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Bechorot 40 for kids: Measuring Every Blemish

בכורות מ׳

📏 This daf begins with the cubits used to measure work for the Temple. It then asks which features count as blemishes in a firstborn animal.

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Stories from Bechorot 40

Words to know

Rashi and Tosafot on Bechorot 40 in simple English

Rashi on Bechorot 40a, in English Tab translation (40)
  1. Shushan the capital — a platform built over the eastern gate, called “Shushan the capital” in Tractate Menachot, in the chapter “The Two Loaves.”
  2. The artisans would take by the small cubit — when contracting with artisans to do a set number of cubits of work for Temple upkeep, they measured the agreement by Moses’ cubit. The artisans then performed the work using the larger cubit kept in Shushan the capital.
  3. So they would not come to misuse consecrated property — if the artisans worked to the exact measure in their agreement, they might fall short, since exact measurement is impossible. They therefore gave back work measured by the larger cubit.
  4. Why do I need two? — one larger cubit would suffice in addition to Moses’ cubit, which was six handbreadths.
  5. One for gold and silver — because this work is laborious, they agreed on Moses’ cubit and delivered work measured by a cubit half a fingerbreadth longer.
  6. For building — for wall construction, they agreed on Moses’ cubit and delivered work measured by a cubit a full fingerbreadth longer.
  7. It has no testicles or only one testicle — this is a blemish.
  8. Two sacs — each testicle has its own sac. The division is visible from outside as a sunken line down the middle.
  9. One seats it on its rump — this is the correct reading, as discussed in Tractate Eruvin. A firstborn animal with only one visible testicle is seated on its buttocks.
  10. And mashes — one feels and presses the sac and flanks. If there is another testicle, it will eventually emerge; if it does not, the animal has a blemish.
  11. Flanks — the sides of the animal’s lower back.
  12. And Rabbi Akiva permitted it — because the testicle’s being out of its proper place is a blemish.
  13. The mishna is incomplete — Rabbi Yishmael disputes the latter case: the first tanna says that one testicle in two sacs is a blemish, while Rabbi Yishmael says the two sacs show that there are two testicles. But he agrees about the first case: one sac is treated like one testicle and is a blemish.
  14. In Piran — the name of the village.
  15. Sacrificial animals outside — the animal has no blemish and retains its consecrated status.
  16. Its thighbone was dislocated — this is when the ligaments holding it in place have not worn away. If they have, the animal is also a tereifa, as stated in Tractate Chullin.
  17. Higher than the other — the hip joint on one side has moved higher up the back than the joint on the other side.
  18. They taught this only — that an animal with five or three legs has a blemish but is not a tereifa.
  19. Only — when the extra or missing limb is a foreleg: the five-legged animal has three forelegs and two hind legs, and the three-legged animal has one foreleg and two hind legs. A missing or extra foreleg does not make it a tereifa.
  20. It is considered as though it were removed — an animal whose thigh and hip socket have been removed is an unslaughtered carcass. An animal whose hind legs were cut off above the knee is a tereifa, as is one with a dislocated hip.
  21. Do not say — that the hooves must be entirely like a donkey’s, both rounded and unsplit.
  22. Rather, once they are rounded — like a donkey’s, it is a blemish, because the hooves of a kosher animal are not rounded.
  23. Flanks — the sides of the animal’s lower back.
  24. Within the flank — normally, an animal’s thigh joins the rump near the flank, not above the flank on top of the rump.
  25. Its thigh extended — one of its thighs is larger than the other.
  26. Even though it is not visible — The Gemara explains this.
  27. We have heard only these — Those mentioned above. These are the three he added, beginning with “whose eyeball,” and so on.
  28. Like that of a pig — The Gemara explains this.
  29. Most of the part used for speech — That is, the part of the tongue not attached to the jaws.
