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Perek 5

Mishnayos Bechoros Perek 5 Mishnah 1

בכורות פרק ה׳ משנה א׳

1
With regard to all disqualified consecrated animals that were disqualified for sacrifice due to blemishes and were redeemed, all benefit accrued from their sale belongs to the Temple treasury. In order to ensure that the Temple treasury will not suffer a loss, these animals are sold in the butchers’ market [ba’itliz] and slaughtered in the butchers’ market, where the demand is great and the price is consequently higher. And their meat is weighed and sold by the litra, in the manner that non-sacred meat is sold. This is the halakha with regard to all consecrated animals except for the firstborn offering and an animal tithe offering. When these become blemished and their slaughter is permitted, they are sold and slaughtered only in the owner’s house and are not weighed; rather, they are sold by estimate. The reason is that all benefit accrued from their sale belongs to the owner, i.e., the priest in the case of the firstborn and the owner in the case of the animal tithe offering. It is not permitted to treat disqualified consecrated animals as one treats non-sacred animals merely to guarantee that the owner will receive the optimal price. This is in contrast to disqualified consecrated animals, where all benefit accrued from their sale belongs to the Temple treasury, and therefore the animal is sold in the market to ensure that the optimal price is received. And although the meat of the firstborn is not weighed and sold by the litra, nevertheless, if one has non-sacred meat weighing one hundred dinars, one may weigh one portion of non-sacred meat against one portion of the meat of the firstborn, because that is unlike the manner in which non-sacred meat is weighed.
כָּל פְּסוּלֵי הַמֻּקְדָּשִׁין (הֲנָאָתָן לַהֶקְדֵּשׁ), נִמְכָּרִין בָּאִטְלִיז (וְנִשְׁחָטִין בָּאִטְלִיז) וְנִשְׁקָלִין בְּלִטְרָא, חוּץ מִן הַבְּכוֹר וּמִן הַמַּעֲשֵׂר, שֶׁהֲנָיָתָן לַבְּעָלִים. פְּסוּלֵי הַמֻּקְדָּשִׁין הֲנָיָתָן לַהֶקְדֵּשׁ. וְשׁוֹקְלִין מָנֶה כְנֶגֶד מָנֶה בַּבְּכוֹר:
א׳

כל פסולי המוקדשין (all consecrated animals that are disqualified) – Holy Things that had a blemish befall them, if we sell them at a high price, it is a benefit of discretion to Temple property. Therefore, they are sold in the bazaar/shop, that is the marketplace where they sell in the rest of the unconsecrated meat and there it is sold at a high price.

ונשקלין בליטרא – to be sold in the manner that the butchers sell unconsecrated meat, for since they are able to sell it at a high price, they add to its worth when they redeem them from Temple property.

חוץ מן הבכור ומן המעשר – that if they are sold at a high price their benefit is to owners. The firstling, its benefit is to the Kohen, for the meat of a firstling is consumed by everyone, but the Kohen sells it and takes its monetary worth, for the Kohen is called the owners of the firstling. But because of the benefit of the regular individual/commoner, we do not treat lightly Holy Things to treat them with the custom of unconsecrated things to sell them in a bazaar/shop, but rather in his house, and even though people will not cut the meat so much. But they are not measured with a litra but rather by estimation, and if he loses [a bit], it does not matter.

ושוקלין מנה כנגד מנה – that if he has a piece of unconsecrated meat that is weighted in the litra, he can weigh the meat of a firstling against it. But tithes we don’t weigh a Maneh against a Maneh, for at it appears as if he sells it, and the tithe of cattle it is prohibited to sell it at all because it is not written regarding it (see Numbers 18:17): “[But the firstlings of cattle, sheep, or goats] may not be redeemed,” in the manner that it is written regarding a firstling but rather (Leviticus 27:33): “[If he does make substitution for it, then it and its substitute shall both be holy:] it cannot be redeemed/לא יגאל,” and we taught in Sifrei [B’midbar] that regarding a firstling where it states “it cannot be ransomed,” tithes, where it states concerning it, “it shall not be redeemed”, is no sold, neither living nor slaughtered, and not pure and not with a blemish.

כל פסולי המוקדשין. קדשים שנפל בהם מום, אם מוכרין אותן ביוקר טובת הנאה להקדש הוא. הלכך נמכרים באטליז, דהיינו שוק שמוכרים בו שאר בשר חולין ושם נמכר ביוקר:

ונשקלין בליטרא. להמכר כדרך שהקצבים מוכרים בשר חולין. דמתוך שיכולים למכור ביוקר מוסיפים בדמים כשפודים אותם מן ההקדש:

חוץ מן הבכור ומן המעשר. שאם נמכרים ביוקר הנאתן לבעלים. בכור הנאתו לכהן, דבשר בכור נאכל לכל אדם והכהן מוכרו ונוטל דמיו, ולכהן קרי בעלים של בכור. ומשום הנאת הדיוט לא מזלזלינן בקדשים לנהוג בהן מנהג חולין למכרן באטליז, אלא בביתו, ואע״פ שלא יקפצו עליהם בני אדם כל כך. ואין נשקלים בליטרא אלא באומד, ואם יפסיד לית לן בה:

ושוקלין מנה כנגד מנה בבכור. שאם יש לו חתיכת בשר חולין שנשקלה בליטרא יכול לשקול בשר בכור כנגדה. אבל מעשר אין שוקלים מנה כנגד מנה, דמיחזי כאילו מוכרו, ובהמת מעשר אסור למכרה כלל משום דלא כתיב בה לא יפדה כדרך שכתוב בבכור אלא לא יגאל, ושנינו בספרי בכור שנאמר בו לא יפדה, הוא נמכר, מעשר שנאמר בו לא יגאל אינו נמכר לא חי ולא שחוט ולא תמים ולא בעל מום: