Avodah Zarah, Daf Kaf Daled, Part 5

 

Introduction

Our sugya offers another resolution of the contradiction between the mishnah which did not allow a Jew to leave his animals alone with a non-Jew for fear of bestiality and the baraita which allowed a Jew to buy animals for sacrifices from non-Jews.

 

ר’ יוחנן אמר גבול יש לה פחותה מבת ג’ שנים נעקרת בת ג’ שנים אינה נעקרת.

 

R. Yohanan said: There are limits: under the age of three years [an animal] becomes infertile, but from the age of three years it does not become infertile.

 

According to R. Yohanan whether or not the animal is made infertile by having sex with a human depends on the age of the animal. If the animal is over three, it will not be made infertile, and therefore non-Jews will copulate with it. But if the animal is under three, they will refrain from copulating with it.

 

איתיביה כל הני תיובתא שני להו פחותה מבת ג’ שנים

 

They raised all of the above difficulties as refutation, and he replied that they referred to animals under the age of three years.

 

All of the verses above which proved that one can bring sacrifices from the non-Jews refer to animals under the age of 3, for it is assumed that they did not copulate with the animal.

ת"ש ואת הפרות העלו עולה לה’

בפחותה מבת שלש שנים

 

Come and hear: And the cattle they offered as a burnt offering unto the Lord (I Samuel 6:14).

This, too, refers to those under the age of three years.

 

Again, R. Yohanan could state that any animal taken from the non-Jews to be a sacrifice must be under the age of three.

 

מתקיף לה רב הונא בריה דרב נתן א"כ היינו ואת בניהם כלו בבית פחותה מבת ג’ שנים

ופחותה מבת נ’ שנים מי קא ילדה? והתניא פרה וחמור מבת ג’ ודאי לכהן מכאן ואילך ספק

אלא מחוורתא כדשנין מעיקרא:

 

R. Huna the son of R. Natan objected: In that case the words, and their calves they shut up at home, refer to those under three years; but does a cow under three years give birth? Have we not learned: In the case of a cow or of a donkey which is three years old [the one born] certainly belongs to the priest; from that age upward it is doubtful.

Rather, it is clear that the earlier resolutions were correct.

 

The continuation of the verse refers to the young born of these cattle. But there is a tradition that animals cannot give birth under the age of three. This is seen from a baraita that discusses a cow or donkey bought from a non-Jew. The issue is whether the next birth of the cow or donkey should be considered its first born and therefore must be given to the priest. The baraita says that if the animal is over three years old then we can assume that it might have given birth and the subsequent birth might not belong to the priest. But if the animal is three years old (or just about) then the birth must be its first.

This proves that animals under three years old do not give birth, and therefore we cannot solve the verse as referring to animals under that age. This is refutation of R. Yohanan.