My Jewish Learning

A new chapter of Bekhorot that began on yesterday’s daf pivoted from blemishes that disqualify a firstborn animal to blemishes that disqualify a human priest from performing sacrificial duties.

Leviticus 21:17–21 establishes that a priest with certain physical features cannot serve in the Temple and provides a list of those disqualifying features and the people who have them, including the obscure term gibben.

The first 11 mishnahs of chapter six in Tractate Bekhorot detail the many blemishes that render an animal exempt from the sacrificial requirements of a bekhor, with the result that the priest may slaughter and eat the animal anywhere he chooses.

My son was, objectively, a terrible sleeper.

Imagine you are a priest in the land of Israel in the second century.

Being a Jewish expert means knowing a lot about a lot of things — not just Torah.

After spending much of this tractate discussing how blemishes disqualify a bekhor (firstborn), we are now finally discussing what exactly these blemishes look like.

Saturday, October 27, 2018, marked the deadliest attack on Jews in America.

Continuing its discussion of various ailments that would render an animal either permitted or disqualified from sacrifice as a bekhor, a mishnah on today’s daf enumerates several eye defects for consideration — cataracts; white and black fissures on the e…

The Book of Jonah, read on Yom Kippur afternoon, serves up iconic images of the only Israelite prophet who runs from his divinely given mission.

Some Jews attend synagogue services every week or even every day.

Teshuvah — the work of return and repentance — is a multifaceted project at this time of year.

For many, the Jewish New Year is a kind of “spring cleaning,” except that it takes place in the fall.

On today’s daf, the Gemara discusses the consequences for selling a range of products that should not be consumed: The sages taught in a beraita: In a case where one sells meat to another and it was discovered that it is the meat of a firstborn animal, or…

Turkey gets all the talk, but we know that for many of us, the sides are what really bring us to the Thanksgiving table (and OK fine, family and friends too).

How do you recreate an important medieval Jewish dish when no written recipe has survived?

Today’s daf offers us a peek into the fascinating social dynamics of the rabbinic community.

A mishnah on yesterday’s daf taught that if an owner slits the ear of a bekhor (firstborn), even though the animal is now blemished, the owner cannot slaughter it on account of this blemish.

Storytelling has always been at the heart of the Jewish experience.

“Looking up at the stars, I know quite well/That, for all they care, I can go to hell.”

One of the most famous stories in the Talmud describes a complex series of events that ultimately led to the destruction of the Temple and the subsequent rise of the rabbis.

Here’s a rule we live by: Babka makes everything better.

Amongst the early rabbinic generations, in what we call the tannaitic period, teachings were largely oral.

We have learned that a firstborn animal is holy and must be slaughtered and offered on the altar.

A mishnah on today’s daf describes a process for redeeming animals that have been consecrated at a high price: With regard to all disqualified consecrated animals, benefit from their sale belongs to the Temple.

What did it take for an ordinary Jew to break into the rabbinic inner circle?

This Shabbat we read Parashat Noach, a tale of climate catastrophe with profoundly universalistic themes.

The Torah warns numerous times that the justice system must be equitable, regardless of the wealth of the various parties involved.

Today’s daf contains several mishnahs discussing the requirement for an expert to examine a bekhor for blemishes before it can be slaughtered.

Takeout played a big part in my childhood.

Deuteronomy 15:20 commands: “You shall eat it (the firstborn animal) before the Lord your God year by year.”

A recent mishnah taught that a Jew must raise a bekhor for a relatively short but not insignificant period of time before giving it to a priest: How long must an Israelite tend to and raise a firstborn animal before giving it to the priest?

Notably, it’s forbidden not only to shear a firstborn, but to benefit from its wool.

As we’ve been discussing, farmers sometimes acquire animals without a complete birthing history, making it difficult to identify whether a subsequent offspring is a firstborn.

We already know that kashrut differentiates rabbinic eating from non-Jewish eating.

When there’s a chill in the air, there are few things more comforting and satisfying than the hearty flavor of butternut squash.

In a mishnah at the end of yesterday’s daf, Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya’akov teaches: In the case of a large animal that expelled a mass of congealed blood, that mass must be buried and the animal is exempt from having any future offspring counted as a firstborn.

Today’s daf continues the discussion of a mishnaic debate between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yishmael about a person who purchased an animal from a gentile without knowing whether it had previously given birth.

The text messages started a few weeks ago, in the days leading up to High Holidays: “Are you ok?”

TK Read all of Bekhorot 20 on Sefaria.

We have been using the Hebrew word bekhor to describe a firstborn male, human or animal, that is subject to special rules.

Think about the last time you had to measure something without the assistance of an instrument: determining if your opponent’s tennis serve was in or out without the benefit of an electronic eye, perhaps, or lining up a painting without the use of a level.

In the early hours of Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists infiltrated southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostages, including young children, into the Gaza Strip.

In the first chapter of Bekhorot, we discussed firstborn donkeys, which require redemption with a lamb given to a priest.

Today, let’s talk about money — specifically, a complex economic arrangement described on today’s daf.

Once an animal is consecrated — dedicated as a sacrifice — it cannot be used for a mundane purpose, like ploughing a field or giving milk.

It is not permissible to offer an animal with a disqualifying blemish on the altar in the Temple.

Donkey fans may be enjoying the attention this species has received in Tractate Bekhorot.

The holiday of Shemini Atzeret–Simchat Torah — celebrated together in Israel, where I live, and separately in the diaspora — feels like the busiest day of the year.

A firstborn donkey is redeemed by giving a lamb to a priest, allowing the owner to keep and work the donkey as normal.