Bekhorot 31 – בכורות ל״א | Daf Yomi with Rashi, Tosafot, the Rambam and halacha
What Bekhorot 31 teaches
- Repentant backsliders and former tax collectors are reaccepted as haverim, following Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha.
- A single expert cannot inspect his own firstborn due to bias, but may inspect his animal tithes and consecrated offerings.
- Disqualified sacrifices are sold in public markets to benefit hekdesh, but firstborn and tithe sales remain restricted to the home.
The sugyot
- The Gemara asks whether a haver who backslides may ever be readmitted, concluding that repentant backsliders are always reaccepted.
- The Gemara debates whether a חבר who served as a tax collector can regain his status upon repenting, concluding that he may be accepted anew.
- A solitary expert cannot inspect his own firstborn due to personal bias, but self-ruling is permitted where alternative legal recourses prevent suspicion.
- The Mishnah permits market sale of redeemed offerings to benefit the sanctuary, but restricts sales of a בכור and מעשר to preserve their sanctity.
- The Gemara clarifies that commercial leniencies for redeemed offerings apply post-redemption, because allowing optimal sale conditions encourages owners to pay hekdesh more upfront.
- The Gemara reconciles the prohibition against selling animal tithe with the permission to sell it at home by distinguishing between adults, orphans, and indirect bundling.
Halachot from the daf
- Accepting someone who reneged on his commitment
- Reinstating a חבר who served as a tax collector
- An expert sage inspecting his own firstborn animal for blemishes
- An expert inspecting his own animal tithes for blemishes
- Conflict of interest suspicion in a three-member court versus an individual
- Selling and weighing meat of disqualified sacrifices and blemished firstborn animals
- Weighing firstborn meat portion against portion or against utensils
- Prohibition against redeeming a בכור (firstborn animal)
- Protecting redeemers of consecrated property to maximize Temple revenue
- Selling meat of slaughtered blemished מעשר בהמה via הבלעה
- Selling slaughtered blemished מעשר בהמה belonging to orphans
- Prohibition to sell מעשר בהמה and the sale's legal effect
- Venue and manner for selling blemished בכור meat and secondary parts
- Purchasing an etrog during the Sabbatical Year through הבלעה
Gems from the Daf
- Iyun of the day: Inspecting Blemishes: Judicial Verdict or Ritual Ruling
- Daf prep: Before you learn Bekhorot 31
- 3 to remember: Bekhorot 31: three things to remember
- The Passuk: Standing and Valuation: Redeeming Blemished Sacrifices Alive
- Halachot: Halachot of Bekhorot 31: Bias, Sanctity, and Commerce
- The Rambam’s view: Inspecting Blemishes, Bias, and Loss of Status
- Tosafot: Resolving Repentance, Market Sales, and Redundant Phrasings
- Machloket: Restoring Trust: Can a Fallen Haver Return?
- The inner dimension: Awakening the Lips of the Sleeping Sages
- Words to know: Bekhorot 31: words to know
- Masechet so far: The masechet so far, chapter by chapter
- Elsewhere in Shas: Bekhorot 31 elsewhere in Shas
Learn Bekhorot 31 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.