Bekhorot 46 – בכורות מ״ו | Daf Yomi with Rashi, Tosafot, the Rambam and halacha
What Bekhorot 46 teaches
- A vow taken with public consent can be dissolved for a mitzva, such as reinstating an effective teacher who struck students.
- The head emerging from the womb establishes birth even in a miscarriage, exempting any subsequent twin from redemption.
- Rabbi Yochanan holds that a forehead's emergence satisfies inheritance recognition, unlike the strict identification needed to permit a widow's remarriage.
The sugyot
- A vow dependent on public consent cannot be dissolved for optional matters, but a Sage may dissolve it for a mitzva.
- A kohen who defiled himself with corpses needs only a verbal commitment without a vow, unlike one who married a forbidden woman.
- The Mishnah defines the four categories of firstborn sons by contrasting the father's biological firstborn for inheritance against the mother's first womb-opener for redemption.
- The Gemara refutes Shmuel's position, concluding that even with a miscarriage, the emergence of the head constitutes a full halakhic birth.
- The Gemara debates whether a forehead's emergence constitutes recognition for inheritance, defending Rabbi Yochanan by distinguishing inheritance from strict marital death testimony.
Halachot from the daf
- Permitting a kohen married in sin to perform Temple service
- Nullifying a vow taken on the consent of the public
- Reinstating a sinning priest through a commitment versus taking a vow
- Inheritance rights of a son born after a miscarriage or stillbirth
- Exemption from redemption for a son following a miscarriage
- Inheritance rights of a father's firstborn when the mother previously bore children
- Redemption of a son born after the mother's conversion or emancipation
- Inheritance status in doubtful paternity following remarriage within three months
- Exemption from firstborn redemption when a fetus thrusts out its head
- Status of an animal fetus whose head emerged before maternal slaughter
- Emergence of the head or forehead regarding maternal birth impurity
- Firstborn inheritance when only the forehead emerged before father's death
- Identifying a deceased husband by his forehead, face, and nose
- Rabbinic leniencies in accepting witnesses to permit an agunah
Gems from the Daf
- Iyun of the day: Head Emergence as Majority or Independent Birth
- Daf prep: Before you learn Bekhorot 46
- 3 to remember: Bekhorot 46: three things to remember
- The Passuk: Opening the Womb Within the Covenant
- Halachot: Public Vows and Defining the Firstborn Son
- The Rambam’s view: Defining the Firstborn for Inheritance and Redemption
- Tosafot: Public Vows, Convert Paternity, and Anatomical Thresholds
- Machloket: Does a Forehead Establish Firstborn Rights for Inheritance?
- The inner dimension: The Countenance of Absolute Recognition
- Words to know: Bekhorot 46: words to know
- Masechet so far: The masechet so far, chapter by chapter
- Elsewhere in Shas: Bekhorot 46 elsewhere in Shas
Learn Bekhorot 46 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.