Bekhorot 40 – בכורות מ׳ | Daf Yomi with Rashi, Tosafot, the Rambam and halacha

What Bekhorot 40 teaches

Rabbi Akiva permits eating a firstborn if kneading failed to lower a testicle later found inside the loins.
An internal bone fracture is considered an exposed blemish because the animal's limp visibly reveals the injury during walking.
Extra or missing limbs are blemishes on forelegs, but on hind legs they render the animal a dying tereifah.

The sugyot

The Gemara explains the oversized Temple cubits used to protect artisans from me'ilah, and concludes the defined fingerbreadth applies to our Mishnah's animal blemish.
The Mishnah debates how to diagnose a missing testicle as a blemish, concluding that failure to descend upon kneading confirms a permanent blemish.
The Gemara emends the Mishnah regarding testicular blemishes and records a dispute on whether two scrotal sacs prove the presence of two testicles.
The Gemara examines an incident where an undescended testicle adhered to the loins, debating whether eating it violates קדשים בחוץ.
The Mishnah enumerates leg-related blemishes on which a bekhor may be slaughtered, including extra or missing legs, closed hooves, dislocation, and asymmetry.
Rav Huna limits three- or five-legged blemishes to forelegs, Rav Pappa includes cloven round hooves, and baraitot define biblical leg blemishes.
The Mishnah details bone breaks and Ila's three contested animal blemishes, which the later court ultimately confirmed as valid disqualifications.
The Gemara clarifies that an internal fracture qualifies as a blemish because it is revealed through the animal's limp when walking.
The Gemara harmonizes animal eye anatomy between sacrificial blemishes and childbirth impurity, then defines swine-like mouth deformities and lost tongue segments.
The Mishnah records that a protruding lower jawbone is ruled an authentic blemish that invalidates a firstborn offering.
The Gemara clarifies that a protruding lower jaw blemishes an animal only when the skeletal bone itself extends beyond the upper jaw.
The Mishnah defines blemishes in a kid’s ear that appears doubled and in an abnormal or stunted kid's tail.
The Gemara determines that constricted limbs are blemishes if caused by bone rather than wind, and defines when doubled ears constitute a blemish.
Rav Pappa clarifies that Rabban Gamliel's blemish of a tail resembling a pig's tail refers to a round cross-section, even if thick.
Rav Huna's ruling on the minimum tail vertebrae for kids and lambs is refuted by a baraita because he misread the Mishnah.
The Gemara harmonizes conflicting sources regarding whether a wart is a full blemish, distinguishing between bone, location in the eye, and hair.
The Gemara defines the blemish of unequal eye sizes and records a bean-sized threshold for permissible organ disparity.
The Mishnah defines a calf's tail that fails to reach its middle thigh joint as an invalidating blemish.

Halachot from the daf

Measuring artisans' work in the Temple to prevent trespass
Calculating mikveh volume using the Temple's expanded cubit
Firstborn animal with one testicle and two scrotal sacs
Blemishes involving missing testicles and scrotal sacs
Blemish status when a testicle is found attached to the loins
Disqualification from blemishes of missing, extra, or donkey-like limbs
Kashrut of an animal with an extra or missing hind leg
A broken leg or arm bone as a blemish
The three additional blemishes enumerated by Ila
Miscarriage of a fetus resembling an animal or beast
Protrusion of the lower jaw beyond the upper jaw
Protrusion of the lower jaw as a blemish in animals
A doubled ear on an animal or human
A kid's tail resembling a pig or lacking vertebrae
Whether swollen or constricted legs constitute a disqualifying blemish
Whether doubled ears on an animal or person constitute a blemish
Status of a wart as a disqualifying blemish
Disparity in eye size in a sacrificial animal
Disparity in ear size in a sacrificial animal
Calf tail not reaching the leg joint as a blemish

Gems from the Daf

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