008b הכל ממירין פרק ראשון תמורה ח ע"ב - HAKOL MEMIRIN CHAPTER ONE TEMURAH

Abaye said: No, it is always about a tam^[1], and about a firstborn^[2] outside the Land; and it is Rabbi Shimon^[3] who says: if unblemished ones come, they are offered.

לעולם בתם - No difficulty for Rav Nachman: this one, where a kohen acquires it while alive, deals with a firstborn outside the Land. Its general wording does not refer to offering, even in the time of the Temple; it is like shelamim: if one brings it, one may offer it, but the general wording does not refer to offering.

ור' שמעון היא - As he says below, in Eilu Kodashim (21a): if unblemished firstborns come from outside the Land, they are offered, but one may not bring them at the outset. It is like chatat and asham, which it teaches: this chatat and asham speaks of unblemished ones, since it teaches that kohanim do not acquire them during life, but after slaughter they do acquire them; so we are dealing with ones fit for offering.

An objection: Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri said to him: What does it matter to me [whether it says this] about a chatat and an asham^[4], since one does not acquire them during their owner's lifetime?

Would you say this about a firstborn, which is acquired during its owner's lifetime? What are we dealing with?

If you say: a blemished one.

Then it is like the chatat and the asham, which he is stating.

Rather, is it not about a tam, and it teaches: it is acquired during its lifetime^[5]?

Ravina said: This too is about a firstborn outside the Land, and it is Rabbi Shimon who says: if unblemished ones come, they are offered.

Let us say it is a dispute between Tannaim.

לימא כתנאי - Let us say it is a dispute between Tannaim: whether a kohen acquires an unblemished firstborn while it is alive, in the time of the Temple, or not.

A firstborn in the owner's house they make temurah^[6]; in the kohen's house they do not make temurah.

Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: once it has come into a kohen's hands, they do not make temurah^[7].

רבי שמעון בן אלעזר כו' - Both this and that, a kohen and a Yisrael: is the difference not Rav Nachman's? For what the first Tanna says, that for a kohen one does not make temurah, since there is acquisition inside it, agrees with Rav Nachman; and Rabbi Shimon does not hold Rav Nachman's view. Rather, everyone agrees they do not hold Rav Nachman's view about a fine firstborn; and here they dispute Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri and Rabbi Akiva, about a firstborn outside the Land. That is why the first Tanna says a kohen does not make temurah on it, and Rabbi Shimon agrees. Like Rabbi Akiva, one could say: let us say it is a dispute of Tannaim, a firstborn with a kohen does not make temurah, neither by a Yisrael nor by a kohen. They said: it is only that one may not say it, but one may sell it. Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: once it has come into a kohen's hand, neither this nor that makes temurah, meaning that even selling is not possible, since the later Tanna comes to add something. Is the difference not Rav Nachman's: the first Tanna holds Rav Nachman's view, and Rabbi Elazar does not hold Rav Nachman's view?

That is the first Tanna^[8].

What, does he not mean: in a kohen's house he makes temurah, and an owner does not make temurah^[9]?

מאי לאו הכי קאמר - The first Tanna: in a kohen's house one does not make temurah through the owner, only through the kohen; but a kohen does make temurah on it, since he has acquisition inside it.

So it follows that the kohen has acquisition in the animal itself^[10].

No, there is no difficulty: this is Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri, and this is Rabbi Akiva.

לא - No: this is the dispute of Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri and Rabbi Akiva, which our Mishnah disputes; and that case we explained as a firstborn outside the Land. The first Tanna says a kohen makes temurah on it from the moment it comes to him, since he acquires it during life; and Rabbi Shimon follows Rabbi Akiva: although he has acquisition inside it, he does not make temurah through him, since it is derived from the verse of comparison, as the Mishnah explains: where holiness takes effect on it. [The abbreviation ע"א is unclear here; literal:] a Yisrael makes temurah, and a kohen does not make temurah; neither this nor that.

Rav Chisda said: they taught it only of kohen to kohen^[11]; but kohen to Yisrael is forbidden.

לא שנו אלא כהן לכהן - One might think he may sell it to him while it is still unblemished.

Why?

Perhaps a Yisrael goes and puts a blemish on it, and brings it to a sage^[12] and says: this firstborn a kohen gave me with its blemish.

