Halakhah for Bekhorot 85:14
באדם לא נאמר בו יבלת בבהמה לא נאמר דק תבלול מנין ליתן את האמור של זה בזה ואת האמור של זה בזה
And, moreover, dak<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A cataract (Lev. XXI, 20) .');"><sup>8</sup></span>
Sefer HaChinukh
The laws of the commandment: That which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Bekhorot 43a) that there are three kinds of blemishes. There are some blemishes that disqualify a priest from serving, and if they are in a beast, they disqualify it from being offered. And there are some other blemishes that only disqualify a person from the service, but do not disqualify a beast from being offered. And there are some blemishes that disqualify neither man nor beast, and [our concern] is because of [their] appearance. Any priest that has any of these three types of blemishes may not serve. Only revealed blemishes that are revealed (external) disqualify a person, but blemishes that are inside of his body, such as a removed kidney or spleen, or a punctured intestine - even though they render him a treifah (terminally ill) - his service is still fit. As it is stated (Leviticus 21:9), "a broken leg or a broken hand" - just as those are revealed, so too must all disqualifying blemishes be revealed. The Sages enumerated (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Admission into the Sanctuary 7-8) that the blemishes that disqualify both people and beast are fifty, besides the blemishes that are unique to beasts and they are twenty-three; and [so] it comes out that there are seventy-three in beasts. And there are also blemishes that are unique to people and they are ninety; and [so] it comes out that the blemishes in people are one hundred and forty. This is the grouping of the ninety that are unique to people: there are eight in the head; two in the neck; four in the ears; five in the eyebrows; four in the eyelids; eleven in the eyes; six in the nose; three in the lips; three in the belly; three in a man's back; six in the hands; four in the genital organs; fifteen in the thighs and legs; four over the entire body; eight in the skin of the flesh. And there are also four more big blemishes in people and they are not external, and these are them: a deaf[-mute]; one mentally incapacitated; an epileptic, even if [only on certain] days; and one who is bewildered by an evil spirit, even [only] at set times. In addition to these there are two more that disqualify because of their appearance, and these are them: one whose eyelashes have fallen off, even though the hair remains at the root; and one whose teeth have been removed.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy