על אלו מומין. נפגמה – there is no notch without loss, but a slit [in the ear] implies also without loss, and the measurement of a notch is when one makes a notch deep a=enough for the nail to halt on passing over the edge (see Talmud Bekhorot 37b).

חסחוס (if the ear is split from the cartilage inwards) – the lobe of the ear which is called TANRUS in the foreign language.

אבל לא מן העור- for the distinguished skin is healthy and it is not a blemish and this skin is the soft ear-lap.

נקיבה מלא כרשינה – that there is in the cavity of the incision a measurement of the berry of vetch, whether the incision is long or whether it is round, if there is in all of them to combine in its cavity like the measurement of a berry of a vetch, this is a blemish.

שתהא נפרכת – it becomes crumbles and broken pieces when they handle it. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yossi. But these blemishes that are considered in our Mishnah, when they slaughter upon them the firstling, we derive from Biblical verses, as it is written (Deuteronomy 15:21): “But if it has a defect,” is a generalization, “lameness or blindness” is a detail, “any serious defect” – it returned to provide a generalization, you do not judge other than what is similar to the detail. Just as the detail explains open blemishes that do not return [to their healthy state], so also, all open blemishes and they don’t return [to their healthy state] (and the Halakha is according to the first Tanna/teacher).

ריס של עין- the eyelid of the eye.

הרי בעיניו – that is to say, behold that there is in his eyes.

דק (cataract; veiled or withered spot in the eye) – TILA in the foreign language.

חלזון, נחש – that is an eye-disease, also called נחש (see Talmud Bekhorot 38b), and we call it NAHASH for it is made striped like a snake. And it is additional flesh that is stretched and covers part of the black that is I the eye, and we call it TIFRA in Arabic, like we call the fingernail TIFRA, because it covers the eye in the manner that the fingernail covers the flesh of the finger.

עינב (growth on the eye) – that there is in his eye like the berry/grain of a growth.

לבן הפוסק בסירא – SIRA/thorn that is a line that is in the eye around the black that from which the vision of the eye comes. But if a white thread comes out from the white that is in the eye and breaks through a line and enters into the black, this is a blemish.

שחור ונכנס בלבן – if one black thread comes out from the black that is in the eye and breaks through the thorn, and enters into the white [of the eye].

אינו מום שאין מומין בלבן – for it is not the eye, but rather the fat of the eye.

חורוד (white spots on the cornea/cataract) – like white drops on the eye. The Aramaic translation of white is חיור/white.

והמים (rheum)– that descends into the eye and prevents the seeing.

הקבועים – it refers to both, to the white spots on the cornea and the water/rheum.

בודקין אותו שלשה פעמים בתוך שמונים יום – on every twenty-seven days which is one-third of the time of eighty days, approximately, we examine it if the cataract/white spots on the cornea went away. And if it it went away, even though it returned, we count eighty days from the day that it returned, for it isn’t lasting white spots on the cornea/cataracts until it stands for eight days. But if he did not examine it within the eighty [days], even though the cataracts/white spots on the cornea are found there on the eightieth day, it is not a blemish, lest in the meanwhile, it went away and then returned. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Hanina ben Antigonus.

אלו הן מהם הקבועים – meaning to say, how do we know if it lasting or transitory?

אכל לח ויבש של גשמים – if they fed it straw and leeks for medicinal purposes that we call FINEO in the foreign language.

לח – that grows in Adar and half of Nisan.

ויבש- that grows in Elul and half of Tishrei.

של גשמים – that is that grew in a field sufficiently watered by rain and requiring no artificial irrigation. But our Mishnah is deficient and should be read as follows (see Talmud Bekhorot 38b): If it ate moist (i.e., that grew during Adar and half of Nisan) and dry (i.e., that grew during Elul and half of Tishrei) of a field regarding a field naturally watered by rain, it is a blemish; if it was a field requiring irrigation, it is not a blemish. But if it is a field naturally water by rain, [if] it ate dry (i.e., that grew during Elul and half of Tishrei) and afterwards, it ate moist (i.e., that which grew during Adar and half of Nisan) it is not a blemish until it would eat dry (i.e., that which grew during Elul and half of Tishrei) after that which is moist (i.e., that which grew during Adar and half of Nisan).

