Bekhorot 2a — the Talmud in English

It is written [Exodus 13]: “Sanctify to Me every firstborn, the opener of every womb among the Children of Israel, of man and beast; it is Mine... And it shall be when the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanite, as He swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you. And you shall transfer every opener of the womb to the Lord, and every firstling of an animal that you shall have, the males, shall be the Lord’s. And every firstling of a donkey you shall redeem with a sheep [or with its value], and if you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck; and every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.” And it is written [Exodus 34]: “Every opener of the womb is Mine, and of all your livestock [which] you shall set apart the opener of a bull and a sheep [which a male shall open from its womb]. And the opener of a donkey you shall redeem with a sheep, and if you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck; every firstborn of your sons you shall redeem.” And it is written [Numbers 3]: “And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the Children of Israel in place of every firstborn, the opener of the womb among the Children of Israel, and the Levites shall be Mine. For every firstborn is Mine; on the day I struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified every firstborn in Israel, from man to beast; they shall be Mine. I am the Lord.” And it is written [Numbers 8]: “And afterward the Levites shall come to serve in the Tent of Meeting... For they are given, given to Me, in place of every opener of the womb, the firstborn of every one among the Children of Israel; I have taken them for Myself. For every firstborn among the Children of Israel is Mine, of man and beast; on the day I struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for Myself. And I have taken the Levites in place of every firstborn among the Children of Israel.” And it is written [Numbers 18]: “Every opener of the womb, of all flesh, which they offer to the Lord, of man and beast, shall be yours; but you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of an impure animal [the opener of a donkey] you shall redeem. And its redeemed ones, from one month old, you shall redeem, according to your valuation, silver of five shekels, by the sacred shekel, twenty gerahs it is. But the firstborn of an ox, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are sacred. You shall sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and their fat you shall burn, a fire-offering for a pleasing fragrance to the Lord.” And it is written [Deuteronomy 15]: “Every firstborn that shall be born in your cattle and in your flock, the male you shall sanctify to the Lord your God; you shall not work with the firstborn of your ox, and you shall not shear the firstborn of your flock. Before the Lord your God you shall eat it year by year, in the place that the Lord shall choose, you and your household. And if there is in it a blemish, lame or blind, any bad blemish, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord” your God. Within your gates you shall eat it, the impure and the pure together, as the gazelle and as the hart.” Our Mishna deals with the firstling of a donkey, concerning which the Torah commanded that it be redeemed with a sheep [or with its value] and given to a priest. Our Mishna explains that the obligation applies to an animal of an Israelite and to the offspring of an Israelite; but if a gentile had a share in the mother or in the firstborn itself, it is exempt from the firstborn status. The law explained in our Mishna is the same for the firstling of a donkey and for the firstborn of a pure animal, as we learned below, on page 13a, concerning the firstborn of a pure animal. And the reason that the tan-nay preceded to explain the law of the firstling of a donkey is explained in the Gemara below, on page 13a. Mishna:

One who purchases the foetus of his donkey

that is about to give birth

of a gentile, and one who sells it to him

the foetus of his donkey that is about to give birth

even though he is not permitted

to sell him the foetus of his donkey, since one may not sell a large animal to a gentile.

And one who enters into partnership with him [with

the gentile], whether in the mother or in the firstborn.

And one who receives from him [from

the gentile] the mother to care for her, and in return for this he gives him rights in the animal to half of her offspring; thus the animal’s substance belongs to the gentile, while an Israelite has rights in the animal to half of her offspring, and they are partners in the firstborn.

And one who gives it to him under a receiving arrangement,

and thus the animal’s substance belongs to an Israelite, while the gentile has rights in the animal to half of her offspring, and they are partners in the firstborn.

In all these cases:

he is exempt from the firstborn status, as it is stated [Numbers 3]: “I sanctified every firstborn

[Numbers 3]: “I sanctified every firstborn”

in Israel,”

and we learned: the firstborn must be in Israel,

but not among others,

that is, among gentiles; from here, if the firstborn belongs to a gentile, he is not obligated in the firstborn status.

Gemara:

The Gemara asks:

All these

ways that we learned in the Mishna, in which a gentile has a share in the mother or in the firstborn,

why do I need them?

And the Gemara explains:

They are necessary!

For had the tan-nay taught

only

the purchaser

of the firstborn, who is exempt from the firstborn status,

I would have thought:

Only in this manner is the Israelite exempt from the firstborn status,

because when purchasing the firstborn

he

brings it into sanctity [that is, he brings it into sanctity so that it will rest on Shabbat],

[he brings it into the status of an animal subject to sanctity] that it should rest on Shabbat,

but one who sells

the firstborn,

who removes it from sanctity [for it will not rest on Shabbat in the gentile’s possession],

[for it will not rest on Shabbat in the gentile’s possession].

say that we penalize him

the Israelite, so that he should not be exempt from the firstborn status.

It teaches us this. “

And one who enters into partnership with him”—

why do I need this!?

