Commentary for Bekhorot 3:3
רַבִּי יוֹסֵי בֶּן מְשֻׁלָּם אוֹמֵר, הַשּׁוֹחֵט אֶת הַבְּכוֹר, עוֹשֶׂה מָקוֹם בְּקוֹפִיץ מִכָּאן וּמִכָּאן וְתוֹלֵשׁ הַשֵּׂעָר, וּבִלְבַד שֶׁלֹּא יְזִיזֶנּוּ מִמְּקוֹמוֹ. וְכֵן הַתּוֹלֵשׁ אֶת הַשֵּׂעָר לִרְאוֹת מְקוֹם הַמּוּם:
Rabbi Yossi ben Meshulam says: One who slaughters a firstborn makes a place with the hatchet on both sides, plucking out the hair but not removing it. One does the same when pulling back hair to examine the place of a blemish.
Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
עושה מקום בקופיץ - This is our reading. But in the Gemara (Talmud Bekhorot 25a), it explains that we teach לקופיץ (instead of בקופיץ )/to a hatchel, that is to say, for the need of the place of the hatchel, we remove the hair of the neck, and there isn’t here [a violation of] (Deuteronomy 15:19): “you must not…sheer your firstling sheep,” for plucking with the hand is not sheering , but with a utensil, it is definitely forbidden.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bekhorot
Introduction
It is prohibited to shear a first born (this is based on a midrash on Deuteronomy 15:22). Our mishnah discusses how one can remove some of the hair of the first born without transgressing this prohibition.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
וכן מותר לתלוש את השער- and even ab initio, to show to the Sage the place of the blemish. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yosi ben Meshulam.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bekhorot
Rabbi Yose ben Meshullam says: one who slaughters the first born, [first] clears a space with the [butcher's] knife on both sides and tears the hair, as long as he does not remove the wool from its place. If one wants to make space on the first born’s neck so that it can be properly slaughtered, what he should first do is use the butcher’s knife to clear some hair to the sides. Then he can pull out some of the hair but he should leave it stuck elsewhere in the animal’s wool so that it doesn’t look as if he is shearing. Someone who sees him act in such a manner will know that his intent is to clear some room on the animal’s neck, and not to remove the animal’s wool.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bekhorot
And similarly one may tear the hair to show the place of the blemish [to a sage]. The same procedure should be followed if one wants to clear some hair from the animal to show the blemish to a sage so that the sage could declare it blemished.
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