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Bechoros 40b

בכורות מ׳ ע״ב

Bekhorot 40b

Learn Bechoros 40b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Bechoros 40b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Blemishes (מומין) of a בכור: jaw, ears, tails, warts in the eye, and uneven body parts

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a story: the חכמים ruled that a בכור whose lower jaw sticks out has a מום. רב פפא explains this is because the jawbone itself sticks out, unlike a person's protruding lip, which is only a מום for a כהן. A new משנה follows. A doubled ear is a מום only if it has its own bone or cartilage, and a goat's tail that is pig-like or has fewer than three joints is a מום. The גמרא explains that a pig-like tail means a curled one. It also shows that רב הונא misread the three-joint rule: that rule is about a lamb, so a goat needs only two joints. Another משנה lists more blemishes, including a wart in the eye and visibly uneven eyes or ears. After several attempts, the גמרא settles a contradiction about warts. A wart in the black of the eye is a full מום. In the white, a wart with a hair disqualifies the animal from the מזבח and one without a hair does not. The amud ends with a new משנה about a calf's short tail and which leg joint it is measured against.

Opening lines

וּמַעֲשֶׂה נָמֵי

And there was also an incident

שֶׁלְּחִי הַתַּחְתּוֹן עוֹדֵף עַל הָעֶלְיוֹן,

where the lower jaw stuck out beyond the upper one,

שָׁאַל רַבָּן שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן גַּמְלִיאֵל לַחֲכָמִים

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel asked the Sages

וְאָמְרוּ: הֲרֵי זֶה מוּם.

and they said: That is a blemish.

The steps (28)

  1. StatementThe story of the protruding lower jaw
  2. ChallengeBut a protruding lip is a blemish only for a person
  3. Resolutionרב פפא: bone versus no bone
  4. StatementNew משנה: the goat's doubled ear
  5. StatementA pig-like or too-short tail
  6. StatementA ברייתא on swelling and doubled ears
  7. StatementWhat a pig-like tail means
  8. Statementרב הונא counts tail joints
  9. ChallengeA ברייתא gives lower joint counts
  10. Conclusionרב הונא is refuted
  11. ConclusionHow the משנה misled רב הונא
  12. Statementרבי חנינא בן אנטיגנוס lists more blemishes
  13. Statementרבי יהודה adds uneven testicles, but the חכמים disagree
  14. ChallengeIs a wart really a blemish? Another משנה says otherwise
  15. RejectionThe Torah itself calls a wart a blemish
  16. ResolutionFirst answer: a wart on the body versus a wart in the eye
  17. ChallengeThe פסוק does not split body from eye
  18. ResolutionSecond answer: a wart with a bone versus one without
  19. ResolutionSpelling out the bone distinction
  20. ChallengeA boneless wart on the body is just hanging flesh
  21. ResolutionBoth are in the eye: black versus white
  22. ChallengeThere are no blemishes in the white
  23. Resolutionריש לקיש: a hair makes the difference
  24. StatementHow big is 'large' and how small is 'small'
  25. QuestionHow big a difference do the רבנן allow?
  26. ResponseEven a bean-sized second testicle is fine
  27. StatementA calf's tail that does not reach the leg joint
  28. StatementWhich leg joint is meant