And we explain:

To exclude the opinion of Rabbi Judah, who said: A gentile’s partnership is obligated in the firstborn status,

it teaches us

that it is exempt from the firstborn status. “

And one who receives

And one who receives

from him”—that the mother is entirely the gentile’s [apart from the right to half of the offspring], and he is also a partner in the firstborn—

why do I need this!?

And we answer: The law of “and one who receives from him” was taught only

because

[by way of including]

he wanted to teach “

and one who gives it to him under a receiving arrangement.”

The Gemara adds to explain: “

And one who gives it to him under a receiving arrangement” \-

that the gentile is a partner in the firstborn [and he also has rights in the mother to half of her offspring]—

why do I need this!?

And we explain:

It was necessary

for the tan-nay to teach “and one who gives it to him under a receiving arrangement,” because

it might enter your mind to say: Since the principal of the animal

—that is, the substance of the animal and half of the offspring—

belongs to an Israelite,

say

we penalize him

the Israelite, making him obligated in the firstborn status, because

perhaps he will come to exchange it with another animal [that is, perhaps people will come to exempt another animal of an Israelite from the firstborn status].

This teaches us

It teaches us

that we do not penalize him.

We learned there

in tractate Avoda Zara 14b:

One may not sell to them [to gentiles] a large animal [which performs work on Shabbat], calves and foals, whether whole or broken.

Rabbi Judah permits a broken animal

that is unfit for work;

Ben Beteira permits a horse

that is intended for riding and not for work.

They raised a question before them [the members of the academy were uncertain]:

What is the law concerning a fetus—

A foetus—

which is likewise unfit for work—

what did Rabbi Judah say to me?

Does he permit selling it to a gentile, as with a broken animal? And the sides of the uncertainty are:

Does

the reason of Rabbi Judah there

—concerning a broken animal—

that he permits

consist only

because it is broken

and unfit for work, and if so,

a foetus also

[is like]

is broken?

Or perhaps:

The fact that it is unfit for work alone is insufficient, for one should issue a decree lest he sell a whole animal; rather,

a broken animal Rabbi Judah permits because

it is not its usual manner

[it is not the way of an animal to be broken],

and it is an unusual matter, so people will not come to exchange it for a whole animal;

but a foetus, since it is its usual manner

[this is its way, and it is not an unusual matter], it is as though

it is not broken,

that is, it is not comparable to a broken animal, because a decree should be issued concerning it lest it be exchanged for a whole animal, unlike a broken animal?

Come and hear—that Rabbi Judah prohibits selling a foetus to a gentile—from our Mishna:

“even though he is not permitted,”

And one who sells it to him—

the foetus of his donkey—

even though he is not permitted, and not

is it mentioned in the Mishna that

Rabbi Judah disagrees

to say that he is permitted to sell his donkey’s foetus; thus it implies that Rabbi Judah agrees in this matter.

The Gemara rejects this:

And according to your reasoning,

that you prove from the Mishna’s omission that Rabbi Judah agrees with what is stated in the Mishna, then “

one who enters into partnership with him, and one who receives from him, and one who gives it to him under a receiving arrangement”

which are mentioned in our Mishna as exempt from the firstborn status,

for it does not teach

in the Mishna that Rabbi Judah disagrees with this and obligates him in the firstborn status,

so too, he does not disagree

[and does Rabbi Judah not disagree with this], whereas Rabbi Judah obligates a gentile’s partnership in the firstborn status!?

Rather,

you certainly admit that

Rabbi Judah disagrees

in these cases and obligates him in the firstborn status,

and

nevertheless

it does not teach

this explicitly in our Mishna; if so,

here too—in the sale of a foetus to a gentile—it may be said that

the Mishna does not teach

Rabbi Judah disagrees with what we learned, “even though he is not permitted,”

Come and hear—that Rabbi Yehuda prohibits selling a fetus to a gentile—from the following beraita:

and

nevertheless

it does not teach

this explicitly in our Mishna.

Come and hear—that Rabbi Judah prohibits selling a foetus to a gentile—from that which was taught:

A firstborn of a pure animal, when it is unblemished, is given to a priest and offered upon the altar, and the meat is eaten by priests; and when it is blemished, so that it cannot be offered, it is given to a priest as it is.

Rabbi Yehuda says: One who accepts a pure animal

that is pure

from a gentile

in an arrangement in which they divide the offspring equally,

and it gave birth to

a firstborn animal, since only half of the firstborn belongs to the Jew, it is considered half a firstborn, however, it does not have inherent sanctity, so that it could be offered on the altar like other firstborn animals, because sanctity does not apply to only half of an animal, rather:

its value is assessed [מעריכים את שויו]

[its value is appraised]

and

the Jew

gives half of its value

of the firstborn

to a Kohen, a member of the priestly family that served in the Temple.

And one who gives it to him through an acceptance arrangement, although he is not permitted to do so,

because one may not sell a large domesticated animal to a gentile:

Half of it is sanctified as a firstborn, and

he is penalized—

because he sold a large domesticated animal to a gentile, he is required to redeem it from the gentile, even

if it costs up to ten times its value [אף אם יתבע הגוי תמורתו פי עשרה מערכו],

[even if the gentile demands ten times its value in exchange for it],

and he gives

the

entire value

of the firstborn

to a Kohen.