Before us is Mishnah 4 in the fourth chapter of Tractate Zevachim. At the conclusion of the previous Mishnah, it was stated: "Vechol sheyesh lo matirin, bein la'adam bein lammizbe'ach, chayavin alav mishum pigul" - Any sacrifice that has a preliminary step that permits it, whether permitting it to be eaten by a person or permitting it to be burned on the altar, is subject to the law of pigul, and consequently carries the punishment of kares for anyone who eats from it. In our Mishnah, we will deal with the sacrifices that follow this rule: sacrifices that are burned or eaten and have a permitting step, and therefore are subject to the law of pigul.
The Olah:
"Damah matir es besarah lammizbe'ach" - The sprinkling of the blood is what permits the burning on the altar, not just of the inner parts (the eimurim) but of the entire meat. Thus, there is a permitting agent here - the blood - and therefore the meat is subject to the possibility of pigul. "Ve'orah lakohanim" - The same applies to the hides that are transferred to the kohanim: the hide of the Olah is not given to the kohen until after the blood has been properly sprinkled, and so we have here a permitting agent that permits the hide to the kohanim. While the hides are not designated for eating, and there is no liability of kares for eating a hide since it is not food, the permitting agent that allows the kohen to receive it is the sprinkling of the blood of the Olah sacrifice itself.
The Bird Sacrifices:
There are two types of bird sacrifices: the bird Olah and the bird Chatas. The bird Olah is completely burned, and the bird Chatas is entirely eaten without any of it going up on the altar. In these two, we find the classic examples of the rule of the previous Mishnah regarding that which is brought to man or goes up on the altar, since in both of them there is no division: with the bird Olah, everything goes up on the altar, and with the bird Chatas, everything goes to the kohanim and nothing goes up on the altar.
In both cases, there is a permitting agent, which is the blood that comes from the neck after the melikah (nipping the neck). The slaughter of a turtledove or young pigeon in the Temple is not done with a knife at the front of the neck, but rather with the thumbnail at the back of the neck - this is melikah. After this comes the squeezing of the blood: a little blood must be squeezed from the neck onto the altar, and this is the permitting agent that makes the bird fit - for the altar in the case of an Olah, and for the kohanim in the case of a Chatas. Since there is a permitting agent here, the possibility of pigul applies to them.
As the Mishnah states: "Olas ha'of - damah matir es besarah lammizbe'ach" - The blood is what permits the meat to be burned on the altar. "Chatas ha'of - damah matir es besarah lakohanim" - The blood placed on the altar is what permits the kohanim to eat the Chatas.
It is worth noting a special novelty here: generally, a bird is only permitted to be eaten through proper shechitah (slaughter), and without it, it is not kosher. But for the birds of the Temple, shechitah is not a valid method at all - if one performs shechitah on a bird Olah or a bird Chatas, the sacrifice is invalid, as one is required to perform melikah. On the other hand, performing melikah on an ordinary non-sacred bird disqualifies it from being eaten, yet in the Temple, it is specifically what renders it kosher. Thus, permitting the bird Chatas for eating is achieved specifically through melikah and the placement of the blood on the altar.
The Burned Bulls and the Burned Goats:
We have already discussed the list of inner Chataos - the five Chatas offerings whose blood enters the Sanctuary and is offered on the inner altar. This exact same list is known by two names: in reference to the blood entering inside the Heichal, they are called inner Chataos, and in reference to their bodies, they are called the burned bulls and burned goats - because in these five sacrifices, the eimurim go up on the outer altar, but the rest of the meat is not eaten by the kohanim, and even though they are Chatas offerings, it is burned outside the Temple.
There are three burned bulls:
The bull of the kohen gadol on Yom Kippur.
The bull for an unknown transgression (Par He'elem Davar) of the Sanhedrin.
The bull of the anointed kohen - when he issued an erroneous ruling concerning a matter punishable by kares and subsequently retracted and corrected his words.
The burned he-goats are two:
The he-goat to Hashem brought on Yom Kippur.
The he-goat for idol worship - when the Sanhedrin issues an erroneous ruling that idol worship is permitted, and the public acts upon it, a special he-goat is brought.
These korbanos are not eaten but are burned outside, yet their sacrificial parts are burned on the Altar. Because of this, the sacrificial parts are not brought up until the placement of the blood is first done properly, and thus we have a permitting factor. Therefore, the law of outside of its proper time applies to them: One who has these intentions renders the korban piggul, and one who eats from these sacrificial parts is liable to kares.
And the wording of the Mishnah is: "Parim hanisrafim use'irim hanisrafim - mattan daman baHeichal matir es eimoreihen likarev" - the placement of the blood in the Sanctuary that is done properly, as explained above, is what permits their sacrificial parts to be offered upon the outer Altar.
The view of Rabbi Shimon:
Rabbi Shimon disagrees with this last point. As explained in the previous Mishnah, the source for the law of piggul is a verse stated explicitly regarding a Shelamim korban, and therefore the law only applies to things that are similar to a Shelamim. In the previous Mishnah we assumed that the similarity to a Shelamim is determined by the existence of a permitting factor; but Rabbi Shimon holds that an additional characteristic is required: The blood of the Shelamim is placed on the outer Altar and not on the inner Altar. Therefore, regarding korbanos whose blood is placed inside and not on the outer Altar - even though they have a permitting factor - the law of piggul does not apply to them from the verses.
And in his words: "Kol she'eino al mizbeach hachitzon keShelamim - ein chayavin alav mishum piggul" - any permitting factor that is not placed on the outer Altar in the manner of the Shelamim, the concept of piggul does not apply to it. In his opinion, regarding the burned bulls and the burned he-goats there is no connection to the concept of piggul. Nevertheless, he agrees that one who has an intention of outside of its proper time regarding them during the offering - invalidates the korban; but the law of piggul, and liability to kares for eating them, do not apply.