Bekhorot 74
מום עובר סברא הוא
Why have we learnt: BUT NOT IF THE DEFECT IS IN THE EAR-LAP? - There is a logical reason [why we do not slaughter a firstling] in consequence of a transitory blemish, for seeing that we do not redeem [a consecrated animal]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which became unfit for sacrifice. (11) A firstling outside Palestine.');"><sup>5</sup></span>
השתא מיפרק לא פרקינן עלויה משחט שחטינן עלויה
in consequence [of a transitory blemish], shall we slaughter in consequence of it? " For it has been taught: [Scripture says]: And if it be any unclean beast of which they may not bring an offering unto the Lord.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lev. XXVII, 11.');"><sup>6</sup></span>
זה בעלי מומין שנפדו
I might, however, conclude that one may redeem in consequence of a transitory blemish, hence Scripture explicitly states: 'Of which they may not bring an offering unto the Lord', thus intimating [that it refers to] a sacrifice which is completely unfit [for the altar], but excluding this case of a transitory blemish, which although unfit for sacrifice today, is fit tomorrow.
יכול יפדו על מום עובר
And if you prefer [another solution]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To the question why, in view of the word we should not be allowed to slaughter a firstling by reason of a transitory blemish?');"><sup>8</sup></span>
{דברים טו } מרצע אין לי אלא מרצע מנין לרבות הסול והסירה והמחט והמקדח והמכתב
Now if you maintain that the boring was done through the ear-lap, then the Hebrew slave who is a priest cannot become blemished, hence we only bore through the top part of the ear!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., from the cartilage inward. Nevertheless we see that the boring causes a blemish. R. Jose holding that even a needle's point which makes a hole much smaller than a lentil, is capable of maiming.');"><sup>16</sup></span>
א"ר יודן ברבי היה דורש
R'Oshaiah inquired from R'Huna the Great: [Must the hole be] of a size so that the karshinah may enter and come out [with ease] or as to contain a karshinah<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'a karshinah which stands'.');"><sup>18</sup></span>
וחכמים אומרים
For we have learnt: A spinal column and a skull which have shrunk [do not cause uncleanness].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The spinal column and the skull cause levitical uncleanness, rendering any object unclean under their shelter, like the greater number of the limbs of a dead body or the greater part of a dead body. If however, they are not complete, they do not cause this uncleanness.');"><sup>19</sup></span>
בעא מיניה רב הושעיא מרב הונא רבה
For we have learnt: In a light-hole which was not made by the agency of man,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A wall breaking a little of itself between two houses, thus making an opening letting in light.');"><sup>26</sup></span>
כרשינה הנכנסת ויוצאה או כרשינה העומדת
the size<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So as to bring uncleanness from one house to the other. As this was not made by the agency of a man, therefore less than this size does not bring about impurity.');"><sup>27</sup></span>
אמר לו
required is as large as a big fist, such as the fist of Ben Battiah.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Nephew of R. Johanan b. Zakkai, one of the leaders of the terrorists during the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans. He was a big man physically.');"><sup>28</sup></span>
דתנן
If [the light-hole], however, was made by the agency of man, [the Sages] fixed the size to be as large as a hole made with the large [carpenter's borer kept in the Temple cell,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For purposes of Temple repair.');"><sup>29</sup></span>