Bekhorot 45 – בכורות מ״ה | Daf Yomi with Rashi, Tosafot, the Rambam and halacha

What Bekhorot 45 teaches

Amputating an extra digit that contains bone leaves a priest disqualified as someone permanently missing a limb.
Reish Lakish advises against marrying a partner with identical extreme height or skin complexion to protect potential offspring.
A priest discovering his forbidden marriage mid-service must vow publicly to forgo spousal benefit before completing the rite.

The sugyot

The Mishnah details physical disqualifications in a priest's legs, feet, and digits, including amputated extra fingers, symmetrical polydactyly, and ambidexterity.
The Gemara derives leg and finger blemishes from biblical verses, clarifying definitions for abnormal arches, flat feet, and joined digits.
An extra digit is treated as a full limb only when aligned in the row of fingers.
A corpse defiles through 125 bones regardless of individual anatomy, and unique female limbs do not convey tent impurity.
The Gemara debates whether possessing twenty-four digits is a disqualifying blemish or praiseworthy strength, analyzing the verse of the Philistine warrior and Rabbi Tarfon's encounter.
A left-handed or left-footed priest is disqualified, while the ambidextrous priest is valid according to the Sages who attribute it to added left-side strength.
The Mishnah enumerates conditions—such as extreme coloration, stature, sensory or mental impairments, and pure lesions—that disqualify kohanim from service but do not invalidate sacrificial animals.
The Gemara revises its definitions, concluding that a kushi is black, a gihor is extremely red, and a lavkan is white.
Disproportionate, emaciated tallness is a priestly blemish, and Reish Lakish cautions partners with matching physical extremes against marrying to prevent exaggeratedly deformed offspring.
The Gemara explains that the Mishnah's disqualified drunk priest refers to non-wine intoxication, which bars service initially but does not invalidate it בדיעבד.
The Mishnah contrasts sacrificial animal disqualifications with human priestly fitness, and defines how transgressive kohanim can restore their eligibility for Temple service.
The Gemara resolves its question regarding the human parallel to slaughtering an animal and its offspring by attributing our Mishnah to Hananya.
The Gemara establishes that a kohen married forbiddenly continues service by vowing benefit, progressively strengthening the vow until making it on public consent.

Halachot from the daf

Priestly leg and foot malformations
Priest with overlapping or webbed digits
Priest with an extra finger or toe
Temple service by an ambidextrous priest
Disqualification of a priest whose foot is hollow (בעל הפיקין)
Disqualification of a priest lacking an ankle protuberance (שופנר)
Impurity of a severed extra digit
Counting an extra digit toward a majority of corpse bones
Tent defilement by majority of skeletal structure or bone count
Tent impurity and limb count of unique female anatomy
Eligibility of a left-handed or ambidextrous priest for Temple service
Skin anomalies and hanging flesh that disqualify a kohen from service
Definitions of כּוּשִׁי, גִּיחוֹר, and לַבְקָן
Definition of a kipe'ach (disproportionately tall person)
Intoxication from non-wine agents during Temple service
Disqualification of a priest who marries forbidden women or defiles himself
Disqualification of an animal with a treifah from the altar
Disqualification of an animal born through caesarean section
Disqualification of an animal used in sin or that killed a human
Whether the prohibition of itself and its offspring applies to male animals
A priest who married a forbidden woman performing the Temple service
Specifying the vow and its reason when requesting annulment
Annulment of a vow taken in public or on public discretion

Gems from the Daf

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