של בית השלחין - land that requires watering it is not for medicinal purposes, and we don’t examine it.

אכל יבש ואחר כך לח- for medicinal purposes, this is not its cure, and even though he was not cured through it, it is not a blemish.

עד שיאכל יבש אחר הלח – this is the manner of his cure, straw and leeks that grow in Adar and half of Nisan, we feed it during Adar and half of Nisan, but straw and leeks that grew in Elul and half of Tishrei, we feed it in Elul and half of Tishrei. For we don’t slaughter it until all the days of the summer have passed and we examine it at both times, and if it was not cured, it is a blemish, and it (i.e., the animal) needs to eat from them no less than a dried fig during each and every meal all three months at the beginning of the meal and after it drank, and it would not be tied at the time that it eats these grasses for medicinal purposes, and there wouldn’t be an individual [animal] but with its fellows, in the field and not within the city. And if it fulfilled all of these conditions and was not cured, it is a blemish and we slaughter it.

חוטמו שניקב וכו' – and this is where the outer partitions/walls of the nose were perforated, that the perforation is seen from the outside. But [if] it is not seen other than from inside, as for example, when the partition that divides the nose was perforated, it is not a blemish, for it is secret, and we derive from [the principle] of a generalization and a specification, that we require blemishes that are revealed [in the open].

שנפגם – and it has something missing/lacking.

שנסדק – but there is nothing lacking/missing. And the measurement of the notch/incision, in order that the fingernail can encircle it.

שפתו – the outer row/line of the lip [of the firstling], meaning to say, the outer point/thin part.

חיטיו החיצונות – the teeth that are in the middle of the mouth.

שנפגמו – that are missing.

נגממו (incisors are broken off/levelled with the gums) – squashed beyond recognition -, and there doesn’t remain from them other than a small mark/trace, and they don’t protrude like they are accustomed to be.

הפנימיות – the large teeth that we call MASHILASH, that were completely uprooted. But if they were damaged or worn down/levelled, it is not a blemish.

אין בודקין את המתאימות ולפנים – the large teeth that one appears like two [teeth] and are made like twins. From there and inward it is not considered a blemish because it is in secret. But they themselves, when they were uprooted, are not a blemish. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Hananiah (Hanina in the Mishnah) ben Antigonus.

זובן (bag which contains a male animal’s membrum) – the case/casket that the sinew of the cattle is hidden/covered in). When it is damaged/mutilated, it is a blemish because it does not return healthy, but if it was removed it is not a blemish, for it returns to its normal condition.

עריה של נקבה (genitals of a female animal) – pudenda that protrudes outward and appears on the rest of the area of the body.

במוקדשים – in the rest of Holy Things that have in them female [animals] as for example, peace offerings, for whereas regarding the firstling, there isn’t a female.

אבל לא מן הפרק (but not at the joint) – that is damaged between the joints a long ascent, when all of the tail has not been severed.

או שהיה ראש הזנב מפציל את עצם – the head of the tail is suspended below, the flesh and skin is peeled and the boney remains uncovered, it still is not a long ascent, since it is the head of the vone.

מפציל – that it was peeled/split off. Another explanation- that the tail was divided at its end to two tails and there is a bone in each of them.

ובין חוליא לחוליא מלוא אצבע – that the vertebrae/links of the tail are far from each other, the distance of a finger’s breadth, which is the width of a thumb.

אין לו ביצים או אין לו אלא ביצה אחת – Our Mishnah is deficient and this is how it should be read (see Talmud Bekhorot 40a): It (i.e., the animal) doesn’t have two testicles in two sacks, but rather [only] in one sack; alternatively, two sacks and one testicle, behold this is a blemish.

