Causing a Blemish on a Blemished Offering

מטיל מום בבעל מום

If an animal dedicated to the altar is already permanently disqualified by an existing defect, does an prohibition remain against damaging it further?

The Torah strictly forbids inflicting a blemish on a sacrificial animal. The Gemara discusses a consecrated firstborn animal suffering from life-threatening blood congestion.

To save its life, the owner must perform bloodletting. The Tanna'im dispute whether one may cut a limb where the incision will leave a permanent physical blemish.

The Gemara clarifies that blood congestion about to kill the animal already renders it a בעל מום (blemished animal). The debate centers on whether causing an additional blemish to an already blemished sacrifice violates biblical law.

The question

Does the biblical prohibition against inflicting a blemish apply to an already blemished offering, or does the ban apply only to unblemished animals fit for the altar?

Through the sources

The Gemara (Gemara)

לֹא נֶחְלְקוּ אֶלָּא בְּמֵטִיל מוּם בְּבַעַל מוּם, דְּרַבִּי מֵאִיר סָבַר: ״כׇּל מוּם לֹא יִהְיֶה בּוֹ״, וְרַבָּנַן סָבְרִי: ״תָּמִים יִהְיֶה לְרָצוֹן״.

Rabbi Meir derives from the inclusive phrase 'any blemish' that inflicting a blemish on an already blemished sacrifice is strictly prohibited by biblical law. The Rabbis derive from 'it shall be perfect to be accepted' that the prohibition applies only to an unblemished animal fit for the altar.

Rashi (Rishonim)

ורבנן סברי - דרשינן כוליה קרא תמים יהיה לרצון כל מום לא יהיה בו

Rashi explains that the Rabbis interpret the entire verse as a single condition. Scripture only forbade damaging an animal that is fit for acceptance on the altar, thereby exempting a blemished animal.

The Gemara (Gemara)

הַכֹּל מוֹדִים בִּמְחַמֵּץ אַחַר מְחַמֵּץ שֶׁהוּא חַיָּיב

Rabbi Yochanan establishes that all Sages agree that adding leaven to an already leavened meal offering generates liability. Unlike blemishes, where specific wording limits the ban to pristine animals, each successive act of leavening is an independent biblical violation.

Ra'avad (Rishonim)

קא סברי רבנן מטיל מום בבעל מום מותר הילכך יקיז אותו ויעשה בו מום לכתחלה

The Ra'avad explains that according to the Rabbis, one may inflict a blemish on an already blemished animal ab initio to save it. However, the Rabbis penalize the owner by forbidding slaughtering based on that blemish if the illness subsides.

Tosafot (Rishonim)

דאע״ג דמטיל מום בבעל מום שרי מדאורייתא מ״מ מדרבנן מיהא אסור

Tosafot clarify that even though causing a blemish on a blemished animal is biblically permitted, it remains rabbinically forbidden in general cases. The Sages permitted it here only because urgent bloodletting is needed to save the animal from dying.

Piskei Tosafot (Acharonim)

מדרבנן אסור להטיל מום בבעל מום ודוקא להקיז לו לרפואה מותר

Piskei Tosafot rule that causing a blemish in an already blemished consecrated animal is forbidden by rabbinic decree. Bloodletting is an exceptional dispensation allowed solely for the purpose of medical healing.

Ways to understand it

General Inviolability of Consecrated Animals

The prohibition protects consecrated animals from physical degradation regardless of whether they can be offered on the altar. Therefore, inflicting any additional blemish remains biblically forbidden.

Disqualification from Altar Acceptance

The Torah intended only to prevent disqualifying a sacrifice that is otherwise fit for the altar. Once an animal is already disqualified by a blemish, causing further bodily damage is biblically permitted without restriction.

Where it lands

The halakha follows the Rabbis and Rabbi Shimon that causing a blemish on an already blemished offering is biblically permitted. Even so, the act remains strictly forbidden by rabbinic enactment to protect consecrated property. The Sages relaxed this prohibition only in an emergency where bloodletting is required to prevent the animal from dying.

Although the Torah only prohibits blemishing an animal fit for the altar, rabbinic law protects all consecrated animals unless immediate medical intervention is required.

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