Bekhorot 21 – בכורות כ״א | Daf Yomi with Rashi, Tosafot, the Rambam and halacha
What Bekhorot 21 teaches
- Rabbi Shimon allows an animal under eight days old into the tithing pen, learning this from firstborn laws through a verbal analogy.
- A knowledgeable shepherd must evaluate a murky discharge to confirm an expelled fetus, which exempts future offspring from firstborn sanctity.
- Rabbi Yoḥanan rules that offspring of an animal bought from an Israelite are non-sacred, presuming the seller would have warned about firstborn status.
The sugyot
- The Gemara rejects inferring the timeline of a discharging animal from the baraita, as an animal bearing live kids certainly cannot give birth twice in one year.
- The Gemara analyzes why a kid can produce tithe-eligible offspring within one year, concluding with Rabbi Shimon's ruling that underage animals enter the tithing pen.
- The Gemara defines a fetus-indicating murky discharge, requiring a knowledgeable shepherd's verification, and leaves the gestation timeframe for an animal's fetal formation unresolved.
- The Amoraim debate whether an animal bought from an Israelite is presumed to have already calved, concluding the offspring is non-sacred.
- A congealed blood mass discharged by a first-time mother must be buried, and the animal is subsequently exempt from firstborn obligations.
- The Gemara asks why a discharged blood clot requires burial if Rabbi Hiyya teaches that it conveys no carcass impurity.
Halachot from the daf
- Whether animal tithe applies to offspring born after incomplete gestation
- Definition and verification of a murky discharge (tinuf)
- Gestation time of an animal fetus and post-discharge receptivity
- Animal bought from a Jew without knowing if it gave birth
- Responsibility of inquiry vs. notification for slaughtering mother and child
- Exemption from bekhorah when a large animal expels a blood clot
- Ritual impurity of an animal's discharged mass of congealed blood
Gems from the Daf
- Iyun of the day: Sanctity Taking Effect on Mechusar Zeman
- 3 to remember: Bekhorot 21: three things to remember
- The Passuk: Passing Under the Rod Before Its Time
- Halachot: Exempting Discharges and Purchasing Livestock from a Fellow Jew
- The Rambam’s view: Discharges, Purchases, and Doubts in the Firstling Laws
- Tosafot: Sanctity, Sales, and Sellers on Bekhorot 21
- Machloket: Tithing an Animal Under Eight Days Old
- Words to know: Bekhorot 21: words to know
- Masechet so far: The masechet so far, chapter by chapter
- Elsewhere in Shas: Bekhorot 21 elsewhere in Shas
Learn Bekhorot 21 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.