Kiddushin, Daf Nun Zayin, Part 1

 

Introduction

The Talmud continues to explain how we know that it is forbidden to derive benefit from the items listed in the mishnah.

 

בעגלה ערופה מנלן אמרי דבי רבי ינאי כפרה כתיב בה כקדשים

 

The heifer whose neck is broken: How do we know this?

The School of R. Yannai said: Atonement is written in connection with it, as with sacrifices.

 

The word atonement is used in connection with the heifer whose neck is broken (Deuteronomy 21:8). This connects this ritual with sacrifices and since one cannot derive non-sacred benefit from sacrificial animals, so too one cannot derive benefit from the heifer whose neck is broken.

 

ציפורי מצורע מנלן דתנא דבי רבי ישמעאל נאמר מכשיר ומכפר מבפנים ונאמר מכשיר ומכפר מבחוץ מה מכשיר ומכפר האמור בפנים עשה בו מכשיר כמכפר אף מכשיר ומכפר האמור בחוץ עשה בו מכשיר כמכפר

 

A leper s bird-offerings: How do we know this? For the School of R. Yishmael taught: A [mitzvah] that enables and a mitzvah that atones are mentioned within [the Temple], and a [mitzvah] that enables and a mitzvah that atones are mentioned outside the Temple: just as with the mitzvoth that enable and atone mentioned within [the Temple], the mitzvah that enables is made equal to the one that atones, so with the mitzvot that enables and atone mentioned outside the Temple, the mitzvah that enables is made equal to that which atones.

 

When it comes to the leper s mitzvoth, inside the Temple there is a mitzvah that enables his guilt-offering, which allows him to eat sacrifices. Other sacrifices offered in the Temple atone. Outside the Temple, the leper s bird offerings enable him to enter the camp. And there are other mitzvoth that atone that are performed outside the Temple, namely the breaking of the heifer s neck. Just as in the first case, the mitzvah that enables is like the mitzvoth that atones, so too with mitzvoth outside the Temple, those that enable are equivalent to those that atone. Just as one may not derive benefit from the heifer whose neck is broken, so too one may not derive benefit from the leper s bird offerings.

 

איתמר ציפורי מצורע מאימתי אסורים רבי יוחנן אמר משעת שחיטה ור"ל אמר משעת לקיחה

ר’ יוחנן אמר משעת שחיטה שחיטה הוא דאסרה לה ר"ל אמר משעת לקיחה מעגלה ערופה נפקא מה עגלה ערופה מחיים אף ציפורי מצורע מחיים

 

It was stated: From what point are a leper’s birds forbidden?

R. Yohanan said: From the time of slaughter. Resh Lakish said: From the time they are taken.

R. Yohanan said, From the time of slaughter it is the slaughter that renders it forbidden. Resh Lakish said: From the time they are taken this is derived from the heifer whose neck is to be broken. Just as the heifer whose neck is to be broken is [forbidden] while it is still alive, so are the leper’s birds [forbidden] while they are still alive.

 

R. Yohanan and Resh Lakish disagree over when the leper s bird sacrifices become prohibited as soon as they are set aside to be the leper s bird sacrifices or only once the one that is slaughtered has been slaughtered.

 

ועגלה ערופה גופה מאימתי א"ר ינאי גבול שמעתי בה ושכחתי ונסבין חבריא לומר ירידתה לנחל איתן היא אוסרתה

 

And from what point is the heifer whose neck is to be broken itself forbidden?

R. Yannai said: I have heard a time limit for it, but have forgotten it. But the colleagues maintain, its descent to the wadi renders it forbidden.

 

R. Yannai does not know when the heifer becomes prohibited, although from what we have seen, it must be before it is killed. Some other rabbis (colleagues) say that as soon as they begin to take the animal down into the wadi to break its neck it is prohibited.

אי מה עגלה ערופה משעת לקיחה לא מיתסרא אף ציפורי מצורע נמי משעת לקיחה לא מיתסרי הכי השתא התם אית ליה גבול אחרינא הכא מי אית ליה גבול אחרינא

 

If so, just as the heifer whose neck is to be broken is not forbidden from the time it is taken, so the leper’s birds should not be forbidden from when they are taken?

Is that so! There it has another determining point; but here, is there any other determining point.

 

The problem is that if the heifer is forbidden from the time it is taken down to the wadi, and not immediately when it is set aside, why are the birds prohibited immediately when they are taken? The answer is that there is no other determining point for the birds. They are set aside and then one is sacrificed and the other released. With the heifer there is another point from which the animal could be prohibited.