the korban tamid offered up in the week it says, ‘in the morning’, whereas by Shabbos it says, ‘on the day of Shabbos’, which implies late in the day.”
5) The Mishnah in Tamid (3:4)
The Mishnah in Tamid (3:4) teaches that before shechting the korban tamid they would give it “water to drink from a golden cup”.
Did the cup literally need to be made of gold?
The Gemara in Tamid (29a) and Chullin (90b) brings a machlokes if the cup actually had to be made of gold (due to ein aniyas bemakom ashirus) or if the Tanna was just exaggerating and it just needed to be a cup made of copper that appeared to be gold. The Rambam (Hilchos Tamidin 1:9) rules that the cup had to literally be made of gold.
What was the reason for giving the sheep water to drink?
Rashi (Chullin 90b) and the Rambam Pirush HaMishnayos (Tamid) explain that by giving the animal water to drink before shechita it made it easier to do hefshet [skinning] as the water helps ensure that the skin doesn’t stick to the meat of the animal.
However, the Vilna Gaon writes, that the reason it was given water to drink was because drinking lots of water helps remove sirchos and this help ensure that the animal wasn’t chas vesholam a treifah.
We find that even when shechting for chullin [mundane] purposes it is also fitting to give the animal water to drink before performing shechitah. The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 39:12) writes: “It is good to give the animal to drink before shechting it”.
The Shach (s.k. 32) brings from the Beis Yosef in the name of the Kol-Bo: “I have a kabbalah [tradition] from my rebbeim and from those who are experts at shechitah, that if an animal doesn’t drink water before shechitah, it will be full of fine and difficult sirchos.
