Bekhorot 20 - October 8, 27 Tishrei

<p><a href= "https://hadran.org.il/app/uploads/2026/10/Study-Guide-Bekhorot-20.pdf"> Study Guide</a></p> <div id="model-response-message-contentr_621c79466a6f53aa" class= "markdown markdown-main-panel md-content enable-luminous-fast-follows enable-updated-hr-color tutor-markdown-rendering" dir="ltr" aria-busy="false" aria-live="polite"> <div>A <em data-path-to-node="0" data-index-in-node="2">braita</em> presents opinions regarding an animal purchased from a non-Jew whose birthing history is unknown. Rabbi Yishmael establishes age-based presumptions (that a goat in its first year, a sheep in its second, and a cow or donkey in its third is assumed to have not yet produced a firstborn prior to the sale), while Rabbi Yosi bar Rabbi Yehuda requires four years for a donkey. Rabbi Yehoshua quotes his rabbis and counters that a bodily discharge (<em data-path-to-node="0" data-index-in-node="452">tinuf</em>), which could indicate a prior miscarriage, would also exempt an animal from <em data-path-to-node="0" data-index-in-node= "535">bekhora</em>, while he himself adds that a goat that had a bodily discharge at six months could still have another offspring within a year. Rabbi Akiva breaks it all down into three cases—where it is known there was a prior birth, where it is known there was no prior birth, or where it is uncertain.</div> <br /> <div>The Gemara analyzes the debate between Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Yehoshua—suggesting three possible ways to understand the disagreement. Is the debate whether a <em data-path-to-node="1" data-index-in-node="160">tinuf</em> (murky discharge) will exempt an animal from the laws of <em data-path-to-node="1" data-index-in-node="223">bekhora</em>, whether we need to be concerned that there was a murky discharge even though that only happens in a minority of cases, or whether an animal can miscarry and give birth again in the same year.</div> <div> </div> <div>The Gemara then analyzes the difference between what Rabbi Yehoshua quoted in the name of his rabbis and what he himself holds. Again, three possible explanations are brought: Do they disagree about Zeiri's ruling that an animal cannot become pregnant within thirty days of a discharge, can an animal give birth before five complete months of gestation (<em data-path-to-node="1" data-index-in-node="779">yoledet lemikuta'in</em>), or can we count part of a day as a full day (<em data-path-to-node="1" data-index-in-node="846">miktzat hayom kekulo</em>) in this context. It then