בכור זה נתן לי כהן במומו - But kohen to kohen cannot be said so: a kohen who brings a firstborn to show a sage must bring witnesses that the blemish fell on it by itself, as we say in Bechorot, in the chapter Kol Pesulei HaMukdashin (35a): all blemishes that can come about by human hand: shepherds of Yisrael are trusted; shepherds of kohanim are not trusted, since kohanim were suspected regarding firstborns.

And would a sage permit this?

ומי שרי חכם הכי - Even if it were a permanent blemish, would a sage permit a firstborn to a Yisrael without a kohen with him?

But Rav said: they do not see a firstborn for a Yisrael unless a kohen is with him^[13].

אלא אם כן כהן עמו - Perhaps when he knows the blemish is permanent, [the animal] is not sacred outside [the Temple], so he eats it and does not worry about theft, since it [belongs to] the kohen. Therefore we require a kohen with him, and he cannot say this firstborn a kohen gave me with its blemish, since we tell him: bring me that kohen who gave it to you; as long as he does not bring him, we do not permit him the firstborn unless a kohen gives it to him.

Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua said: this is the reason a Yisrael is forbidden, because it looks like a kohen who assists at the threshing floor^[14].

היינו טעמא דישראל אסור - Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua: the reason a Yisrael may not buy a firstborn tam from a kohen is that a firstborn tam is normally sold cheaply in these times, since the buyer wants to keep it until it becomes blemished. So this kohen who cheapens it for a Yisrael looks like a kohen who assists at the threshing floor, gathering and piling so that terumah is given to him; it is a desecration of God's name, since it appears as one who takes terumah as wages. And this kohen also appears [to be doing this], since he cheapens it for the Yisrael so that he gives him the firstborns born to his flock.

Mar Zutra came to the house of Rav Ashi^[15].

They said to him: Let the master taste something. They brought meat before him.

He said to them: Let the master eat it; its meat is healthy, since it is a firstborn.

ליכול מר דמברי - That its meat is healthy to eat like the rest of the meat.

How do you know this?

מנא לכו הא - Who gave you this? You are not kohanim.

They said to him: A certain kohen sold it to us.

He said to them: Do you not hold the statement of Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua^[16]: because it looks like a kohen who assists at the threshing floor?

They said to him: We do not hold it, since we are buying, not receiving it.

מיזבן זבנינן - And there is no need to worry about the helper, since he does not give it to us as a gift.

He said to them: And do you not hold what we learned?

ולא סבירא לכו - That it is forbidden to buy the meat of a firstborn from a kohen, lest he cheapen it for you and it look like a kohen who assists.

How long must a Yisrael tend^[17] to a firstborn? For a small animal thirty days, and for a large one fifty days. If he says to him, Give it to me within its time, he does not give it to him.

ליטפל - To toil over it, to raise it before it is given to the kohen.

Rav Sheshet said: What is the reason? Because it looks like a kohen who assists at the threshing floor.

ככהן המסייע - For now it is a help, which only spares him the work of tending it: that he gives it to him.

He said to him: There, the matter is clear.

מוכחא מילתא - Since he is a helper indeed: right away he spares him the toil and the maintenance costs.

Here, we are buying.

Another version.

They said to him: Here he does not give money; here he gives money.

What do you mean: the kohen cheapens it for him^[18], since the kohen thinks: when I have another firstborn he will give it to me?

מאי אמרת דלמא מוזיל - The kohen [will cheapen], so that he gives us our firstborns and not to another kohen.

No, it did not come to his mind.

לא - No: he does so: [the thought] did not come to mind.

Tosafot

ורבי שמעון היא דאמר אם באו תמימים יקרבו - But not at the outset; the reason is that they have sustenance in their own place. Rabbi Akiva disagrees and says that even after the fact they may not be offered, and he explains the reason: the firstborn is compared (ketish) to the animal tithe, and the animal tithe to the grain tithe; just as grain tithe does not come from outside the Land into Eretz Yisrael, so too firstborn and tithe. And if you ask: why not explain it as Rabbi Akiva, for whom it is more his property? One can say: for Rabbi Akiva it is not so much like shelamim.

לא בפלוגתא דרבי יוחנן בן נורי ורבי עקיבא דמתני' קמפלגי - I.e., we established this case as a firstborn outside the Land.

