ויקרא, פרק ז׳, פסוק י״ז

The strict time limits placed on eating sacrificial meat serve a profound spiritual and practical purpose. Limiting the time ensures the holy offering is treated with dignity, preventing the food from rotting and becoming repulsive. Furthermore, it teaches a person to trust in God by discouraging the hoarding of food for the future [פרדס יוסף]. Once this designated time expires, the meat officially becomes a forbidden leftover and must be destroyed.

The primary approach among commentators clarifies the exact timeline for this process. The eating period does not actually extend into the third day. Instead, the meat becomes disqualified as soon as night falls after the second day, meaning it can only be eaten for two days and the single night between them. The leftover meat simply waits through the night, and only on the morning of the third day, in the daylight, is it destroyed by fire [רמב״ן, טור, רלב״ג וביאור יש״ר]. This requirement to burn the meat specifically during the day establishes a rule for all disqualified holy items. Just as the original offering takes place during the day, the burning of any invalid parts must also occur in daylight, never at night [תורה תמימה, מלבי״ם, חזקוני ורש״ר הירש]. Even if the third day passes without the meat being burned, the obligation remains for the following days, but the strict requirement to burn it only during daylight hours stays in effect [פענח רזא, אדרת אליהו וביאור יש״ר].

The requirement to burn the leftovers applies strictly to the meat itself. It entirely excludes other parts of the animal, such as bones, sinews, horns, and hooves. Additionally, if a fetus or placenta is found inside the animal, they are excluded from this specific burning process. Even though they are considered meat, they are not classified as the sacrifice itself because they were not independently slaughtered [תורה תמימה, מלבי״ם ואדרת אליהו]. When it comes to the location, the owners destroy the leftover meat right in their own homes, in the exact place where they ate it, without needing to take it elsewhere [רלב״ג]. While the meat must be destroyed by fire, similar to the parts of the sacrifice that are offered to God, it is absolutely forbidden to burn these leftovers on the altar itself [אבן עזרא].