AMIRAT SEDER KORBAN PESACH
Following the Tanach texts, there is a description of the actual Korban Pesach procedure in the HaMikdash. Here is an English translation of that passage. You can find it in Hebrew in some Siddurim and Hagadot.
Thus was the service of the Korban Pesach (KP) on the 14th of Nissan. It was not slaughtered until after the afternoon TAMID. Erev Pesach (EP) that fell on any day of the week including Shabbat, the TAMID was slaughtered at 7� hours and offered on the Mizbei�ach at 8� hours. When EP was Erev Shabbat, it was slaughtered at 6� hours and brought at 7� hours. KP was brought AFTER the TAMID. All Jews - men & women - who are TAHOR and circumcised (an uncircumcised member of the household prevents all from KP) who are �close� to Yerushalayim, are obligated in KP.
KP is brought from unblemished male lambs and goats within their first year, and are slaughtered anywhere in the AZARA, AFTER the Tamid is completed and the Menora is tended to. KP is not brought if any member of �the group� has chametz in his possession.
KP is slaughtered (even by a non-kohen) and the blood of Shchita is received by a kohen in a sacred vessel. There were lines of kohanim from each �Shchita station� to the Mizbei�ach, each kohen with either a gold or silver vessel (within a row, all the vessels were the same; it was considered more attractive that way). The vessels did not have flat bottoms to prevent them from being put down, which might allow the blood to congeal before reaching the Mizbei�ach, thus invalidating the korban. In assembly-line fashion, the first kohen handed the vessel with the blood to the second kohen in line and received from him an empty vessel. The second kohen passed the blood to the next in line and received an empty vessel. And so on, until the kohen near the Mizbei�ach poured the blood on the base of the Mizbei�ach and handed the empty vessel back to the kohen next to him. Then the KP was hung from hooks or from poles supported by one�s shoulder and the shoulder of his fellow, and it was skinned (on Shabbat, the whole skin was not removed). Certain innards and fats were removed from the animal, placed in a sacred vessel, salted and placed on the fire of the Mizbei�ach. (The timing for HEKTEIR CHALAVIM, as it is called, was different when EP was Shabbat.) Other innards were removed and cleaned (with differences if EP is Shabbat), to be roasted alongside the KP.
KP was brought in three shifts, none with fewer than 30 people. After the first shift entered the AZARA, the doors were locked. During the bringing of KP, Leviyim sang Hallel. If necessary, they repeated it, and again, until the shift was done. For each Hallel, kohanim blew the Silver Trumpets. When the shift was done, the people were let out of the Azara and the next shift was admitted. So too for the third shift. After all KP were brought, the floor of the Azara was flooded and washed - even on Shabbat.
Roasting of KP does not �push aside� Shabbat. When EP is Friday, roasting must be done BEFORE Shabbat. When EP is Shabbat, roasting (and even bringing the KP from Har HaBayit to the place where it will be eaten) waits until AFTER Shabbat. The animal and those innards removed but not placed on the Mizbei�ach are placed on a wooden skewer from a pomegranate tree and put inside the oven, with the heat below.
When EP is a weekday, a Korban Shlamim known as CHAGIGAT YUD-DALET is also brought (only when people are TAHOR) � from cow, goat, or sheep, male or female, any age � and is eaten as the main dish at the Seder so that the KP will be AL HASOVA, when satisfied (but not stuffed).
This is the procedure for the KP and Chagiga (which are symbolized on our Seder plates by the Z�RO�A and EGG respectively).
When we say Seder Korban Pesach, we should have in mind CHURBAN BEIT HAMIKDASH (the destruction of the Temple) AND be filled with prayerful anticipation for the next Beit HaMikdash (these are opposite sides of the same coin). Saying Amirat Seder Korban Pesach at the �proper� time on Erev Pesach, can count in
�Heaven� (so to speak) as if we actually brought KP in the Beit HaMikdash, may it be built soon in our time, AMEN.
Topic: The Order of Korban Pesach (Read 2298 times)