  30. On its own — The fracture is not visible, but it is evident from the animal’s limp, since walking is the leg’s function.
  31. That is not its usual form — It is not usual for an animal’s eyeball to be round.
  32. She observes the days prescribed for a male child — Seven days of impurity and thirty-three days of purity.
  33. She observes the days prescribed for a female child — Fourteen days of impurity and sixty-six days of purity.
  34. For both a male and a female child — She follows the stricter rule in each case: two weeks of impurity, as for a female, but only thirty-three days of purity, as for a male.
  35. What is Rabbi Meir’s reason — For saying that a woman who gives birth to a creature of an impure animal species is considered to have given birth to a child?
  36. Since — Its eyeball resembles a person’s.
  37. In the black part — The black part of an animal’s eye is not round like a person’s.
  38. But here it refers to the tzira — The entire area containing the white and the iris is called the tzira, and it certainly is not round like a person’s.
  39. Do not say — That it must resemble a pig in every respect, being both shapid and paris. Shapid means its mouth is round; paris means its upper lip and cheeks project beyond the lower ones. But our teacher taught us the reverse concerning shapid: its upper jaws taper to a point like a skewer.
  40. What was taught — What was taught that relates to this incident, so that the text says, “And there was an incident”?
Tosafot on Bechorot 40a, in English Tab translation (2)
  1. In Piran of Beit Menaḥem — Rashi explains that Piran is the name of a village. But the Tosefta (chapter 4) reads “the cow of Beit Menaḥem,” like the account of the cow of Beit Menaḥem whose womb was removed (Sanhedrin 33a).
  2. Its thighbone was dislocated — Rashi explains this as a dislocated hip, provided its ligaments have not deteriorated; if they have, the animal is also a tereifah, as stated in Ḥullin 55b. But this is difficult, because someone there rules it a tereifah even if the ligaments have neither deteriorated nor torn. Rather, the thighbone must have been displaced from birth. The same applies to “was extended” below.
Rashi on Bechorot 40b, in English Tab translation (40)
  1. With regard to a person — a priest.
  2. When it has bone — if the lower jawbone extends beyond the upper one, it is a blemish even in an animal. But if only the lower lip is longer and overlaps the upper lip, it is a blemish in a person, not an animal.
  3. The kid’s ear was doubled — it has two ears on one side, one inside the other.
  4. When it is one cartilage — the upper part has folded inward and joined at the bottom, so it counts as one cartilage; this is a blemish.
  5. When it is not one cartilage — the two parts are separate at the top, so it is not a blemish. The reason is not clear to me. It is unlike an animal with five legs, since one ear inside another is much less noticeable.
  6. Like a pig’s — this is explained in the Gemara.
  7. Blum — short.
  8. Mevulamot — narrow in width.
  9. If it is due to lack of space — there is too little room in the mouth, but neither the bone nor the flesh of the lips is affected; it is not a blemish.
  10. If it is due to the bone — the lips open normally, but the jaws are pressed together so that the animal cannot open them. When it eats or bleats, it stretches its lips and the bone looks like a bulging wineskin; this is a blemish. Likewise, if the legs are short because the bones and the flesh of the feet are uniformly narrow, it is not a blemish. But if the bone is short and the flesh spreads out beneath it, that is a blemish. My teacher’s reading is ‘due to the wind,’ interpreted as above, though the wording is difficult; others read ‘due to lack of space.’ Alternatively, ‘its mouth is blum’ means swollen: swelling caused by wind is not a blemish because it will heal, but swelling caused by an overly thick bone is a blemish. The Tosefta reads: ‘Due to wind, it is not a blemish; due to itself, it is a blemish.’
  11. Cartilage — the firm part of the ear.
  12. Thin — very thin.
  13. Round — round, whereas a lamb’s tail is wider than it is thick.
  14. In a kid, two — two joints in its tail are a blemish.
  15. The first clause — concerns the kid’s ear. The latter clause concerns a tail with fewer than three joints.
