We begin our study of Mishnah 8 in the second chapter of Maseches Bikkurim. This mishnah, together with the three that follow it, deals entirely with the status of an animal called the koy.
It is worth noting at the outset that there are differing opinions as to how the name of this animal is pronounced - koy or kevi - and we will use the form koy. Many years ago this very question was put to the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Ruderman, of blessed memory, by a group that had gathered around him, and as best as can be recalled his answer was: koy.
The essential issue of the koy is a doubt that was never resolved by Chazal: is its law that of a beheimah, a domesticated animal, or that of a chayah, an undomesticated animal? As we will see in the coming mishnayos, the difference between these two statuses has halachic consequences in a number of different areas.
Identifying the koy in the Gemara:
The Gemara in Maseches Chullin seeks to help us identify where the koy comes from, and several opinions are brought there:
Some understand that it is a type of wild ram, one that is not considered a full ram.
Others say that it is the offspring of a male goat and a female deer.
Rabbi Yose holds that it is an entirely separate third category - a completely different sort of creature.
The Sages, for their part, did not decide at all whether it is a chayah or a beheimah.
The wording of the mishnah:
Because of its unresolved status, the mishnah lists four groups of laws:
"Yesh bo derachim she'shaveh la'chayah" - there are ways in which it follows the halachic status of a chayah.
"V'yesh bo derachim she'shaveh la'beheimah" - there are ways in which its status is that of a domesticated animal.
"V'yesh bo derachim she'shaveh la'beheimah v'la'chayah" - there are ways in which it resembles both a beheimah and a chayah, and its law is common to both.
"V'yesh bo derachim she'eino shaveh lo la'beheimah v'lo la'chayah" - and finally, there are ways in which it resembles neither a beheimah nor a chayah.
In summary: This mishnah opens the subject of the koy - a creature whose status was never resolved by Chazal, whether its law is that of a beheimah or that of a chayah. We saw the various opinions in the Gemara as to its identity: a wild ram, the offspring of a goat and a deer, or an entirely separate creature according to Rabbi Yose. Because of this doubt, the mishnah sets out four groups of laws: ways in which it is like a chayah, ways in which it is like a beheimah, ways in which it is like both, and ways in which it is like neither one nor the other.
In the coming mishnayos we will take up these laws in detail, and we will see how the differences between the law of a chayah and the law of a beheimah find expression.