4,051. Continuing the List of Animal Blemishes

Hilchos Issurei Mizbeiach 2:3

Continuing the list of the 23 blemishes unique to animals:

(6) If the outer teeth (or tonsils) were punctured; (7) if their mass was reduced, even though some of them remained; (8) if they withered; (9) if the inner teeth (or tonsils) were removed. This is a blemish because when it opens its mouths to shout, their absence will be apparent.

Hilchos Issurei Mizbeiach 2:4

(10) If the animal’s horns were removed along with their keratin sheath so that no part of it remained. If a female has horns, it’s not a blemish; (11) if the prepuce (the genital sheath) was damaged; (12) if a female’s genitals were damaged; (13) if the tail is damaged from the bone. If it was damaged from the joint, it’s not a blemish; (14) if the tip of the tail divides into two, each with its own bone; (15) if there was a fingerbreadth of flesh between each tail joint and the next; (16) if the tail is too short. For a kid, being one vertebra long is a blemish, but being two vertebrae long is not. For a lamb, being two vertebra long is a blemish, but being three vertebrae long is not. (17) If a kid’s tail is flaccid and hangs like that of a pig; (18) if a tail bone is broken. A broken rib is not a blemish because the injury isn’t apparent.

The list concludes in the next halacha.

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