  16. A wart — a wart.
  17. The bone of its foreleg was damaged — the blemish is visible. Earlier, the discussion concerned a broken bone.
  18. The bone in its mouth — the jawbone in which the teeth are set, above the gums. If the gums themselves were meant, even a chip or a worn-away portion would count.
  19. By sight — anyone can see that one is larger than the other.
  20. But not by measurement — if the difference is detectable only by measuring, it is not a blemish.
  21. They did not agree with him — this refers to Rabbi Yehuda.
  22. Not in the Temple — because it is disqualified from the altar.
  23. Nor outside the Temple — because it is not a full blemish that permits slaughter there.
  24. Scabs — a scaly skin condition.
  25. And do you really think — that it is not a blemish?
  26. But a wart is written in the Torah — It appears among the full-fledged blemishes: “blindness or a broken limb or a cut or a wart” (Leviticus 22:22).
  27. On its body — It is not a full-fledged blemish.
  28. But the verse is unqualified — It does not say where the wart is.
  29. Rather — A wart on the body is also a blemish, but without a bone it only disqualifies the animal from being offered; it does not permit a firstborn to be slaughtered outside the Temple. The verse concerns a wart with a bone. Our mishna calls a wart in the eye a full-fledged blemish, while the other mishna concerns a boneless wart on the body.
  30. And if it has no bone, does a wart on the body disqualify it? — This is asked in disbelief.
  31. A dangling growth — Pieces of flesh hanging from the body, like the small strips of flesh some people have beside their ears from birth.
  32. They disqualify a person — If he is a priest, he is unfit for Temple service, because a priest must have an ordinary appearance like other descendants of Aaron.
  33. Rather, both concern the eye — This refers to the two mishnayot, not to the verse.
  34. But there are no blemishes in the white of the eye — An animal with one there is fit to be slaughtered even in the Temple.
  35. Both concern the white of the eye — Both the ruling against slaughtering it in the Temple or outside it and the statement that the white has no blemishes discuss a wart there. If it has hair, it is unsightly; that is the case the mishna says may be slaughtered in neither place.
  36. And the statement that there are no blemishes in the white — It concerns a wart without hair. Our mishna’s full-fledged blemish is a wart in the dark part of the eye, even without a bone; the verse concerns a wart with a bone. If our mishna meant a wart with a bone, why specify the eye?
  37. And the Rabbis — Who did not agree with Rabbi Yehuda about the testicles: How small may the other testicle be while they still consider the animal fit?
  38. The mishna’s ‘to the hock’ — This means a joint in the leg. The Gemara explains which joint.
  39. The usual growth of calves — Calves’ tails normally reach the hock, so a shorter tail is a blemish. As they grow, their tails extend farther down.
  40. In the middle of the leg — The Gemara explains what this means.
Tosafot on Bechorot 40b, in English Tab translation (3)
  1. Its mouth is balum — The commentary’s second explanation is “swollen,” but its first is “short.” Balum means blocked, as in “his nose is blocked” later in the chapter These Blemishes (Bekhorot 43b), where the commentary explains that its openings are blocked. Similarly, one “restrains himself during a quarrel” (Chullin 89a).
  2. But there are no blemishes in the white of the eye — Although this is disputed earlier (Bekhorot 38b), we explained the mishna there according to the view that blemishes in the white of the eye do not count.
  3. Rather, both cases concern the black of the eye — This is the correct reading, not “the white of the eye.”

Sources

Kid summary and story cards written by Tab from the William Davidson Edition English (Sefaria, CC BY-NC 4.0).

Tab translation (machine-assisted) of Rashi and Tosafot, from the Vilna Edition Hebrew (public domain) on Sefaria. May contain mistakes.

In the app, the Gemara text comes from Sefaria (William Davidson Edition, CC BY-NC 4.0; Hebrew/Aramaic Vilna Edition). Rashi and Tosafot Hebrew: Vilna Edition (public domain) via Sefaria.

Also spelled: Bekhorot, Bechoros, Bekhoroth 40.