R. Chanina, the adjutant high-priest, testified: In all of my days I never saw the hide (of a bechor [a first-born animal]) going out to the burning site [after it had been flayed, if it were found to be treifah, even though the p'sul (the disqualifying factor) were in it before the flaying — since it was not recognized until after the flaying]. R. Akiva said: From his words we learn that if one flays a bechor and it is found to be a treifah, the Cohanim may enjoy its hide, and it is not burned. [R. Akiva comes to let us hear that even a blemished bechor, which is slaughtered outside of the sanctuary because of its blemish, the Torah (not having allowed it to be sacrificed but) only to be eaten, it being written (Deuteronomy 15:21): "In your gates (i.e., outside of the sanctuary) shall you eat it" — if it died, its hide is forbidden and it requires burial. And R. Akiva apprised us that when its being a treifah is not recognized until after it is flayed, its shechitah and its flaying permits its hide as if its blood had been sprinkled in the sanctuary.] The sages say: "We have not seen" is no proof [i.e., perhaps it never happened in his days that it was found to be treifah after flaying, and if it happened and they burned it, he did not see it]; but it goes out to the burning site.
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
לא ראיתי עור יוצא לבית השריפה – After its hide was flayed, if it was found torn. Even though that this disqualification was upon it prior to its hide being removed, since it was not recognized other than after the hide’s removal.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
Introduction
Mishnah two discusses burning the hides of sacrificially unfit animals.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
שהמפשיט את הבכור ונמצא טריפה – but Rabbi Akiva comes to teach us (a new point), that even a firstling which has defect when it is slaughtered outside of Jerusalem on its defect, and the Biblical verse did not permit it other than for eating, as it is written (Deuteronomy 15:22): “Eat it in your settlements [the unclean among you no less than the clean, just like the gazelle and the deer],” but if it died, its hide is forbidden and it requires burial, and Rabbi Akiva teaches us that where it is “terefah”/torn status is not known until after the hide is flayed, the permitted it to be slaughtered and the flaying of its hide is like its blood was cast in the Temple.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
Rabbi Hanina, chief of the priests, said: “All my days I never saw a hide taken out to the place of burning.” Rabbi Akiba said: “From his words we infer that whoever flays the hide of the firstborn beast and it is found to be trefah, the priests may enjoy the use of the hide.” But the Sages say: “[A testimony which consists of] ‘we didn’t see’ is not a proof; rather the hide must be taken out to the place of burning. In Tractate Zevahim 12:4 the Mishnah teaches that if a sacrificial animal is found to be unfit as a sacrifice before it’s hide is flayed, the entire animal must be burnt. If it is found to be unfit after it’s hide is flayed, the priests may keep the hide. Rabbi Hanina testifies that he never saw a hide being burnt. In other words, according to Rabbi Hanina if they already removed the hide, the priests may make use of it, even though the animal was deemed unfit to be a sacrifice. Rabbi Akiva learns from this that if one flays the hide of a firstborn animal, which belongs to the priests, and then discovers that it was a trefah, an animal with an internal flaw that would have caused its death, the priests may keep the hide. Since the flaw was not known before the hide was removed, the hide becomes the property of the priests. The Sages respond to Rabbi Akiva that the type of testimony that Rabbi Hanina transmitted is not reliable enough to base upon it halakhic solutions. Not seeing something does not mean that it did not happen. Since they exclude Rabbi Hanina’s testimony the law is that the hide must be burnt with the rest of the animal, and the priests are forbidden to receive benefit from it.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
יאותו הכהנים בעורו – and it is not burned.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
אין לא ראיתי ראיה – lest it did not happen in his days that it would be found “terefah”/torn after the hide had been flayed, and if it happened and they burned it, he did not see it.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
אלא יצא לבית השריפה – since prior to the flaying it had come. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Akiva regarding a firstling with a defect when a specialist permitted it, but if a specialist did not permit it, no. And the Halakha is according to the Sages in regard to a pure firstling, that the flesh is buried and hide is burned.
