Commentary for Bekhorot 6:3
חֲוַרְוָד וְהַמַּיִם הַקְּבוּעִים. אֵיזֶהוּ חֲוַרְוָד הַקָּבוּעַ, כֹּל שֶׁשָּׁהָה שְׁמוֹנִים יוֹם. רַבִּי חֲנִינָא בֶּן אַנְטִיגְנוֹס אוֹמֵר, בּוֹדְקִין אוֹתוֹ שְׁלשָׁה פְעָמִים בְּתוֹךְ שְׁמוֹנִים יוֹם. וְאֵלּוּ הֵם מַיִם הַקְּבוּעִים, אָכַל לַח וְיָבֵשׁ שֶׁל גְּשָׁמִים, לַח וְיָבֵשׁ שֶׁל שְׁלָחִים. אָכַל הַיָּבֵשׁ וְאַחַר כָּךְ אָכַל הַלַּח, אֵינוֹ מוּם, עַד שֶׁיֹּאכַל הַיָּבֵשׁ אַחַר הַלַּח:
Persistent white spots or tearing. What is a persistent white spot? anything that lasts for eighty days. Rabbi Chaninah ben Antignos says they check it three times during the eighty days. Which [circumstances cause] persistent tearing: If it ate moist and [then] dry [grasses] from [a field watered by] rain. [But if it ate] moist and [then] dry [grasses] from [a field watered by] irrigation, [or if] it ate dry [grass] and then moist - it is not a blemish until he eats the dry after the moist.
Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
חורוד (white spots on the cornea/cataract) – like white drops on the eye. The Aramaic translation of white is חיור/white.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bekhorot
Introduction
Our mishnah continues to deal with blemishes of the eye.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
והמים (rheum)– that descends into the eye and prevents the seeing.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bekhorot
Havarvar [white spots] on the cornea and water constantly dripping from the eye, [are disqualifying blemishes]. The two blemishes discussed here are white spots on the cornea, which is probably a type of cataract and water dripping from the eye, which probably means that the animal has an eye infection.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
הקבועים – it refers to both, to the white spots on the cornea and the water/rheum.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bekhorot
What do we mean by a permanent hawarwar? If it remained for a period of eighty days. Rabbi Hanina ben Antigonus says: we must examine it three times in the eighty days. In order for the white spots to be considered a blemish they must be present for eighty days in a row. Rabbi Hanina ben Antigonus adds in that we must check at least three times during the eighty days. It is not sufficient if we know that the white spots were there in the beginning of the eighty days and at the end.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
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.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bekhorot
And the following are cases of constant dripping from the eye [and how to test its permanency]: if it ate [for a cure] fresh [fodder] and dry [fodder] from a field sufficiently watered by rain [it is a permanent blemish, if not cured]. [If it ate] fresh [fodder] and then dry [fodder] from a field requiring artificial irrigation, or if it ate dry [fodder] first and then fresh [fodder from field watered by rain] it is not a blemish unless it eats dry [fodder] after the fresh. There is a cure for a dripping eye to eat first fresh fodder and then dry fodder from a field irrigated by rain. If the animal eats this cure and it isn’t healed then the animal has a permanent blemish. However, if he eats fodder from an artificially irrigated field or dry fodder and then fresh fodder from a rain-irrigated field, and the eye continues to drip, it is not a sign of a permanent blemish because the animal did not eat the proper cure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
אלו הן מהם הקבועים – meaning to say, how do we know if it lasting or transitory?
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
אכל לח ויבש של גשמים – if they fed it straw and leeks for medicinal purposes that we call FINEO in the foreign language.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
לח – that grows in Adar and half of Nisan.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
ויבש- that grows in Elul and half of Tishrei.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
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).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
של בית השלחין - land that requires watering it is not for medicinal purposes, and we don’t examine it.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
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.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
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.
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