Bekhorot 24 – בכורות כ״ד | Daf Yomi with Rashi, Tosafot, the Rambam and halacha
What Bekhorot 24 teaches
- A nursing animal bought from a gentile is presumed to have calved, exempting her subsequent offspring from firstborn status.
- Rabbi Yosei ben HaMeshullam permits clearing wool on a firstborn's neck if the loosened hair remains in place.
- Rav permits clearing an animal's neck wool with a cleaver to facilitate slaughter on Yom Tov.
The sugyot
- A nursing animal is presumed to have given birth, exempting subsequent offspring; whether it would nurse another's young remains an unresolved doubt.
- The Mishnah permits plucking wool to prepare a firstborn for slaughter or blemish inspection, provided the hair remains in place.
- The Gemara investigates whether clearing hair to slaughter an animal on Yom Tov is permitted, resolving through Rav that it is permissible.
Halachot from the daf
- Mixed herd with unobserved births nursing by gender
- Status of subsequent offspring from a purchased nursing animal
- Kashrut of non-kosher looking offspring trailing a kosher mother
- Plucking wool of a bekhor for slaughter or blemish inspection
- Clearing animal wool or fowl feathers when slaughtering on Yom Tov
- Clearing animal wool to make space for slaughtering on Yom Tov
- Plucking wool from a firstborn to inspect a blemish or slaughter
Gems from the Daf
- Iyun of the day: The Nature of Shearing a Firstborn
- Daf prep: Before you learn Bekhorot 24
- 3 to remember: Bekhorot 24: three things to remember
- The Passuk: Plucking Wool Without Violating the Shearing Prohibition
- Halachot: Presumptions of Motherhood and Clearing Wool on Bekhorot 24
- The Rambam’s view: Maternal Presumptions and Plucking Hair for Slaughter
- Tosafot: Maternal Instincts, Woolly Firstborns, and Unintended Plucking
- Machloket: Does an Animal Nurse Another Mother’s Young?
- Words to know: Bekhorot 24: words to know
- Masechet so far: The masechet so far, chapter by chapter
- Elsewhere in Shas: Bekhorot 24 elsewhere in Shas
Learn Bekhorot 24 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.