Bechoros 38b

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Bekhorot 38b

Learn Bechoros 38b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Eye blemishes in a בכור: הריס, דק, חלזון and נחש, תבלול, and the tests for constant pale spots and constant tears

Overview

The גמרא explains the eye blemishes listed in the משנה. הריס is the eyelid. Two ברייתות disagree about whether a sunken or a floating דק is a מום, and the גמרא settles this by the cataract's color: a black דק counts when sunken and a white דק counts when floating, like ברקא. A story about the elder רבי שמעון בן יוסי לקוניא shows that חלזון and נחש are one permanent blemish, and it raises the rule that a scholar's ruling for himself is accepted only if he taught it beforehand. The משנה's תבלול follows רבי יוסי, who holds there are no blemishes in the white of the eye, and the גמרא gives the reasons for both רבי יוסי and רבי מאיר. A new משנה about constant pale spots and constant tears is shown to follow רבי יהודה, once its missing words are filled in. The גמרא then works out the three-month moist-then-dry fodder test, asks without resolving whether each fodder must be fed in its own season, and sets the amount at a dried fig. A question from ארץ ישראל about that amount continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (34)

1. QuestionWhat is the הריס?
2. Responseרב פפא: the outer barrier of the eye
3. StatementA sunken cataract is a blemish, a floating one is not
4. ChallengeAnother ברייתא says the opposite
5. ResolutionOne is about the black part, one about the white part
6. ChallengeThere are no blemishes in the white part
7. ResolutionA white cataract versus a black cataract
8. ProofSupport from יאשיה of אושא, with the memory aid ברקא
9. QuestionAre the snail and the snake one blemish or two?
10. ResponseAn elder teaches that חלזון is the same as נחש
11. StatementHow a scholar can have his own בכור permitted
12. ChallengeA scholar's ruling for himself is accepted only if said beforehand
13. ResolutionThe elder had taught this ruling all along
14. QuestionWhose view is the משנה's definition of תבלול
15. ResponseThe משנה follows רבי יוסי: no blemishes in the white
16. Statementרב explains the source for רבי יוסי
17. QuestionWhat is רבי מאיר's reason?
18. Responseתבלול means something that mixes up the eye
19. Statementמשנה: constant pale spots and constant tears
20. Statementרבי חנניא בן אנטיגנוס: check three times
21. StatementThe food test for constant tears
22. QuestionWhose opinion is our משנה?
23. ResponseThe משנה follows רבי יהודה
24. Statementרבי יהודה's test for permanent tears
25. ChallengeThe משנה mentions both kinds of fields
26. ResolutionThe משנה is missing words
27. ChallengeFour months, not three?
28. ResolutionOnly half of ניסן and half of תשרי
29. QuestionMust each kind of fodder be fed in its own season?
30. ProofTrying to prove it from the months for moist and dry
31. RejectionThe months may describe the food, not the feeding time
32. QuestionHow much fodder is given?
33. ResponseThe amount is the size of a dried fig
34. QuestionIn ארץ ישראל they asked what the fig-size amount means