Bechoros 59b

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Bekhorot 59b

Learn Bechoros 59b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

מעשר בהמה: the mistaken ninth animal, רבא's rule מנין הראוי פוטר and its source, and how counting works with two openings or extra lambs.

Overview

This amud deals with מעשר בהמה, where animals pass one by one out of a pen and every tenth is holy. It opens with a view that a ninth animal mistakenly called 'tenth' is holy only if the real tenth lost its name, just like the eleventh. That view is supported by a קל וחומר. The גמרא rejects the proof twice: with היא הנותנת, and with the point that the eleventh comes after the tenth was already identified while the ninth comes before. So the ninth is holy even without the uprooting. Next רבא teaches מנין הראוי פוטר: animals counted in a count that could reach ten are exempt even if no tenth was taken. A proof from a משנה is tried and falls, so רבא brings the word יעבר in the פסוק, and a ברייתא supports him. רבא then works through fourteen lambs leaving by two openings, and the גמרא explains that even a count that only might reach ten exempts. Finally רבא rules that with fifteen lambs one may not hand-pick ten. All must enter the pen, and the leftover five wait for the next גורן. A supporting ברייתא begins at the end and continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (22)

1. StatementThe ninth also needs the tenth's name uprooted
2. ProofA logical proof from the eleventh to the ninth
3. RejectionThe same logic points the other way
4. RejectionA second difference: the eleventh comes after the tenth is known
5. ConclusionThe ninth comes before any tenth is chosen, and the topic is closed
6. Statementרבא: a count that could reach ten exempts
7. QuestionWhere does רבא learn this?
8. ProofSuggested proof: a counted animal jumps back into the pen
9. RejectionMaybe the tenth was already tithed for them
10. ResolutionThe משנה's next line rules out that reading
11. RejectionThe proof from the משנה falls again: מעושרין may mean only the tenth animal
12. Proofרבא's new source: the word 'passes' in the פסוק
13. Conclusion'Already passed' must mean exempt by a count that could reach ten
14. ProofA ברייתא supports רבא: a lamb dies in the middle of the count
15. Statementרבא's new case: fourteen lambs leave through two openings
16. StatementFirst case: if the last four do not join the six
17. StatementSecond case: four, then six, then four left inside
18. StatementThird case: four, four, and six left inside
19. ChallengeWhat does רבא add? He already said this
20. ResolutionEven an uncertain possibility of ten exempts
21. StatementWith fifteen lambs, do not hand-pick ten. Count all of them out of the pen
22. ProofA ברייתא supports רבא's ruling about fifteen lambs