cellio | daf bit: Zevachim 41

Tractate Zevachim talks in great detail about the various offerings brought on the altar. The g'mara is currently discussing the offerings brought for unintentional transgressions of negative commandments (the torah says not to do X and you accidentally do X). Vayikra (Leviticus) chapter 4 describes the procedure for three special cases: if the high priest sins, if the whole community sins, and if a king sins. These three offerings are similar but not identical, and today's g'mara is talking about those differences.

The school of R' Yishmael taught: why does the torah mention burning the lobe and the two kidneys in the case of the priest's bull, but not in the case of the community's bull? This may be compared to a king of flesh and blood who was angry with his friend but spoke little of his offense out of love for him. And what does that mean? According to a note in the Soncino edition, the torah treats the community's offense more briefly rather than dwelling on these details. And the school of R' Yishmael also taught: why is sprinkling the blood before the curtain of the sanctuary mentioned for the priest's bull, but for the community's bull it just says the curtain (no sanctuary)? They give a different reason than brevity -- this can be compared to a king of flesh and blood when one of his provinces sinned against him: if a majority offended then the king withdraws his retainers from them, and in the same way when the whole community of Israel sins God withdraws His presence from them -- and thus there is no sanctuary, just a curtain. (41b)