ר' ישמעאל אומר אם יש לו שני כיסים – He is disputing the concluding clause, for the first Tanna/teacher states if it doesn’t have anything other than one testicle and two sacks, it is a blemish, but this is not the case, for whenever it has two sacks, it is certain that it has two testicles. But on the first clause, he admits/agrees that where it doesn’t have other than one sack, it is like someone that doesn’t have anything other than one testicle.

רבי עקיבא אומר- we certainly don’t say this, but rather, we have the reading, “he sets it on its buttocks and squeezes [its testicles]. And its example is found in the chapter [five of Tractate Eruvin 53b]: “How did they augment towns?” – is it (“sets it on its buttocks”) taught עכוזו (with an AYIN) or is it taught אכוזו (with an ALEPH)? [It is taught] עכוזו (i.e., with an AYIN) – they set the firstling on one rump/buttocks (though it could mean the genitals), for he has only one genital in two sacks.

וממעך (dissolve by rubbing/crushing) – and feels the sack and the groin.

אם יש שם ביצה אחת סופה לצאת - but if it does not come out, it is a blemish.

והתיר רבי עקיבא – that it is a blemish, for he did not find it (i.e., the genital in its place when he crushed it/rubbed it and felt it and. And such is the Halakha.

בעל חמש רגלים או שלש – but that we calculate it as a blemish and not as “torn,” these words [apply] when it has more or less in its hands, that is, those of the side of the head, but missing a foot or having an additional foot from its back feet , it is a “torn” animal, and it is prohibited to be consumed.

קלוט (an animal with un-cloven hooves – a sign of uncleanness – born of a clean animal, a monster or a hybrid) – round, and even if they are slit/cloven – it is a blemish, for the split hooves of an pure animal are not round.

שחול (an animal with a dislocated hip) – that its thigh/haunch is detached. The Aramaic of “I drew him [Moses] out [of the water]” (see Exodus 2:10) is שחלתיה /”I drew him out.”

כסול (an animal with a deformed hip) – it is the manner of an animal that the thigh/haunch is attached to the fat-tail near the groin, but not above from the grown, and in this one, the thigh/haunch is upon the groin.

אף על פי שאינו ניכר – when it (i.e., the animal) stands, the break is not seen, but it is recognized when it walks that it limps, for it is not recognized at all, it is not a blemish.

מומין אלו – bone of the foreleg or the bone of the hindleg that were mentioned above.

אילא – the name of a Sage.

עגול כשל אדם – that it is not the manner that the roundness of the eye of an animal is like that of a human.

רוב המדבר – that is that part of the tongue that is not attached to its jaws.

ובית דין של אחריהן אמרו הרי אלו מומין – and such is the Halakha.

מעשה שהלחי התחתון – because it is taught above (see Tractate Bekhorot, Chapter 6, Mishnah 8) that its mouth (i.e., of a firstling animal) is similar to that of a pig, the Rabbis argue with [the opinion] of Illa, it comes to tell us that now the Rabbis do not dispute it other than regarding its upper lip which is stretched over its lower [lip], but [if] its lower lip is stretched over the upper[lip], the Rabbis admit/agree that it is a blemish. And also the story regarding the lower jaw that stretches over the upper [jaw], and the Sages stated that this is a blemish. These words [apply] when the bone of the lower jaw stretches over the [bone of] the upper [jaw], then it is a blemish even in an animal. But if it lacks a bone but rather that its lower lip is longer and receives the upper lip, it is blemish in a human but not in an animal.

אזן הגדי שהיתה כפולה – that it has two ears from one side, an ear within an ear.

בזמן שהיא עצם אחד – and it has only one earlobe, in which the upper earlobe is doubled inside it and combined below, it is a blemish.

ואם אינה עצם אחד – the earlobes are differentiated/separated above.

אינו מום – but the reason is not explained. But nevertheless, it is not similar to an animal (i.e., a firstling) with five feet, for an ear within an ear is not seen all that often.

שהיא דומה לשל חזיר – round like the tail of a pig, and even though it is not thin like it.

שלש חוליות – it is specifically in the tail of a lamb that we require three vertebrae [of the spinal column], but the tail of a kid, one vertebrae alone is a blemish, two are not a blemish. And such is the Halakha.

