Chapter X

Eighteen Treatises from the Mishna, by D. A. Sola and M. J. Raphall, [1843], at sacred-texts.com

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CHAPTER X.

§ 1. The law concerning the [right] shoulder, the two cheeks, and maw, due as oblation to the priest, is obligatory in and out of the Holy Land, during and after the existence of the Temple, ¹ and applies to animals for ordinary use [‏חולין‎], but not to those used as consecrated sacrifices. For it might have been concluded [thus], If in respect to animals slaughtered for ‏חולין‎, to which the precept of giving the breast and foreleg [to the priest] does not apply, it is nevertheless obligatory to give the above mentioned oblations: it would follow, a fortiori, that these oblations ought also to be given in respect to consecrated sacrifices which are subject to the gift of the breast and foreleg; but it is written [Lev. vii. 34], "[For the wave-breast, and fore-leg, &c.] and have given them to Aaron the priest and his sons by a statute for ever." Hence we are taught, that the priest obtains only what is specified in the text [viz., the breast, &c.].

§ 2. All animals, for sacrifice, which had contracted a permanent [i.e. incurable] blemish before they were consecrated, and were ransomed, are subject to the laws concerning first-born and [the other sacerdotal] oblations, and may, like animals used for ‏חולין‎, be shorn and used for labor. The young and milk they produce after they were ransomed are also lawful for use, and no guilt is incurred if they were slaughtered outside [the temple]. They do not render an animal substituted for them a valid sacrifice, but they must be ransomed after their death. First-born of animals, and those given as tithe, are excepted. If they had been consecrated before they had contracted the blemish, or that a transitory blemish preceded the consecration, and they had subsequently contracted a permanent one, they are free, after they are ransomed, from the laws relating to first-born and other oblations; but they may not, like animals used for ‏חולין‎, be shorn nor used to labor with. The young and milk they produce may not be used, even after they were ransomed, and guilt is incurred by any person who slaughtered them outside [of the temple]. They also render an animal substituted for them a valid sacrifice, and must be buried when they die.

§ 3. If a blemished first-born animal was sold by a priest to an

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[paragraph continues] Israelite, and had become mingled with a hundred other animals; if these were slaughtered by a hundred persons, the firstborn which is among them releases them all [of the obligation of paying the sacerdotal dues]. If they were all slaughtered by one person, one only of these animals is free. A person who slaughters for a priest, or for a non-Israelite, is not bound to pay the oblations; if he had the animals in partnership with one of these, he must mark them. ² If a priest sold an animal [to an Israelite], reserving the oblations, the Israelite is not bound to give them. Should one [Israelite] say to another, Sell me the entrails of [this] cow," and there is yet of the oblations among it [viz. the maw], he [the buyer], must give it himself to the priest, and [the seller] need not allow him any deduction from the purchase-money on that account; but if the animal was bought by weight, the buyer must pay the sacerdotal dues, and may deduct it from the purchase-money.

§ 4. If a proselyte had a cow, which he slaughtered before he had embraced Judaism, he is free from the payment of the oblations, but not if the slaughtering took place after his conversion. In a doubtful case ³ he is free, because the onus probandi lies with him who sets up the claim. What are the limits of the shoulder? ⁴ From the bent of the knee until the hip-bone: this is also the case in respect to the shoulder mentioned in the sacrifice of the Nazarite, as also in respect to the hind-leg down to the hough [in peace-offerings]. The [limits of the] leg are, according to R. Jehudah, from the hip-joint until that of the thigh. The [limits of the] two cheeks are from their joints till the top ring of the trachea.

Footnotes

350:1 This commandment is not at present considered obligatory out of the Holy Land.

351:2 That every one may distinctly perceive that the priest or non-Israelite have a share in the animals.

351:3 Namely, whether the slaughtering had taken place previous to, or after the conversion.

351:4 Namely, that of the right side fore-quarter, which must be given to the priest.