עד כמה. להטפל בבכור – to be engaged with its (i.e., the firstling’s) raising prior to giving it to the Kohen.

בדקה עד שלשים יום ובגסה עד חמשים – In the Gemara (Tractate Bekhorot 26b), we derive it, from what is written (Exodus 22:28): “You shall not put off the skimming of the first yield of your vats. You shall give Me the first-born among your sons,” and adjacent to it (Exodus 22:29), “You shall do the same with your cattle and your flocks,” and they show an incongruity/objection, “your bull” which is mentioned earlier in Scripture to “the skimming of the first yield of your vats” which is early, and “your flocks” which is later than the “the first-born among your sons” but “the skimming of the first yield of your vats” which are the first-fruits are offered at fifty days, that the grain is ripened on Passover and we don’t bring the first-fruits until Atzeret/Shavuot, as it is written (Exodus 23:16): “and the Feast of the Harvest, of the first fruits of your work, [of what you sow in the field], and just as you do for the “skimming of the first yield of your vats, which you do not bring until the end of fifty days, so you do for your bulls that you do not bring it until fifty days, and in the manner that you act regarding the first-born of your sons, as it is written concerning it (Numbers 18:16): “Take as their redemption price from the age of one month up,” similarly you should do for your flock that you should not bring it until thirty days.

בדקה שלשה חדשים – because its care-taking (i.e., of small cattle) is more troublesome (see Talmud Bekhorot 26b and Talmud Bava Metzia 69a), for its teeth are thin and it is not able to eat grass. And if it won’t be with its mother it will die. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yossi.

לא יתנו לו – for since its care-taking is cast upon an Israelite for fifty days, and the Kohen said to him “Within this time [period], give it to me and I will pasture/tend it.” It is similar to someone who rents it that he saves him from the trouble on the condition that he (i.e., the owner) will give it to him and not to another Kohen, and this is similar to a Kohen who helps/assists in the granary/threshing floor to thresh and to winnow in order that they will give him the heave-offerings/Terumot, and it is taught [in a Baraitha] that Kohanim and Levites who assist in the granary/threshing floor, they don’t give them have-offerings and tithes. But if [the animal] had a blemish and he said to him: “Give it to me and I will consume it, for since it was pointed out to him, e was not like the Kohen who assists in the granary.

בין תמים בין בעל מחם – whether at the time of the Temple or whether at the present time, every year it is his, he is permitted to uphold it. And a firstling with a blemish, we derive that it is given to a Kohen, and he consumes it with its blemish for since it is written (Numbers 18:18): “But their meat shall be yours,” is the plural language, whether it is pure firstling or whether it is a firstling with a blemish.

כל שנים עשר חדש – from when it (i.e., the firstling) was born.

לאחר שנתו – as for example, at this time, when he needs to keep it/sustain it until a blemish befalls it.

אינו רשאי לקיימו אלא עד שלשים יום – from the day that the blemish befalls it [consuming it thirty days later].

רבי יהודה מתיר – with blemishes that are in the eye, Rabbi Yehuda admits/agrees that it is prohibited, because they change after death since because of the pain of death, the eye changes and even though it appears as a permanent blemish, if it had appeared to it while living it would have appeared as a passing [blemish], and he would not permit anything other than blemishes that are on the body that do not change. But Rabbi Meir holds that we make a decree that blemishes that are on the body that do not change on account of blemishes that are in the eye that do change. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Meir.

מומחה – he that received permission from the Nasi/President or from the Bet Din/Jewish court of the Land of Israel to permit firstlings. And even though that in a general way, he who studied the [Written] Torah [and the Oral Torah] and knows how to think and to compare by analogy [two laws] and to understand and form a conclusion by analogy, he one who is called a specialist/Mumheh, and when he is recognized and known and when he has acquired fame among the people of his generation, he is a specialist for the many, and he can judge as an individual, even though he did not receive permission from the Exilarch/head of the Diaspora community, [but] in regard to permission to permit firstlings, he is not called a specialist, and he is not able to permit firstlings other than after he receives permission from the Bet Din/Jewish court of those ordained in the Land of Israel, for the domain of the Exilarch does not have an effect in this.

וישלם מביתו – and when he pays a Kohen, he gives one-fourth of its cost if it is a small animal, and half of its cost if it is a large animal. And because of this, he pays one-half [of its cost], for the money that is placed in doubt we divide it, but one can say that he loses it, for if he had not permitted this to himself, he would bring a complete expert and permit it for himself and he would consume it, but now it requires burial, and one can say, that he doesn’t lose anything, for perhaps, there wasn’t a blemish and a complete specialist would not permit himself [this], and perhaps a fixed blemish would not fall upon it ever until it dies. And the case where he doesn’t pay one-half for a small animal like that of a large animal, is because there is greater trouble to raise a small animal and he who permitted the firstling for the Kohen saved him from the great trouble to care for a small animal, for perhaps if he had shown it to another, he would not have permitted it and he would have great amount of care taking for it until a blemish would befall it, and for this reason, he would injure it that he would not have to pay other than one-quarter. But Maimonides explained this regarding another matter, and this is essential.

