Bechoros 15b

בכורות ט״ו ע״ב

Bekhorot 15b

Learn Bechoros 15b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Redeemed blemished sacrificial animals (פסולי המוקדשין): the alternate reading of תזבח ואכלת, when their offspring become forbidden or holy, and the source that a קרבן's offspring and its תמורה are holy.

Overview

This amud first gives a second version (איכא דאמרי) of how to read תזבח ואכלת. By that reading, one may redeem קדשים to feed them to dogs. The גמרא then explains the משנה's rule that the offspring of redeemed blemished קדשים are forbidden: the case is an animal conceived before the redemption but born after it. An animal born before the redemption is fully holy, and a ברייתא learns this from the extra words זכר and נקבה in the פסוק about שלמים. For offspring born after the redemption, רב הונא says they are shut away until they die, because they can be neither offered nor redeemed. רבי חנינא suggests dedicating them, just before the mother's redemption, for the mother's own קרבן. רבי לוי explains that this is a גזירה so people do not raise whole herds of them. רב ששת rules that they may not be dedicated for any other קרבן, learning it from בכור. A ברייתא supports him by contrasting animals whose מום came before their הקדש with animals whose הקדש came first. The amud ends as the גמרא explains what each of the ברייתא's summary lines comes to include, and that explanation finishes on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (28)

1. StatementA second reading of 'You may slaughter and eat'
2. QuestionWhat case does the משנה mean by forbidden offspring and milk?
3. RejectionIt cannot mean an animal conceived and born after redemption
4. ResponseIt means conceived before redemption but born after
5. StatementOffspring born before redemption is actually holy
6. QuestionWhat is the source that the offspring is holy?
7. ResponseThe words 'male' and 'female' include the offspring and the substitute
8. QuestionWhat about the offspring and substitute of blemished animals?
9. Response'Whether male' and 'or female' include blemished animals too
10. QuestionWhat happens to offspring born after the mother's redemption?
11. StatementBackground: the dispute about offspring born before redemption
12. Responseרב הונא: the offspring are shut in until they die
13. StatementWhy they can be neither sacrificed nor redeemed
14. Statementרבי חנינא's solution from ארץ ישראל
15. ChallengeCan the offspring be redeemed at all?
16. ResolutionCorrect the wording: before the mother's redemption
17. QuestionWhy not just leave them as they are?
18. Responseרבי לוי: a rabbinic decree against raising whole flocks
19. Questionרבינא: may they be dedicated to any קרבן?
20. Responseרב ששת: no, only the mother's קרבן
21. QuestionAsking for the source
22. ResponseA גזירה שוה from בכור
23. ProofA ברייתא supports רב ששת: animals blemished before they were dedicated
24. ProofMore rules for the first case, and its summary: like regular animals
25. ProofThe second case: animals dedicated before they became permanently blemished
26. ProofThe offspring stay holy and cannot be dedicated for any offering, which proves רב ששת right
27. StatementThe first summary line includes slaughtering outside
28. StatementSetting up what the second summary line includes