Chullin, Chapter 10, Mishnah 2. This chapter is devoted to the matanot, the zeroa, the lechayayim and the keivah that an owner must hand over to the kohen when he slaughters his animal, and along the way to the closely related mitzvah of bechorah, the firstborn. Our mishnah draws a sharp line between two kinds of animals: one that was already permanently blemished when it was declared hekdesh, and one that became blemished only afterward. The whole halachic profile of the animal depends on which side of that line it falls.
An Animal That Was Already Blemished
The mishnah opens: "Kol hakodashim shekadam mum kavua lehekdeshan venifdu." A person took a sheep from his flock and declared it a korban. It then emerged that the animal carries a blemish, and not a passing one that will heal, but a mum kavua, a defect that by the ordinary course of nature is there to stay. Moreover, the blemish was already present before the moment of hekdesh. This animal was never a candidate for the mizbeach at all.
What becomes of it? "Venifdu," it is redeemed. Consider a parallel: someone declares a beam of wood or a stone to be hekdesh. Wood and stone can never be placed on the mizbeach, so what he has consecrated is their monetary worth. The value belongs to the Beit Hamikdash and must be redeemed, yet the object itself carries no kedushat haguf. Our blemished animal is in exactly that category. Because it was unfit for a korban from the outset, the hekdesh reached only its value, not its body. Redemption is required, and once the redemption is done, the animal is simply an animal again.
Bechorah and Matanot Apply
"Chayavin babechorah uvamatanot." Let us recall what bechorah is. When a cow, a sheep or a goat gives birth to a male firstborn, that newborn is sanctified from the moment of birth. Its owner hands it to a kohen, and the kohen brings it to the Beit Hamikdash and offers it as a korban. But all of this holds only when the mother is chullin, ordinary property. A mother who is herself hekdesh, a korban, does not produce a firstborn with the kedushah of bechorah.
Now apply that to our case. The sheep was consecrated, the earlier permanent blemish came to light, and the owner redeemed it. From that point on it is an ordinary animal, so a male firstborn that it bears is a genuine bechor, and when the animal is eventually slaughtered the owner owes the kohen the zeroa, the lechayayim and the keivah.
The Bartenura adds an essential qualification. All of this is true because the offspring was born after the redemption. Take the identical animal before the redemption: the owner has been told that he consecrated a permanently blemished beast, he intends to redeem it, but he has not yet done so, and meanwhile it gives birth. That newborn is not a bechor. Even though the mother holds nothing more than kedushat damim, no more than the sanctity attaching to a stone or a beam of wood, that much is sufficient to keep the offspring out of the category of bechorah. Our mishnah speaks of a birth that follows redemption.
Fully Released to Chullin
"Veyotz'in lechullin lehigazez ulehe'aved." Redemption here is complete; no residue of hekdesh clings to the animal. Its wool may be sheared and it may be put to work, precisely as if it had never been consecrated. "Uveladan vachalavan mutar le'achar pidyonan." Its offspring and its milk are permitted, and once again the mishnah stresses le'achar pidyonan, after the redemption and not before.
"Vehashochtan bachutz patur." Ordinarily, one who slaughters a korban outside the Beit Hamikdash is liable to karet. But that liability attaches only to an animal that was fit to be offered inside. This animal, blemished from the start, could never have been brought on the mizbeach at all, so slaughtering it outside the azarah carries no such liability. From the beginning the consecration was a mistake.
"Ve'ein osin temurah." Temurah is the attempt to transfer sanctity: a person stands another animal beside a korban and declares that this one should take the place of that one. Normally both animals end up holy. Here nothing happens, and this is so even if he attempted the exchange before redeeming the animal. Had the animal been sound when consecrated and only later developed a blemish, temurah would take effect and both beasts would be sanctified. But an animal that was never fit for hekdesh, that already bore its blemish at the moment of consecration, cannot generate temurah.
"Ve'im metu yipadu." If such an animal dies without shechitah, it may still be redeemed. Compare a proper korban that was sound at the time of hekdesh and only later became blemished: after redemption the single thing one may do is slaughter it and eat the meat. If it dies on its own there is nothing left to accomplish through redemption, and one certainly may not feed it to dogs, for there is a rule: "ein podin et hakodashim leha'achilan lakelavim," we do not redeem consecrated animals in order to feed them to dogs. That rule, however, governs an animal that once carried kedushat haguf, one that was unblemished when consecrated. Our animal never had kedushat haguf; from the very first moment it held only kedushat damim, no different from consecrating the value of wood or stone. So the mishnah rules that it may be redeemed even after it dies, and the carcass may be fed to the dogs.
In short, when the blemish preceded the hekdesh, nearly everything is permitted; all that is required is redemption.
