## Sifrei Devarim Paragraph 126

###### Sifrei Devarim 126:1
[Sifrei Devarim 126:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/126:1)

(דברים טו כא) **וְכִי יִהְיֶה בוֹ מוּם**, אֵין לִי אֶלָּא שֶׁנּוֹלַד תָּמִים וְנַעֲשָׂה בַּעַל מוּם, נוֹלַד בַּעַל מוּם מִמְּעֵי אִמּוֹ מִנַּיִן? תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר: **כֹּל מוּם רָע**. מִנַּיִן לְבַעַל גָּרָב וּבַעַל יַבֶּלֶת וּבַעַל חֲזָזִית, וְזָקֵן וְחוֹלֶה וּמְזֹהָם? תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר: **מוּם**, **כֹּל מוּם רָע לֹא תִזְבָּחֶנּוּ לַה׳ אֱלֹהֶיךָ**. יָכוֹל לֹא יִשְׁחַט עֲלֵיהֶם בַּמִּקְדָּשׁ, אֲבָל יִשְׁחַט עֲלֵיהֶם בַּגְּבוּלִים? תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר: **פִּסֵּחַ אוֹ עִוֵּר**; פִּסֵּחַ וְעִוֵּר בִּכְלָל הָיוּ, וְלָמָּה יָצְאוּ? לְהַקִּישׁ אֲלֵיהֶם – מַה פִּסֵּחַ וְעִוֵּר מְיֻחָדִים – מוּם שֶׁבַּגָּלוּי וְאֵינוֹ חוֹזֵר, אַף אֵין לִי אֶלָּא מוּם שֶׁבַּגָּלוּי וְאֵינוֹ חוֹזֵר.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
**Pisqa’ 126**³⁸⁸
1. **“Now, when *he* suffers a blemish” (Dt. 15:21).**
**I might infer only that**
**[a Firstling is disqualified as an offering]**
**if he was born unblemished**
**and later suffered a blemish.**
**How do I know [to disqualify]**
**one born blemished from his mother’s womb?**³⁸⁹
**The Teaching states:**
**“*Any* serious blemish” (Dt. 15:21)—**
**[*any* includes birth defects].**
**How do we know to include an animal**
**suffering from [acquired blemishes, such as]**
**scabs, warts, tumors,**
**old age, sickness, or a foul smell?**³⁹⁰
**The Teaching states:**
**“*Serious* blemish” (Dt. 15:21)—**
**[whether congenital or acquired].**
2. **“Any serious blemish, do not slaughter it *for HASHEM* your God” (Dt. 15:21).**
**Is it possible to say that**
**one may not slaughter [an animal] bearing**
**these [blemishes] in the Holy Shrine,**
**but one may slaughter [such an animal]**
**in the outskirts**³⁹¹; the term is often conflated with *bamedinah* (“in the province”). Most commentators see a distinction between the Jerusalem proper (where only Most-holy offerings may be slaughtered and eaten) and its environs beyond its wall (where only common food or Lesser-Holy offerings may be consumed. See also *Pisqa’* 124.5. For a fuller mapping of spatial holiness, cf. M. Kel. 1:8-9. **of Jerusalem?**³⁹²
**The Teaching states:**
**“*Lameness* or *blindness*” (Dt. 15:21)—**
**a lame or a blind animal should be**
**included [under the rule] of [other disqualifying blemishes].**
**So why are they singled out [for special mention]?**
**To use them for comparison:**
**just as *lameness* and *blindness* are distinctive,**
**in being visible and permanent,**
**I may infer only that**
**[any disqualifying] blemish**
**should be visible and permanent.**³⁹³ 147.3.

footnotes:
³⁸⁸ H:171-172; JN1:311.
³⁸⁹ A list of congenital defects that disqualify Firstlings is available at M. Bech.6:1-7.
³⁹⁰ //M. Bech. 6:12.
³⁹¹ Heb.: bagevulim
³⁹² //M. Bech. 6:12.
³⁹³ The passage is virtually identical to Pisqa’


###### Sifrei Devarim 126:2
[Sifrei Devarim 126:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/126:2)

(דברים טו כג) **רַק אֶת דָּמוֹ לֹא תֹאכֵל**, שְׁתִיָּה בִּכְלַל אֲכִילָה.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
3. “But do not *eat* the blood” (Dt. 15:23)—
drinking it is like eating it.


###### Sifrei Devarim 126:3
[Sifrei Devarim 126:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/126:3)

**רַק** – זוֹ הַתְרָיַת עֵדִים;

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
“*But*” (Dt. 15:23)—
this [limiting term] requires that
[punishment for intentional violation be preceded by]
a warning from by-standers
[not to violate this proscription].


