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Bekhorot 19 – בכורות י״ט | Daf Yomi with Rashi, Tosafot, the Rambam and halacha

What Bekhorot 19 teaches

• Rabbi Akiva rules that neither a caesarean offspring nor its subsequent sibling is sanctified, because a firstborn must satisfy both conditions.
• Rabbi Akiva holds that uterine discharge or afterbirth exempts subsequent births from bechor status, even before an animal delivers a live offspring.
• The Rabbis rely even on statistical majorities, permitting minor orphans to enter levirate marriage without fearing they are sterile.

The sugyot

• The Gemara concludes that each case was necessary, establishing that an offspring born to a first-time mother is inherently superior.
• Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva dispute whether an animal born by caesarean section or its subsequent womb-born sibling possesses the sanctity of a firstborn.
• The Gemara establishes that an animal firstborn in only one aspect is not sanctified, reconciling the biblical verses according to Abaye.
• The Mishnah debates whether age guarantees firstborn status for an animal bought from a gentile, given that uterine discharges also exempt.
• The Gemara asks why a goat bought after its first year is a doubtful firstborn given the majority, attempting and rejecting a distinction in majorities.

Halachot from the daf

• Firstborn status of caesarean-born offspring and subsequent offspring
• Firstborn status of an offspring born naturally following a caesarean birth
• Firstborn status of an animal bought from a gentile within its first year
• Offspring of an animal bought from a gentile of unknown parity
• Doubtful firstborn: status, blemish, and seizure by a priest
• Placenta discharge as evidence of a fetus regarding maternal impurity
• Firstborn status of offspring of an animal purchased from a gentile
• Following majority meat vendors vs. meat taken from a fixed location
• Levirate marriage and chalitzah for a minor male or female

Gems from the Daf

• Iyun of the day: A Firstborn in Only One Aspect
• 3 to remember: Bekhorot 19: three things to remember
• The Passuk: Defining the Firstborn Through Two Biblical Terms
• Halachot: Caesarean Offspring and Purchases from Gentiles
• The Rambam’s view: Womb, Birth, and Doubt in the Laws of Firstlings
• Tosafot: Defining Sanctity, Maturation, and Legal Capacity in Bekhorot
• Machloket: Is a Partial Firstborn Sanctified as a Bekhor?
• The inner dimension: When General Principles and Boundaries Reshape Each Other
• Words to know: Bekhorot 19: words to know
• Masechet so far: The masechet so far, chapter by chapter
• Elsewhere in Shas: Bekhorot 19 elsewhere in Shas

Learn Bekhorot 19 sugya by sugya on Super Daf: the Gemara in Hebrew and English with Rashi, Tosafot, the Rishonim, the Rambam and the Shulchan Arukh woven in. Free.