Immersing Sacrificial Animals

It is pretty well-known that Jewish people free themselves from tumah by immersing their bodies in water. It is less-known that even people who are perfectly tahor immerse themselves before entering the Beis Hamikdash. What about the sacrificial animals? Were they also immersed before entering the Beis Hamikdash to be used as offerings?

On Sunday, December 28, 2025, I delivered a presentation at Congregation Tiferes Yisrael in Baltimore. During that talk I mentioned that the sacrificial animals were immersed in a mikveh prior to slaughter. Let's just say that if I were an AI chatbot this would be labelled a hallucination because, based on my subsequent research to locate a source for this contention, it is not true. Well, it is not completely true: they were not immersed in a valid mikveh, but they were immersed. Let's explore this topic in more detail.

There are certain categories of tumah that a person can contract and that can only be removed when the person immerses in a valid mikveh of rainwater or spring water. Animals, however, are totally impervious to any form of tumah while they are alive. This is codified in Rambam (Tumas Ochalin 2:6):

כָּל הָאֳכָלִין שֶׁהֵן מִבַּעֲלֵי חַיִּים אֵינָן מְקַבְּלִין טֻמְאָה עַד שֶׁיָּמוּתוּ

All items meant for human consumption that are of the class of living creatures do not contract tumah until after they die.

This means that there would never be any reason to immerse an animal in a mikveh solely for removing tumah contamination. That being said, there is a Mishnah that seems to be discussing a case of an animal being immersed in a mikveh for that very reason (Shabbos 5:1):

 וְכָל בַּעֲלֵי הַשֵּׁיר יוֹצְאִים בַּשֵּׁיר ... וְטוֹבְלִין בִּמְקוֹמָן

All animals that wear collars around their necks may go out wearing these collars on Shabbos ... and we immerse them in place.

The Mishnah is talking about a case where the collar around the animal's neck contracted tumah and requires immersion in a mikveh. It is not necessary to remove the collar but rather the collar may be immersed in the mikveh while still "in place" around the animal's neck. Even though the animal winds up going to the mikveh, it is not for its own tumah but for that of the collar. This scenario was certainly uncommon and would not explain why sacrificial animals would be routinely immersed.

When a person visits the Beis Hamikdash, he or she is required to immerse in a valid mikveh prior to entering the Azarah. The purpose of this immersion is not to remove tumah, for the Mishnah states (Yoma 3:3):

אֵין אָדָם נִכְנָס לָעֲזָרָה לָעֲבוֹדָה, אֲפִלּוּ טָהוֹר, עַד שֶׁיִּטְבֹּל

No one enters the Azarah to perform the avodah, even if they are tahor, until they immerse in a mikveh.

This immersion symbolizes the increase in sanctity that occurs when entering the Beis Hamikdash (Gemara 30a, opinion of Ben Zoma), and although the Mishnah states this requirement specifically in connection with performing the avodah, the same is true for anyone entering the Azarah (Rashi ad loc.). The question then becomes whether such an immersion is required for the animals, either because they are now entering the Azarah or because they are about to be used in the sacrificial service.

I have not been able to find any source that states that sacrificial animals were immersed in a mikveh prior to slaughter. Perhaps most telling of all the sources that omit this fact is in Tractate Tamid. This tractate describes in intricate detail the preparation of the daily Tamid offering and nowhere does it mention that the sheep was immersed in a mikveh.

When I said that sacrificial animals were immersed, I was pretty sure that I had seen this somewhere and that I was not, in fact, hallucinating. Hashem was kind enough to send me the source I had been thinking of, and upon closer inspection I discovered that the details had not lodged properly in my brain. There is a Gemara that states as follows (Chullin 36b):

דאמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל כגון שהיתה לו פרה של זבחי שלמים והעבירה בנחל

Rav Yehudah said in the name of Shmuel: He had a cow that was to be used as a Shelamim offering and he passed it through the river.

Rashi explains that the person would immerse his animal in a river just prior to slaughter because this made it easier to remove the hide. The river need not be a valid mikveh (although it could be) because the purpose is not to remove tumah or even elevate the animal's sanctity, but apparently just to get the animal wet. The reason this fact is stated in connection with a Shelamim offering is because the hide goes to the owner, so he will make the extra effort to immerse the animal in order to more easily skin it. This reason only applies to Shelamim offerings but would not be true of any other type of sacrificial animal. Although Rashi does not explain why immersing an animal makes it easier to skin, Meiri (to the same teaching in Pesachim 20a) says that when the animal walks through the water it will drink, and drinking water is what makes it easier to skin. This fact is corroborated in Tamid 3:4 where it states that they would give the lamb a drink of water prior to slaughter in order that it should be easier to skin.

According to the Divrei Malkiel (Chelek 3, 41 ד״ה והנה בקרבנות) the immersion described in Chullin 36b was to clean the neck so that no dirt should interfere with the slaughter. If so, this would mean that all types of offerings would have been immersed, not just Shelamim. One difficulty with this approach is that, if this were true, the Mishnah in Tamid should have stated that the Tamid lamb was immersed, or washed, in water prior to slaughter. He answers that it was not necessary to do so for the Tamid lamb because it was kept in the Chamber of the Lambs for four days prior to slaughter and would not get as dirty as a standard barnyard animal. 

[The explanation that the purpose of the immersion was to wash the animals is also found in the description of the sacrificial service as witnessed by a non-Jew. Currently I have only found it available here.]

In conclusion, it is safe to say that some (according to Rashi) or all (according to Divrei Malkiel) sacrificial animals were immersed in a body of water — but not specifically a mikveh — prior to slaughter.