The Exception: Bechor and Ma'aser
"Chutz min habechor umin hama'aser." A firstborn animal and an animal designated as ma'aser behemah are different. Even if the blemish was present at the moment their kedushah took hold, the full sanctity settles upon them. The one thing that cannot be done is to offer them on the mizbeach, since in practice they are blemished. In every other respect the stringencies of kedushat haguf apply: their wool may not be sheared even after redemption, their offspring and their milk are forbidden, one who slaughters them outside the azarah is liable, they do generate temurah, and if they die without shechitah they may not be redeemed to be fed to dogs.
An Animal Blemished Only After Hekdesh
The mishnah turns to the second category: "Kol shekadam hekdeshan et mumam, o mum over lehekdeshan ule'achar mikan nolad lahem mum kavua venifdu." Here a healthy animal was consecrated and only afterward something went wrong and a permanent blemish appeared. Included in the same category is an animal that carried a mum over, a temporary blemish, at the time of consecration, and only later developed a mum kavua. A passing blemish is treated as though no blemish were there, so it does not prevent the animal from acquiring full kedushat haguf. Now, however, the blemish is permanent, and the animal is redeemed.
"Peturin min habechorah umin hamatanot." There is no bechorah here, and the Bartenura shows how this is derived from pesukim. There is likewise no obligation to give the zeroa, the lechayayim and the keivah, just as with any hekdesh, where these gifts are not owed.
"Ve'einan yotz'in lechullin lehigazez ulehe'aved." Redemption does not strip this animal of its sanctity. Its wool may not be sheared and it may not be put to work. "Uveladan vachalavan asur le'achar pidyonan," its offspring and its milk remain forbidden even after redemption. The reason is straightforward: although this animal can no longer be brought as a korban, it holds kedushat haguf.
Why Is One Liable for Slaughtering It Outside?
"Vehashochtan bachutz chayav." This demands explanation. Granted that the animal was unblemished when consecrated, but right now it is blemished and cannot be offered on the mizbeach inside. And we said that liability for slaughtering outside applies only to an animal that could be brought inside.
The Bartenura, citing the Gemara, answers that the mishnah is not speaking of every sort of blemish. It refers to a particular defect of the eye, a thin membrane covering the eye, and it follows the view of Rabbi Akiva, who holds that this is not a full blemish: one does not offer such an animal to begin with, but if it was mistakenly placed on the mizbeach it is not removed. Since inside the Beit Hamikdash it would remain on the mizbeach after the fact, one who slaughters such an animal outside the azarah is liable.
Temurah and Death
"Ve'osin temurah." An animal consecrated while sound that subsequently became blemished does generate temurah. If the owner sets another animal alongside it and declares that its sanctity should pass over, both animals are holy. The Bartenura notes that this holds only before the animal was redeemed. The source is the pasuk, "tov bera o ra betov": so long as the animal was sound at some point, temurah takes effect, and this animal was indeed sound at some point.
"Ve'im metu yikaveru." If it dies without shechitah, it must be buried. It may not be fed to the dogs, because it was unblemished at the moment of consecration and therefore acquired kedushat haguf, and once kedushat haguf has taken hold, even redemption does not permit feeding it to dogs.
Reviewing the Mishnah
Masechet Chullin, Perek Yod, Mishnah Bet. All kodashim that carried a permanent blemish already at the moment of consecration never acquired kedushat haguf; they hold kedushat damim alone. Once redeemed, they emerge completely into chullin: a male firstborn born afterward is a true bechor, and one who slaughters the animal after redemption owes the kohen the zeroa, the lechayayim and the keivah. The wool may be sheared, the animal may be worked, and the offspring and the milk are permitted, always after the redemption. One who slaughters it outside the azarah is exempt, since it was never fit for the inside at all. An attempt at temurah accomplishes nothing; no sanctity transfers. And if it dies without shechitah, it may still be redeemed and fed to the dogs.
The exceptions are the bechor and the ma'aser. Even if they were blemished from the outset and never fit for the mizbeach, they carry kedushat haguf. They cannot be offered, but in every other respect they follow the rules of an animal that received its kedushah first and became blemished afterward.
And those rules are as follows. An animal that was sound when consecrated, or that carried only a temporary blemish at that time and later developed a permanent one, retains its status as hekdesh in many respects even after redemption. Redemption achieves one thing only: the animal may be slaughtered and eaten. It is exempt from bechorah and from the matanot. Its wool may not be sheared and it may not be worked. Its offspring and its milk remain forbidden even after redemption. One who slaughters it outside the azarah is liable, and we explained that this applies to the particular blemish that would be acceptable after the fact inside. It does generate temurah, provided the exchange is made before redemption: if the owner lines up another animal and transfers the sanctity, the transfer works. And if it dies without shechitah, it cannot be redeemed to be fed to the dogs; it must be buried. All of this applies to any animal that lacked a permanent blemish at the moment of consecration, and to a bechor or ma'aser even when the permanent blemish was there beforehand.