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Bechoros 6:10-11

Bechoros 6:10

Rabbi Chanina ben Antigonos said that it’s a blemish if a firstborn animal has a wart in its eye, if the bone of a front or rear leg is defective, if its jawbone is split, or if one of its eyes or one of its ears is visibly larger than the other. Rabbi Yehuda added if one of the animal’s testicles is twice the size of the other but the Sages did not agree that this was a blemish.

Bechoros 6:11

It is a blemish if a calf’s tail doesn’t reach down to its knee joint. The Sages explained that all calves grow so that as they get bigger, their tails get longer (i.e., maintaining relative length). Rabbi Chanina ben Antigonos said that they were referring to the joint in the animal’s thigh. A firstborn animal may be slaughtered because of the blemishes listed in this chapter, and animals rendered unfit for the altar because of such blemishes can be redeemed.

Author: Rabbi Jack Abramowitz