Offerings

This chapter examines the Book of Offerings (Sefer korbanot), which is described in the Mishneh torah's introduction as being about individual offerings. It includes six sections of the Book of Offerings, such as the Laws of the Passover Offering, about the paschal lamb that is slaughtered in the Temple and the Laws of the Festal Offering, about the three kinds of offerings that each householder brings on the three pilgrim festivals. It also mentions Maimonides, who characteristically stresses the obligation to give portions to the poor and the Levites so that they too will rejoice on the festival. The chapter cites the commandment of hakhel, the ceremony held every seven years on the festival of Tabernacles following the sabbatical year. It covers the Laws of Substituted Offerings, which is about the prohibition against substituting an animal designated for sacrifice with another one.