Bekhorot () is a tractate of the Mishnah, the Tosefta, and both the Talmud Bavli and Talmud Yerushalmi. It primarily discusses the laws governing firstborn animals and humans. It forms part of Seder Kodashim (), the fifth order of the Mishnah.
The tractate primarily concerns the laws governing the firstborn, the (). It discusses three principal categories: the firstborn male of a ritually permitted domesticated animal, the firstborn male of a donkey, and a woman's firstborn son. The firstborn of cattle, sheep, or goats acquired sacred status at birth and, while the Temple in Jerusalem stood, was given to a priest and offered as a sacrifice. The tractate details the physical blemishes () that rendered an animal unfit for sacrifice, as well as those that disqualified a priest from Temple service.
The tractate also addresses the redemption of a firstborn donkey () and the redemption of a firstborn son (), commemorated in the ceremony. Its final chapter concerns the animal tithe ().
Contents of the Mishnah The Mishnah's tractate—upon which the Talmud compiles the commentary of Chazal ()—includes nine chapters and treats several related questions of judicial and professional responsibility:
Chapter 1 concerns the (; ) ritual. Based on the () that God gives the Israelites in Exodus 13:13, it discusses circumstances that exempt the animal from firstborn status and the choice between redeeming it with a lamb and breaking its neck.
Chapter 2 concerns the firstborn of ritually permitted domesticated animals, particularly cases involving ownership or partnership with a non-Jew () and the circumstances under which such an interest exempts an animal from firstborn status.
Chapter 3 addresses uncertainty about whether an animal is a firstborn, including cases involving previous births, multiple offspring, and uncertainty over which animal first emerged from the womb.
Chapter 4 concerns the care and inspection of firstborn animals and the authority and liability of experts who rule on blemishes. It distinguishes between authorized and unauthorized experts who issue erroneous rulings and records testimony attributed to Theodos the physician. The chapter also addresses compensation for adjudicating cases and provides that the judgments of one who accepts payment to adjudicate are void. This form of religious-legal decision-making is related to the later role of the , or halakhic decisor (; ).
Chapter 5 discusses disqualified sacred animals, including firstborn animals whose blemishes were intentionally caused, restrictions on their slaughter and sale, and the treatment of their wool and labor.
Chapter 6 enumerates the physical blemishes () that render a firstborn animal unfit for sacrifice.
Chapter 7 enumerates the physical blemishes that disqualify a () from performing the Temple service, based on the priestly requirements given in Leviticus 21:16–23.
Chapter 8 concerns the firstborn son. It distinguishes firstborn status for redemption from firstborn status for inheritance, sets out the laws of () and discusses the firstborn son's right to a double portion of his father's estate. These laws derive principally from Numbers 18:15–16 and Deuteronomy 21:15–17. Chapter 8 concludes with laws of firstborn inheritance, including a dispute over which transfers of property are reversed in the Jubilee year.
Chapter 9 concerns the animal tithe (), under which every tenth eligible animal is sacred, as prescribed in Leviticus 27:32–33. Its sacred status and restrictions resemble those governing a firstborn animal.
Tosefta
In the Tosefta, Bekhorot is the fourth tractate, akin to the Mishnah but divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 corresponds to the first Mishnah chapter; chapter 2 corresponds to Mishnah chapters 2–3; chapter 3 covers chapters 4–5; chapter 4 aligns with chapter 6; chapter 5 with chapter 7; chapter 6 with chapter 8; and chapter 7 with chapter 9. The Tosefta significantly differs from the Mishnah in how it lists blemishes and their names. Besides enumerating blemishes, it also explores various situations wherein a might assess the status of a firstborn, such as when a creature gives birth to an animal that resembles another species.
Talmud
The Jerusalem Talmud () does not contain a tractate Bekhorot, in contrast to the Babylonian Talmud, in which it is the third tractate in . In addition to the common theme of purity, the Babylonian Talmud expands on the exemption of the firstborn Levite, or . The child of a Levite mother or of a , regardless of whether or not the father is a Levite or a general Jew, is automatically exempt from the toll. This exemption reflects the view that firstborn males are already born in the service of God, so redemption is not needed.
See also Firstborn (Judaism)
References
External links Text of the Mishnah for tractate Bekhorot (Hebrew)