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Daf prep · Bekhorot 29 · בכורות כ״ט
Before you learn Bekhorot 29
Where we left off
The previous daf introduced a Mishnah regarding paying an expert to inspect firstborn animals. That sugya continues directly onto our daf to analyze the conditions of that permission.
The question going in
When does accepting payment invalidate sacred rulings, and what goods may one purchase from a suspected violator?
Know before you start
- כפועל בטל (as an idle laborer): A judge or witness cannot accept payment for performing a mitzva. However, one may compensate them for wages lost from their regular occupation.
- בית הפרס (a field containing a plowed grave): This field is rabbinically impure due to potential crushed bone fragments. A priest is not biblically barred from entering if he blows dust aside while walking.
- החשוד (a suspect individual): One suspected of selling forbidden firstborn meat cannot sell raw hides or meat. We may purchase fully processed goods because a transgressor will not risk intensive labor on contraband.
Who's who
- Ila (אילא, Tanna): A pious expert permitted by the Sages to take fixed fees for inspecting firstborn blemishes.
- Rav Yehuda (רב יהודה, Amora): Derives that judging must be performed for free and explains laws regarding fields with graves.
- Abaye (אביי, Amora): Distinguishes between paid preparatory labor and unpaid ritual acts, and clarifies idle worker compensation.
- Rabbi Eliezer (רבי אליעזר, Tanna): Permits buying female hides from a suspect, asserting that genuine female hides are easily recognized.