Tractate Zevahim is the first tractate in Seder Kodashim, most of which deals with sacrificial laws and other various laws governing the Temple. Zevahim deals with animal and bird sacrifices, with what disqualifies them and what happens when they are sacrificed outside of the Temple. There are seven types of sacrifices which I shall list here. Some offerings are mandatory and some are voluntary, some are communal and some are individual, and both of these distinctions are critical. Below I will list them by their Hebrew name and by an attempt at translating that name into English. However, throughout my translation and commentary I will refer to them mostly by their Hebrew name, in order to encourage the reader to learn them in a version closer to the original. 1. Olah, the wholly burnt offering. This is also sometimes called a “holocaust” but for obvious reasons, I won’t be using that translation. The olah can either be a mandatory offering, such as the tamid, the daily sacrifices (Numbers 28:1-8) or the musaf, additional offering (Numbers 28: 9ff) or a voluntary offering (Leviticus 1). There are many other mandatory types of the olah. The olah is sometimes a beast and sometimes a bird. 2. Hatat, the sin offering, also sometimes translated as a cleansing offering. The main type of hatat is one that is brought to atone for an unintentional sin (Leviticus 4:1-5). There are also hataot (the plural of hatat) brought on the festivals (Numbers 28: 15ff). There are several other types of hataot as well. The hatat is sometimes a beast and sometimes a bird. 3. Asham, guilt offering. This is brought by robbers, people who made illicit use of Temple property, and by several others (Leviticus 5:14-26; 19:20-22). The asham, the hatat and the olah are all considered “holy of holies” which means that they are eaten entirely by priests within the Temple confines. 4. Shelamim, well-being or peace offering. This is generally an individual offering, either voluntary or mandated, with the exception of the two lambs brought on Shavuot (Leviticus 23:19) which are a communal offering. The todah, or thanksgiving offering, is considered a type of shelamim (Leviticus 7:11ff). 5. Bechor, the first-born animal. There is an entire tractate devoted to the bechor, so we will deal with it there. 6. Maaser behemah, the animal tithe (Leviticus 27:32). This subject is also covered in Tractate Bechorot. 7. Pesah, the passover lamb. This sacrifice is covered in Tractate Pesahim.
There are four steps that are essential and are covered extensively concerning in the sacrifice of a beast: 1) the slaughter (shechitah); 2) collecting the blood from the animal’s neck in a vessel; 3) bringing the blood to the altar; 4) spilling the blood on the altar. When it comes to the slaughter of the bird sacrifices that are two main steps: 1) the plucking off of its head (melikah); 2) the squeezing out of its blood.