya is the long and thick tail (filled with fat) of the species of sheep that was found in Israel and the surrounding countries. The fatty tail of these sheep covered their rear ends well, to the extent their their genitals are not able to be discerned at all, specifically in young sheep.
So, we are not talking about a bony protrusion with a little bit of fat attached to it.
There is a famous story about the alya related at the start of Pesachim (3b), demonstrating how it could be considered a choice part:
הָהוּא אַרְמָאָה דַּהֲוָה סָלֵיק וְאָכֵיל פְּסָחִים בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם. אֲמַר: כְּתִיב ״כׇּל בֶּן נֵכָר לֹא יֹאכַל בּוֹ״, ״כׇּל עָרֵל לֹא יֹאכַל בּוֹ״, וַאֲנָא הָא קָאָכֵילְנָא מִשׁוּפְרֵי שׁוּפְרֵי.
With regard to the investigation of the priestly lineage, the Gemara relates: A certain gentile would ascend on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, claiming he was Jewish, and eat Paschal lambs in Jerusalem. He would then return home and boast about how he had tricked the Jews. He said: It is written: “This is the statute of the Paschal lamb; no foreigner may eat of it” (Exodus 12:43), and another verse says: “Any uncircumcised man shall not eat of it” (Exodus 12:48). And yet, I ate from the finest of the fine portions of the Paschal lamb.
אֲמַר לֵיהּ רַבִּי יְהוּדָה בֶּן בְּתֵירָא: מִי קָא סָפוּ לָךְ מֵאַלְיָה? אֲמַר לֵיהּ: לָא. כִּי סָלְקַתְּ לְהָתָם אֵימָא לְהוּ: סְפוֹ לִי מֵאַלְיָה. כִּי סְלֵיק, אֲמַר לְהוּ: מֵאַלְיָה סְפוֹ לִי! אֲמַרוּ לֵיהּ: אַלְיָה לְגָבוֹהַּ סָלְקָא.
Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira said to him, in an attempt to thwart any repetition of this action: Did they feed you from the fat tail of the lamb? Do you really think they gave you the finest portion? The gentile was ignorant of the fact that the fat tail is sacrificed on the altar, not eaten. The gentile said to him: No. Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira replied: If so, when you ascend there next time, say to them: Feed me the fat tail. The next year when he ascended, he said to the other members of the group he joined: Feed me from the fat tail. They said to him: The fat tail is offered up to God.
אֲמַרוּ לֵיהּ: מַאן אֲמַר לָךְ הָכִי? אֲמַר לְהוּ: רַבִּי יְהוּדָה בֶּן בְּתִירָא. אֲמַרוּ: מַאי הַאי דְּקַמַּן? בְּדַקוּ בָּתְרֵיהּ, וְאַשְׁכְּחוּהוּ דְּאַרְמָאָה הוּא וְקַטְלוּהוּ. שְׁלַחוּ לֵיהּ לְרַבִּי יְהוּדָה בֶּן בְּתִירָא: שְׁלָם לָךְ רַבִּי יְהוּדָה בֶּן בְּתִירָא! דְּאַתְּ בִּנְצִיבִין וּמְצוּדָתְךָ פְּרוּסָה בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם.
They said to him: Who said that to you, to ask for that portion? He said to them testily: It was Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira. They said: What is this incident that has come before us? Could Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira have told him to eat the fat tail? This matter must be investigated further. They investigated his background and found that he was a gentile, and they killed him. They sent a message to Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira: Peace unto you, Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira, as you are in Netzivin and your net is spread in Jerusalem. Despite your distance from Jerusalem, you enabled us to apprehend a person who deceived us.
Are they extinct?