Bechoros 9:3 - 9:4

הלקחו או שניתן לו מתנה פטור ממעשר בהמה – In the Gemara (Tractate Bekhorot 55b-56a), we derive it from as it is written (Exodus 22:28-29): “You shall give Me (i.e., God) the first-born among your sons. You shall do the same with your cattle and your flocks,” just as your sons are not something bought or given as a gift, that purchasing and [receiving as] a gift don’t apply, but rather with him, they were born [to him], even your sheep and cattle are not through purchasing or a gift. And even though that this Scriptural verse deals with the first-born, as it is written, but we derive from it the tithe, that is, because it is written (Exodus 22:29): “You shall do the same with your cattle [and your flocks],” and certain action one is not able to stand regarding a first-born for since [it comes] from a holy womb, and it does not require an action that the person will sanctify it, if it is not a matter for the first-born, make it a matter for the tithing of cattle.

האחים השותפין – the brothers that divided the inheritance of their father and afterwards became partners.

כשחייבין בקלבון (when they are liable for a rate of exchange/agio) – when they bring their Skekalim , they bring two halves and they give two agio, and they give the two קלבון/agio. And the קלבון/agio is the language of the customary additional weight in retailing/boot that they have to weigh their Shekalim. But if they gave between the two of them one complete Shekel, they give two agio, for they were supposed to weigh in halves (see Tractate Shekalim, Chapter 1, Mishnah 7).

ופטורים ממעשר בהמה – from all that are born to them all the days of the partnership. For the partnership exempts [them] from the tithe of cattle, as it is written (Exodus 13:12): “[every male firstling] that your cattle drop [shall be the LORD’s],” but not that of partnership. But even though this Biblical verse is written concerning the first-born, if it is not a matter relating to the first-born, we hear that it deals with partnership, as it is written (Deuteronomy 12:6): “[and there you are to bring your burnt offerings and other sacrifices, your tithes, and contributions, your votive and freewill offerings,] and the firstlings of your herds and flock,” teach it concerning the matter of tithing for cattle.

וכשחייבין במעשר בהמה – as for example, if they didn’t ever divide it (i.e., the estate), that the estate exists, which is the inheritance of their father exists, they are liable for the tithing of the cattle to tithe all that is born to them all the days of their partnership. For this we stated in the Baraitha, even if they acquired the estate, the inference teaches us (Exodus 22:29): “[seven days] it shall remain [with its mother],” that implies [this] nevertheless.

ופטורים מן הקלבון – completely, that they weigh between the two of them a complete Shekel. That their father’s money is stands in its legal status/presumption, but the father who offers the head-tax/pays the Shekel for his son or for one of the people of his city and exempts him with his own, and he is exempt from the agio, as it is taught in the Mishnah of [Tractate] Shekalim (Chapter 1, Mishnah 7), that a person who pays the Shekel for a a poor people or for his neighbor or for someone in his city is exempt from the agio.

קנו בתפוסת הבית חייבין –[he is liable for] the tithe of cattle. As we stated, the inference of (Exodus 22:29): “it shall remain” (see above), that it implies anyway whatever it will be. But in the explanations/interpretations of my Rabbi I found, that [when it says] they acquired it [does not mean] that they purchased it with money, but rather, the cattle/animals that fell to them from the inheritance of their father.

חלקו וחזרו ונשתתפו – they are merely/in a general way like partners.

פטורים ממעשר בהמה – but are liable for agio.

הכל נכנס לדיר להתעשר – [the word] "הכל"/every beast includes (see Talmud Bekhorot 57a) an animal that covered (a woman) and the (female) animal that was covered by the man and the animal that they set aside (in a shed) for a sacrifice to idolatry, and that [animal] which was itself worshiped and the harlot’s hire and/or the pay of a dog (i.e., a male prostitute – see Deuteronomy 23:19), and an animal whose sex is unknown and an androgenous animal. For all of these, even though they are invalid for a sacrifice enter the pen/corral for tithing, for since the Torah was not stringent on a blemish regarding tithing, as it is written (Leviticus 27:33): “He must not look out for good as against bad [or make substitution for it, then it and its substitute shall both be holy: it cannot be redeemed],” it (i.e., the Torah) was not stringent either with all of these invalid [animals].

חוץ מן הכלאים והטריפה ויוצא דופן – for it is taught in a Baraitha (Talmud Bekhorot 57a): (Leviticus 22:27): “When an ox or sheep [or a goat is born],” excluding crossbreeding, which is that which comes from a male goat and a sheep, or a goat, except for what appears as a hybrid, that comes from a ram and a sheep and but is similar to a goat. “or a goat is born” (Leviticus 22:27) –excluding an animal that is extracted by means of caesarean section; “it shall stay seven days with its mother” (Leviticus 22:27) – excluding that which is not old enough; “with its mother”- excluding an animal whose mother died during its childbirth (or soon after), for all of these are invalid for Holy Things. But the tithing of cattle is derived from Holy Things through an analogy/Gezerah Shavah: it is stated here (Leviticus 27:32): “[of all that passes] under the shepherd’s staff,” and it is stated there (Leviticus 22:27): “with its mother.” Just as there, excluding all of these categories, so here too , excluding all of these categories, but that which is torn/terefah also does not enter into the pen/corral to be tithed, as it is written (Leviticus 27:32): “[All tithes of the herd or flock -] of all that passes [under the shepherd’s staff],” excluding the torn animal which does not pass, as for example, that its legs were severed from the knee upwards, for it is one if the animals torn by a beast of prey.

השלח קיים – the flesh/hide still is intact/in existence. It is the Aramaic translation of “flayed/stripped,” stripped of its skin.

אין זה יתום – because there are places where the animal died on account of giving birth, we flay it/strip it and dress with its skin the living animal, [the] offspring in order that it warm itself, and we account it as if its mother is alive. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehoshua.