Defining Permanent Blemishes in the Animal's Skin

How the Gemara harmonizes the Torah's list of sacrificial disqualifications with the clinical reality of healing skin eruptions.

עַוֶּ֩רֶת֩ א֨וֹ שָׁב֜וּר אוֹ־חָר֣וּץ אֽוֹ־יַבֶּ֗לֶת א֤וֹ גָרָב֙ א֣וֹ יַלֶּ֔פֶת לֹא־תַקְרִ֥יבוּ אֵ֖לֶּה לַיהֹוָ֑ה וְאִשֶּׁ֗ה לֹא־תִתְּנ֥וּ מֵהֶ֛ם עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֖חַ לַיהֹוָֽה׃

Anything blind, or injured, or maimed, or with a wen, boil-scar, or scurvy—such you shall not offer to GOD; you shall not put any of them on the altar as offerings by fire to GOD. (Leviticus 22:22)

The Torah's List of Disqualifying Flaws

In Parashat Emor, the Torah forbids offering defective animals upon the altar. The verse details several physical defects, prohibiting any beast that is blind, broken-limbed, or afflicted with skin conditions such as גרב (a dry boil) or ילפת (a clinging crust). These conditions compromise the required physical wholeness of a sacrifice.

Examining the grammar, Rashi explains that עורת (blindness) is a noun denoting the defect itself rather than a feminine adjective describing the animal. Siftei Chakhamim notes that this grammatical form proves the passage addresses substantive physical defects rather than passing states. Ralbag similarly notes that bone fractures disqualify only when they affect visible limbs.

עַוֶּ֩רֶת֩ א֨וֹ שָׁב֜וּר אוֹ־חָר֣וּץ אֽוֹ־יַבֶּ֗לֶת א֤וֹ גָרָב֙ א֣וֹ יַלֶּ֔פֶת לֹא־תַקְרִ֥יבוּ אֵ֖לֶּה לַיהֹוָ֑ה

Anything blind, or injured, or maimed, or with a wen, boil-scar, or scurvy—such you shall not offer to God. (Leviticus 22:22)

A Contradiction Between Verse and Mishnah

A sanctified male firstborn animal may be slaughtered outside the Temple only if it develops a מום קבוע (permanent blemish). The Mishnah in Bekhorot teaches that גרב and חזזית (a spreading scab) are not considered full blemishes for this purpose. The Gemara immediately raises a challenge from the text of Leviticus 22:22.

If גרב and ילפת appear explicitly in the Torah's list of altar blemishes, why does the Mishnah treat them as temporary conditions? A Baraita explains that the biblical גרב is חרס (a boil hard as earthenware), and biblical ילפת is the Egyptian חזזית. Reish Lakish explains that it is named ילפת because it clings until death, proving that the Torah describes incurable afflictions.

וְתַנְיָא: ״גָּרָב״ — זֶה הַחֶרֶס, ״יַלֶּפֶת״ — זוֹ חֲזָזִית הַמִּצְרִית, וְאָמַר רֵישׁ לָקִישׁ: לָמָּה נִקְרָא שְׁמָהּ ״יַלֶּפֶת״? שֶׁמְּלַפֶּפֶת וְהוֹלֶכֶת עַד יוֹם הַמִּיתָה.

And it is taught in a baraita: 'Garav'; this is referring to earthenware boils. 'Yalefet'; this is the Egyptian scab. And Reish Lakish says: Why is it called yalefet? Because it clings continuously until the day of death. (Bekhorot 41a:7)

Distinguishing Three Forms of Boil

The Gemara easily reconciles חזזית by noting that common scabs heal, whereas the Egyptian variety was permanent. For גרב, the Gemara first suggests that the Mishnah discusses a moist boil that heals, while the verse refers to dry boils. But Deuteronomy 28:27 mentions both גרב and חרס as conditions from which one cannot recover. This implies that even moist גרב can be incurable.

To resolve this, the Gemara delineates three distinct biological varieties. The גרב of Leviticus 22:22 is dry inside and outside, which never heals. The curable גרב of the Mishnah is moist both internally and externally. Finally, the Egyptian boil is dry inside and moist outside, as illustrated by the plague of boils in Exodus 9:10.

אֶלָּא, תְּלָתָא הֲווֹ: דִּקְרָא — יָבֵשׁ בֵּין מִבִּפְנִים בֵּין מִבַּחוּץ, דְּמַתְנִיתִין — לַח מִבַּחוּץ וּמִבִּפְנִים

Rather, there are three types: That of the verse is dry both on the inside and on the outside; that of the mishna is moist on the outside and on the inside. (Bekhorot 41a:10)

The Halachic Standard for Permanent Blemishes

Tosafot notes that the Torah lists both גרב and ילפת to present an escalating rule. The verse teaches that not only is a completely dry boil disqualified, but even ילפת—which is moist outside and dry inside—is a permanent blemish. Rashi on Deuteronomy 28:27 similarly explains that the Egyptian boil was exceptionally severe because it was moist inside and dry outside.

The practical halacha reflects this precise physical breakdown. A firstborn animal is considered to possess a permanent blemish only when its skin eruption is incurable due to internal dryness. If the boil is entirely moist, it is deemed a passing illness rather than a disqualifying blemish, and the animal remains forbidden to slaughter outside the Temple.

The Torah's list of sacrificial blemishes in Leviticus 22:22 applies strictly to incurable, internally dry skin conditions.

Learn Bekhorot 41 on Super Daf