מה שעשה עשוי וישלם מביתו – for the one that where there is a case of indirect damage, he is liable to pay from his house/property for the loss that he caused to his fellow, but the one that does not judge a case of indirect damage explains our Mishnah explicitly that he engaged in business by hand [directly].

וזיכה את החייב – and the case can be found as for example, that he had a deposit with the lender and this [specialist] exempted the borrower [from paying] and he took the deposit in his from the hand of the lender and returned it to the borrower.

וטימא את הטהור – it is found that he did business with it by hand, as for example, that he brought before him pure animals to borrow them and he said that they are ritually impure and he took one reptile and had it come in contact with them, in order that there would be no further doubt and that his words would be validated.

וטיהר את הטמא – as for example that he took ritually pure fruit/produce and combined them with those fruit/produce that he purified, and he acted not in accordance with the law and defiled them.

ואם היה מומחה לבית דין – that he received permission from the Bet Din.

פטור – for he would not be able to tell him why he made this judgment for he was not expert in the laws.

האם שלה – her womb.

והאכילה רבי טרפון לכלבים – for they asked him about it and he said that it was “torn” (i.e., unkosher) and he fed it to the dogs.

שלא תלד – because their cows and pigs were very prominent and they sell them for a high price , and they want that they will not give birth for another kingdom in order that they will be needed, and they cut/sever their mother and she does not die, therefore, she is not “torn”/unkosher.

הלכך חמורך טרפון – you have lost your donkey, for you need to sell it in order to pay the cost of the cow to its owners.

שמומחה אתה – one and another thing he said to him, one – that he error in this matter of a Mishnah, for our Mishnah in [the third chapter of Tractate Hullin] “These are the torn animals’ [Mishnah 2], you took its mother which was kosher and we hold that he errs in the matter of the Mishnah, and the former argument is to be reinstated and we judge him appropriately and he does not pay. And furthermore, alternatively, and the weighing of opinions [of opposing views] – that is, as for example, two Tannaim or two Amoraim who argue, and the Halakha is not stated either according to this Master or according to that Master and the general practice is like one of them, and he went and acted like the other one, what is done is done and he pays from his estate.

אין שוחטין על פיו – for perhaps because of reward he permits it.

כאילא – the name of a Sage that lived in Yavneh, and he was a pious individual and was not suspected of this, and whether he said to them that it (i.e., the firstling) was pure or whether he said to them that it had a blemish, he would take all of his salary.

ארבע איסרות בבהמה דקה ובגסה ששה – a large [animal] increases the trouble involved, to cast it to the ground and to turn it upside down and to check its blemishes. Therefore, its payment is greater.

בין תמים בין בעל מום – and even though that when he tells him that it is ritually pure, he does not benefit from him at all, and he takes his salary, for if he did not take his payment/reward , they wold come to suspect him that he said that it (i.e., the animal) has a blemish, and from here, Maimonides judges on those who slaughter [animals] for the public, for it is appropriate for them either that they should not take a salary at all, or that they should take a salary on the finding of [animals] that died of themselves or were torn, like those that are found in the field, similar to those who see the blemishes in firstlings.

הנוטל שכר לדון דיניו בטלים – as it is written (Deuteronomy 4:5): “See, I have imparted to you laws and rules as the LORD my God has commanded me, [for you to abide by in the land that you are about to enter and occupy.],” just as I [do it] gratuitously, so you [do them] gratuitously. But among the Rabbis of Ashkenaz, I saw scandalous behavior in this matter , that an ordained Rabbi, the head of a Yeshiva, is not embarrassed to take ten gold coins in order to be [present] for half-an hour for the writing and delivery of one Get/Jewish bill of divorce, and the witnesses that affix their names on the Get [receive] two gold coins or one gold coin for each of them at the very least, and this is not a Rabbi in my eyes, but rather a thief and a violent man who attained it by force, because he knows that we don’t give a Get in his city without his permission, and he who gives the Get against his will needs to give him all that he desires. |But I am worried regarding [this] Get/Jewish bill of divorce that it is invalid, for it is taught in our Mishnah, that a person who takes a reward to judge, his judgments are invalid; to testify, his testimony is invalid.

