What Is The Place Of The Zevachim?

לרפואת ר' אריה דב  בן מלכה

Everybody who is fortunate enough to say korbanos in the morning, says איזהו מקומן של זבחים - The Mishna which begins "What is the [specific] place [in the Beis Hamikdash] where we do the service of the various korbanos?

You can read this mishna for 70 years and never ask an obvious question - Why do the korbanos need a specific place? Bring them anywhere in the Beis Hamikdash! I mean, "Hashem is here, Hashem is there, Hashem is truly everywhere," so why are we so careful to bring them in a circumscribed place? [And what does "circumscribed" mean. How would you use that in a supermarket? You go up to the nice Hispanic man putting the dog food on the shelf and say "What is the circumscribed place for breakfast cereals?" Yo man, I ain't sure what you mean. But I tink aisle 5."]

The answer is that the place is a CONCRETE EXPRESSION of each korban's unique holiness. The whole idea of bringing a korban is to demonstrate and concretize holiness in the world. Therefore each korban is brought in the place that best expresses its essence.

איזהו מקומן של זבחים is indeed a critical question. What is the physical, spatial representation of the various  korbanos' heavenly influence?

נפלא ממש!!

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