###### Sifrei Devarim 126:4
[Sifrei Devarim 126:4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/126:4)

**רַק** – לתֵּן שִׁיעוּר כַּזַּיִת שֶׁאָמְרָה תּוֹרָה.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
“*But*” (Dt. 15:23)—
[this limiting term] establishes the volume of an olive
[as the minimum quantity of blood]
proscribed by the Torah.


###### Sifrei Devarim 126:5
[Sifrei Devarim 126:5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/126:5)

**עַל הָאָרֶץ** – וְלֹא עַל הָעוּקָא, וְלֹא עַל הַגֻּמָּא, לֹא עַל הַמַּיִם וְהַנְּהָרוֹת הַמְהַלְּכִים, אֶלָּא נִכְנָס לְתוֹךְ בֵּיתוֹ וְשׁוֹחֵט חוּץ לַגֻּמָּא, וְהַדָּם שׁוֹתֵת וְיוֹרֵד לְתוֹךְ הַגֻּמָּא שֶׁלֹּא יְטַנֵּף אֶת כָּל הַבַּיִת. וּבַשּׁוּק לֹא יַעֲשֶׂה כֵן, שֶׁלֹּא יְחַקֶּה אֶת הַמִּינִים.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
“Pour it out upon the ground *like water*” (Dt. 15:23)—
**but *not* over a pit or a ditch,**
**and *not* over running water or streams.**
**However, he may enter his home**
**and slaughter it outside a ditch,**
**while the blood flows into the ditch,**
**so as not to make the house filthy.**
**But in the street he may not do so,**
**lest he imitate [the custom of] the dissenters.**³⁹⁴. The term is usually taken to refer to Jewish followers of Jesus of Nazareth, but often denotes Jews who reject rabbinic authority and beliefs, such as the reality of the “coming eon,” etc. Cf. M. San.10:1, T. Ber.3:25, and M. Meg. 4:8-9. See also *Pisqa’* 48.6

footnotes:
³⁹⁴ // M. Hul. 2:9; cf, T. Hul. 2:19. The Hebrew term for “dissenters” is minim


###### Sifrei Devarim 126:6
[Sifrei Devarim 126:6](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/126:6)

**תִּשְׁפְּכֶנּוּ** – אֵין שְׁפִיכָה אֶלָּא מִן הַצַּוָּאר. רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר: **עַל הָאָרֶץ תִּשְׁפְּכֶנּוּ כַּמָּיִם**, מַה מַּיִם מַכְשִׁירִים אֶת הַזְּרָעִים – אַף דַּם שְׁחִיטָה מַכְשִׁיר אֶת הַזְּרָעִים. אוֹ דַּם נְחִירָה, דַּם עִקּוּר, דַּם קִלּוּחַ, דַּם הַקָּזָה, הַטְּחוֹל הַשָּׁלִיל וְהַתַּמְצִית, הַכָּבֵד הַלֵּב וְהַמִּיתָה בְּמַשְׁמָע? תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר: **תִּשְׁפְּכֶנּוּ כַּמָּיִם**, מִי שֶׁנִּשְׁפָּךְ כַּמַּיִם הוּא שֶׁמַּכְשִׁיר, יָצְאוּ אֵלּוּ שֶׁאֵינָם מַכְשִׁירִים.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
“*Pour* it out” (Dt. 15:23)—
*pouring* refers specifically to
blood flowing from the arteries of the neck.
**R. Eliezer says:**
**“Pour it out upon the *ground like water*” (Dt. 15:23)—**
**just as water prepares seeds to receive uncleanness,**
**so, too, the blood of slaughter prepares seeds to receive uncleanness.**³⁹⁵
Or [perhaps other types of blood are meant for inclusion]?
**Blood from a stab-wound, blood from a gouge-wound,**
**spurting blood, blood drawn [for healing],**
**blood from the spleen or the placenta, coagulating blood,**
**liver-blood, heart-blood, and post-mortem bleeding.**³⁹⁶
The Teaching states:
“*Pour* it out . . . *like water*” (Dt. 15:23).
What can be poured out like water—
that is what prepares [seeds to receive uncleanness].
These other sources [of blood] are excluded [from the rule],
for they do not prepare [seeds to receive uncleanness].³⁹⁷ 126, p. 100b, n.4)—regards the entire block of text at 126.3 as foreign material supplied by a medieval copyist.

footnotes:
³⁹⁵ Cf. T. Mach. 3:14.
³⁹⁶ Cf. M. Mach. 6:8.
³⁹⁷ F:184. l.17-185. ls. 1-7—anticipated by Ish-Shalom (Pisqa’