Passover sacrifice

The following is a brief summary of the principal ordinances and of the ritual accompanying the sacrifice: The sacrificial animal, which was either a lamb or goat, had to be a male, one year old, and without blemish.

Only those who were circumcised and clean before the Law might participate, and they were forbidden to have leavened food in their possession during the act of slaughtering the Passover lamb.

According to some Talmudic authorities, such as Rav Kahana IV, women counted in the minyan for offering the passover sacrifice (B.Pesachim 79b).

This regulation, that the Sabbath yielded the precedence to the Passover, was not definitely determined until the time of Hillel, who established it as a law and was in return elevated to the dignity of nasi by Judah ben Bathyra.

The first of these filled the court of the Temple, so that the gates had to be closed, and while they were killing and offering their Passover lambs the Levites on the platform (dukhan) recited the Hallel (Psalms 113-118), accompanied by instruments of brass.

When the sacrifice was completed and the animal was ready for roasting, each one present carried his lamb home, except when the eve of the Passover fell on a Sabbath, in which case it might not be taken away.

The lamb was set on the table at the evening banquet (see Passover Seder), and was eaten by the assembled company after all had satisfied their appetites with the ḥagigah or other food.

While eating it, the entire company of those who partook was obliged to remain together, and every participant had to take a piece of the lamb at least as large as an olive.

The Hallel was recited during the meal, and when the lamb had been eaten the meaning of the custom was explained, and the story of the Exodus was told.

[2] In 2007, a group of rabbis including Adin Steinsalz and other members of the New Sanhedrin Council supported by the Temple Mount Faithful identified a Kohen who was a butcher, made plans for conducting a Passover sacrifice on the Temple Mount, and petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice for permission.

The Court sided with the government and rejected the request, holding that such an event would inflame religious tensions and would threaten security.

Jerusalem police detained ten suspects in the Old City for interrogation, and seized four sacrificial goat kids.

[citation needed] The annual attempt to ascend the Temple Mount to perform the sacrifice in 2022 spawned widespread rumours of Jewish extremists supposedly planning to enter the Al-Aqsa Compound, where Jews are heavily restricted from entering and Jewish prayer is forbidden, inciting a riot which ultimately led to the 2022 Al-Aqsa Mosque storming.