לקדש – to mix the dust of the sin-offering in fresh water in a vessel.

אפר מקלה – the ashes of a portable stove on feet is called calcined ashes/hearth ash (i.e., a symbol of mourning, supplication), that is to say, mere ashes that have no sanctity.

אבל אם היה – this person who sees/examines the firstlings, or this one who is a judge, or the witness, or the one sanctifies is a Kohen, and the person who goes with him pardons him in the place of defilement and defiled him from consuming his heave offering, and makes him lose out that he needs to acquire non-sacred produce and to eat, and the value of non-consecrated are more expensive than the value of the heave offering, for non-sanctified produce is appropriate for all, but heave offering is not appropriate other than for pure Kohanim.

מאכילו – this one who brings him gives him to drink and anoints him.

ונותן לו שכרו כפועל – if he was customarily [engaged] in heavy and difficult labor, and he earns a great deal, we estimate how much a person like this wishes to take that is less than one he would earn with heavy labor and to be engaged in this work which is easier, and such we give him,. For it is permitted fo each judge to take a salary for his idleness, for the idleness is known and recognized/familiar, and he takes from the two litigants equally, but more than this is forbidden.

החשוד על הבכורות – a Kohen who is suspected of placing/attaching a blemish on a firstling.

בשר צבאים – for it (i.e., deer/gazelle meat) is red and he switches it with the meat of a calf, and sometimes, when he sells the firstling of a pure calf and he said that it is the meat of a deer/gazelle, where we aren’t troubled by a firstling.

ולא עורות שאינן עבודים – but of tanned [hides] we buy from him, for if it is a firstling, he would not trouble himself with it, for he holds that the house of the Rabbis will hear of it and will cause him to lose [money] from it.

לוקחים ממנו עורות של נקבה - - for they certainly will know it But the first Tanna/teacher who prohibits it, holds that perhaps that they sever its male genitals and treat it like the females, and when they asked him what is this incision in the place of the female genitals, he would state that the mice consumed it. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eliezer.

מלובן וצואי – they explained in the Gemara (Talmud Bekhorot 29b) that it states: wool that is cleansed of its dirt, that is to say, that he washes from its filthy matter . But we don’t say that if it if is a firstling, he does not lose his troubles/efforts and it doesn’t glisten for he holds that the Rabbis heard and causes him to lose from it, for since he troubles a small amount but is not exacting with it.

אבל לוחקין ממנו טווי ובגדים – for if it is firstling, he would not go to the trouble all that much with them, for he stringent with his trouble for perhaps he will suffer loss from it.

טווי ובגדים – he is not saying actual clothing. For now that is merely spun, they will purchase from him, but he needed woven clothing, but rather, clothing, that is linen made from wool which is not woven.

החשוד על השביעית – to sow or to do business with the after-growths of the seventh year.

סרק – that is prepared with a comb, for since his trouble is little/small, he is not stringent.

אריג – not actually woven, for now that which is spun is permitted, we require woven. For this comes within the category of spun before it. But rather, woven, that is by the eye, twisted chains that they make from flax that were never spun.

אפילו מים ומלח – and because of a fine [they don’t purchase water or salt from him].

כל שיש בו זיקת תרומה – every thing that the heave offering is used for. And “all” includes the insides of fish that they combine with them olive oil that has the obligation to pay heave offering. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Shimon.

אינו חשוד על המעשרות – and they purchase from him grain in the rest of the years of the Seven Year cycle, but they don’t tithe from them as definitively [tithed] but as a doubtfully tithed. And the reason is that he who is suspected [of violating] the Sabbatical Year is not suspected on account of tithes, and one who is suspected on account of tithes is not suspected on account of the Seventh Year [produce], because there is is in each of hen material that is not part of its partner; Seventh Year produce does not have be consumed inside the walls of Jerusalem, but Second Tithe is not consumed other than within/inside the wall [of Jerusalem]. Therefore, there is a more stringent punishment regarding [Second] Tithe than from the punishment of [not consuming] the Sabbatical Year produce. For the [Second] Tithe has redemption, but since the Seventh Year [produce] is forbidden, it does not have redemption, therefore, the Seventh Year is more stringent than from the [Second] Tithe.

החשוד על זה ועל זה – since he is suspected [of violating] a Torah prohibition all the more so, that he is suspect [of violating] on the purities, for they are from the Rabbis, that a person eats his unconsecrated produce in ritual purity.

ויש שחשוד על הטהרות – that are of the Rabbis, but is not suspected on account of Seventh Year produce and [Second] Tithe. For one that is suspected on a Rabbinic [legislation] is not suspected [of violation] of a Torah prohibition.