דלמא אזיל ישראל ושדי ביה מומא וממטי ליה (לחבריה) [לחכם] ואמר בכור זה נתן לי כהן במומו - And if you ask: what does it matter, since they do not permit [the firstborn] once the blemish came out of the kohen's hand without witnesses, for kohanim are suspected of this? One may say he means: a kohen gave it to me with its blemish, and it fell in my presence by itself. And if you ask: how can he fear that a Yisrael puts a blemish on it, since Yisrael are not suspected of this, as we say in Bechorot (35a): for a firstborn in a Yisrael's hand, all are believed about it; kohanim are suspected of blemishing, but Yisrael are not suspected? And one cannot say that this is only when it is certainly a firstborn that will be given to a kohen, since a Yisrael does not sin for him. One may say it is not the same: that is when it was a tam from the start in a Yisrael's hand, then he fears to impose a blemish on it, since it was born in his possession and he has no way to escape. But here one can attribute it: the kohen gave it to him with its blemish; therefore he is suspected of it. It seems that is why he did not want to say, in another way, 'lest a Yisrael put a blemish on it and show it to a sage and say it fell by itself': he would not do that, lest they suspect him and say: why does he trouble to bring it to a sage, since it is not his? And he objects: Rav Yehuda said: they do not see a firstborn for a Yisrael unless a kohen is with him; the reason is lest he keep it for himself and not give it to the kohen; and since he must bring a kohen, he cannot say 'a kohen gave me this firstborn with its blemish', since we tell him: bring that kohen who gave it to you; for as long as he does not bring him, we do not permit him the firstborn.

לשון רש"י היינו טעמא דנראה ככהן המסייע בבית הגרנות - Rashi's wording: the reason is that it looks like a kohen who assists at the threshing floor: for a kohen often sells a firstborn cheaply to a Yisrael so that he will give him a firstborn another time; and it is all the more forbidden to accept it as a gift. And one must be careful: if a Yisrael tells a kohen, 'here is this firstborn', and the kohen says 'yours', then it is forbidden to accept it, because it looks like a kohen who assists at the threshing floor.

Notes

1. 1. Tam: an animal without a blemish.
2. 2. The firstborn animal is holy from birth and is given to a kohen; if it is a tam, it is offered on the altar (general knowledge).
3. 3. Rabbi Shimon holds that an unblemished firstborn from outside the Land is offered if it comes, but not at the outset (as Rashi explains).
4. 4. A chatat and an asham are sin and guilt offerings; the kohanim do not acquire them during the owner's lifetime.
5. 5. The beraisa teaches that the firstborn is acquired by a kohen during its owner's lifetime; the Gemara asks whether this refers to a tam.
6. 6. Temurah: substituting one sacrificial animal for another, so that the substitute too becomes holy. The beraisa says temurah is made on a firstborn in the owner's house but not in the kohen's.
7. 7. Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar holds that once the firstborn has come into a kohen's hands, no temurah can be made on it at all.
8. 8. The first Tanna: the anonymous Tanna of the beraisa, who says that in a kohen's house temurah is not made by the owner.
9. 9. That is: in a kohen's house the kohen, not the owner, makes the temurah, since the kohen acquires the firstborn.
10. 10. Zechiyah begufah: acquisition of the animal itself, not merely of its value or its benefit (general knowledge).
11. 11. Rav Chisda limits the ruling: only kohen to kohen is permitted, while kohen to Yisrael is forbidden. The next line gives the reason.
12. 12. A chacham: a sage or halachic authority to whom a question is brought for a ruling.
13. 13. Rav's rule: a firstborn belonging to a Yisrael is examined by a sage only with a kohen present, so that it is not kept back or switched.
14. 14. A kohen who assists at the threshing floor receives terumah as wages for his work there. Buying a firstborn cheaply from a kohen looks like such wages, which desecrates God's name (as Rashi explains).
15. 15. Rav Ashi: head of the academy at Sura in Babylonia, a late Amora (general knowledge).
16. 16. The Gemara quotes Rav Huna's words back to the hosts. They answer that they are buying, not receiving a gift.
17. 17. To tend the firstborn: the owner raises it for thirty days if small or fifty days if large, before giving it to the kohen.
18. 18. The Gemara's objection: the kohen sells cheaply to this buyer, expecting to receive another firstborn from him later.