1. Does גיד הנשה apply to korbanos which are not eaten (e.g., עולה)?

The Mishnah taught that the גיד הנשה prohibition applies to kodashim. Rebbe Chiya bar Yosef says this is only true for קדשים הנאכלין – korbanos which are eaten (e.g., שלמים), but not to קדשים שאינן נאכלין – korbanos which are not eaten (e.g., עולה). Rebbe Yochanan says it even applies to korbanos which are not eaten. Rav Pappa says there is no argument: גיד הנשה does apply to an olah להלקותו – for subjecting one to lashes for eating it, but does not apply to an olah להעלותו – about bringing it up onto the מזבח, (i.e., to prevent burning it on the מזבח as part of the עולה). In another version, Rav Pappa says that גיד הנשה does not apply to an olah לחלצו – regarding removing [the גיד הנשה] from the thigh before burning it on the מזבח (rather, it is burned with the korban), whereas it does apply to an olah להעלותו – regarding bringing it up onto the מזבח if it was removed from the thigh. גיד הנשה “applies” to עולה, and it is not independently burned on the מזבח. Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak says they do disagree and argue whether it should be offered together with the thigh, or removed. He proves this question is a machlokes Tannaim.

1. Machlokes if the גיד הנשה must be removed from an עולה before burning it on the מזבח

Rav Huna says about the גיד הנשה of an עולה: חולצו לתפוח – one removes it from the עולה’s thigh and places it on the mound of ash on the מזבח. Rav Chisda exclaimed: מרי דיכי – Master of this statement! Does the passuk say על כן לא יאכל המזבח – therefore, the מזבח is not to eat [the גיד הנשה]?! The passuk forbids בני ישראל from eating it; why should it not be brought on the מזבח? Rav Huna holds we darshen ממשקה ישראל – “from the feast of Yisroel,” requiring korbanos to be מן המותר לישראל – from that which is permitted to Yisroel. Since the גיד הנשה is prohibited to Yisroel, it cannot be offered on the מזבח. A Baraisa teaches that an olah’s גיד הנשה is “brought up.” According to Rav Huna, that it is not burned on the מזבח, this means it is brought onto the מזבח and then removed and thrown onto the תפוח. We do not cut it out on the עזרה floor and bring the dissected thigh up, because the passuk says: הקריבהו נא לפחתך – Present it, if you please, to your governor, teaching not to offer to Hashem something unacceptable to a human ruler.

1. Places where the Torah or Chazal spoke בלשון הבאי

A Mishnah states that the תפוח – ash mound on the מזבח sometimes had three hundred כור of ashes on it. Rava says this is a גוזמא – exaggeration. Rava said the same about a Mishnah stating that the תמיד lamb was given to drink in a gold cup. Rebbe Ami said: דברה תורה לשון הבאי – the Torah spoke in some places in terms of hyperbole, as did the נביאים, and the Sages. Examples of the Sages were mentioned above. The Torah used hyperbole in the passuk "ערים גדולות ובצורות בשמים" – large cities and fortified to the heavens. נביאים used hyperbole in the passuk "ותבקע הארץ בקולם" – the ground split from their noise. Shmuel says the Chochomim used hyperbole three times: once, regarding the תפוח, as mentioned above. Also, regarding the גפן – “grapevine” of gold at the Heichal entrance, where people would donate a golden grape or cluster which was hung there, and the Mishnah says that three hundred Kohanim were needed to clear all the gold. Finally, regarding the פרוכת, which was a tefach thick, and forty by twenty amos, which the Mishnah says required three hundred Kohanim to immerse it in a mikveh if it became tamei.