יבלת (wart) – POROSH in the foreign language. And even if its is the white of he eye, and it has hair, it is a blemish.

ושנפגם עצם ידו- that the blemish is known. And above, we are speaking about when it is broken.

ושנפסק עצמו שבפיו – that the teeth are set in it. It (i.e., the Mishnah) is speaking of above the sinews. For if it is the sinews themselves, which are the teeth themselves that are in the middle of the mouth, but it is taught above (see Tractate Bekhorot, Chapter 7, Mishnah 4): “if the incisors are damaged or worn down, it is a blemish.”

עינו אחת גדולה – like that of a calf.

ואחת קטנה – like that of a goose.

במראה – that it appears to all that this one is larger than the other one.

אבל לא במדה – that it is not recognized other than by measurement, it is not a blemish.

ולא הודו לא חכמים – with Rabbi Yehuda. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.

ערקוב (the inner part of the knee/inner angle of the joint which unites the thigh and the leg of the animal) – to the upper tie which is the place of the connection of the thigh with the foreleg. But corresponding to it in a camel it is recognized that it has corresponding to this upper leg from under the hip-bone to the ankle (i.e., the knee and the surrounding parts), this bone protrudes outward.

כל מרבית העגלים כן (through the whole period of growth of calves it is so) – all of the growth of calves and their custom – is that their tails reach the inner part of the knee [therefore, less than this it is a blemish], and when they are grown up, they (i.e., the tails) extend/stretch below.

שבאמצע הירך – this is the upper joints/hams of the knee that I explained which correspond to that of a known camel.

על אלו מומין שוחטין את הבכור – even though it is taught in the beginning of our chapter (see Mishnah 1 of this chapter), “on account of these blemishes they slaughter the firstling,” it returns and teaches it again here, because it is taught three, it adds, etc. and they said to him: we did not hear of these” (see Mishnah 8 of this chapter), he reviewed them and generalized them to state that even on these blemishes, they slaughter [the firstling].

לא במקדש – because they are not appropriate, for one does not offer up in the Sanctuary any other than the most choice.

ולא במדינה – that they are not lasting/permanent to release them from their sanctity, but rather we set them aside until another lasting blemish befalls them and they are slaughtered for it.

גרב (itch) – a kind of moist boil from without and from within. And the boil mentioned in the Torah is a blemish, for it is a dry boil.

יבלת (wart) - on the white of the eye and it has no hair in it. But above (see Mishnah 10 in our chapter) when we considered blemishes that we slaughter [the firstling] we were speaking about when it has hair.

ובעל חזזית – there are two varieties of lichen. The Egyptian lichen is the lichen written of in the Torah which is moist from the outside and dry from the inside, and it is a blemish that does not return to health, and the Master stated (see Talmud Bekhorot 41a) – Why is it called lichen? Because it continues to cling [to the body] until the day of death, but the lichen that is taught here is a kind of boil that has a cure.

ומזוהם – that a bad smells goes out from it.

ושנעבד בו עבירה - (see Tractate Zevakhim, Chapter 8, Mishnah 1) that it (the firstling) had sexual relations with a woman or that it put a man to death with the testimony of one witness, for there is only witness - neither with carnal connection with beasts nor with goring.

או על פי עצמו – that there is no witness there at all, but the owners stated that we saw it (i.e., the firstling) that it had copulated in an unnatural way or that it put someone to death, it (i.e., the animal) is not stoned by their word. For if there were two kosher witnesses testifying in the matter, the bull would be stoned, and it is prohibited to derive benefit from it.

וטומטום ואנדרוגינוס – that they are doubtfully male and are Holy, doubtfully female and not holy.

אין לך מום גדול מזה – it is referring to the beast of double sex, that in the place of females, it is like a blemish, for it is like firstling with a blemish, and it is slaughtered in the provinces, and it is prohibited to use its shearing and its labor.

וחכמים אומרים אינו בכור – it is a creature of its own kind. And it may be sheared and worked. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.