4,077. Non-Kosher and Stolen Offerings

Hilchos Issurei Mizbeiach 5:6

One who burns the limbs of a non-kosher animal on the altar is subject to the penalty of lashes even though the prohibition against doing so is not explicit, being inferred from a positive mitzvah. The Torah commands us to eat and offer only kosher animals, from which we infer not to eat or offer non-kosher animals. Just as one is subject to lashes for eating a non-kosher animal – even though it’s a prohibition inferred from a positive mitzvah, as was discussed in Hilchos Maachalos Assuros – one is likewise subject to lashes for offering a non-kosher animal. Conversely, if someone were to offer the limbs of a kosher wild animal [like a deer, as opposed to a domesticated animal, like a cow], he violates a positive mitzvah but is not subject to lashes. He violates a positive mitzvah as per Leviticus 1:2: “Of the domesticated animals – of the cattle and the flocks you shall offer.” We infer from this that one may not offer wild animals. A prohibition inferred from a positive mitzvah is considered a positive mitzvah.

Hilchos Issurei Mizbeiach 5:7

If someone steals something and offers it, it is unfit and God despises it, as per Isaiah 61:8: “I hate robbery in a burnt offering.” It should go without saying that such an offering is not acceptable. If the rightful owner gives up hope of getting it back, the offering is accepted; this is so even in the case of a sin offering, which is eaten by the kohanim. For the sake of the altar, the Sages ruled that if a sin offering was commonly known to have been acquired by theft, it does not effect atonement even if the rightful owner gave up hope of getting it back. This is so that people not say that the altar accepts stolen property. The same rules apply to a burnt offering.

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