Comentario sobre Kinim 3:1

במה דברים אמורים בכהן נמלך (under what circumstances do the rules apply? In the case of a Kohen who makes inquiry) – It is referring to the first chapter [of Tractate Kinnim, Mishnayot 2-3]. And this is what we stated: Under what circumstances do the rules apply? That a sin-offering that was combined/mixed with a burnt-offering that all of them should be left to die, and similarly, one to this one and two to that one and the third to that one, that the minority is Kosher/fit, these words regard a Kohen that comes to inquire and to ask what is their law. But a Kohen who does not inquire and acted according to this own knowledge, one complete couple of sacrificial birds above [the red line] for one woman, the burnt offering is kosher/fit but the sin-offering is invalid. But if he made [an offering of] one complete couple of sacrificial birds below [the red line], the sin-offering is valid and the burnt-offering is invalid. Therefore, one (i.e., sin-offering) for this one [woman] and one (i.e., burnt-offering) for that one [woman, two [complete couples of sacrificial birds] for this one [woman] (i.e., sin-offering) and two [complete couples of sacrificial birds] for that one [woman] (i.e., burnt-offering) and made all of them, above [the red line], half are kosher which are the burnt-offerings and half of them are invalid which are sin-offerings. But if he made [an offering of] all of them, below [the red line], the sin-offerings are kosher/fit but the burnt-offerings are invalid. And all of the first chapter [of Tractate Kinnim] speaks of ab initio, but this chapter speaks of post-facto/after-the-fact. And one [burnt-offering] to this woman and two [burnt-offerings] to that woman, that we stated above when he (i.e., the Kohen) makes inquiry, the minority are kosher, here without inquiry, the majority are kosher/fit, since he (i.e., the Kohen) made [the offering of] half of them above [the red line] and half of them below [the red line]. How so? Behold that from one [sin-offering] for this [woman], he (i.e., the Kohen) made that couple of bird-offerings of [this] woman above [the red line] and from two couples of bird-offerings of another woman, he (i.e., the Kohen) made one individual pigeon from them above [the red line] in order that half of them would be above, and there remained three individual pigeons below [the red line], behold two burnt-offerings above [the red line] ae kosher/fit, and two sin-offerings below [the red line], behold two couples of bird-offerings are kosher/fit, and the third is invalid, and this is the majority that is kosher. And similarly, two [couples of bird-offerings] for this woman and three [couples of bird-offerings] for that woman, from the two couples of bird-offerings, there are four individual pigeons [offered] above [the red line], and furthermore, he (i.e., the Kohen) took one individual pigeon from the three couples of bird offerings, there are five individual pigeons [offered] above [the red line] and five [individual pigeons offered] below [the red line]; from the five individual pigeons [offered] above [the red line], there are three burnt-offerings and from [that offered] below [the red line] there are three sin-offerings, behold three couples of bird-offerings are kosher, and this is the majority that are kosher/fit, but however, ten [couples of bird-offerings] for this [woman] and one-hundred [couples of bird-offerings] for that [woman], it is impossible to find in this matter because they are pairs, and one needs to state that the majority are kosher/fit, as is taught in our Mishnah, he does not return ought other than one to this [woman] and two to that [woman], etc., which are not pairs, but since it is taught in the Mishnah above that in this manner the minority are kosher/fit, it also teaches in this manner that the majority are kosher/fit without making inquiry. But however, even with ten [couples of sacrificial birds] to this [woman] and one-hundred [couples of sacrificial birds] to that [woman], the majority are kosher, for there is nothing invalid from them other than ten [couples of sacrificial birds], for perhaps all of the couples of sacrificial birds were of one woman [offered] above [the red line] and the sin-offerings were invalidated, or all of them [were offered] below [the red line] and the burnt-offerings were invalidated, by force, ten complete couples of bird-sacrifices are invalid.

Introduction The first mishnah of chapter three relates to the halakhot found in mishnayot 1:2-3 regarding pairs of sacrificial birds that become mixed up.

את שלמעלה מחצה כשר ומחצה פסול – [half of them are kosher/fit and half are invalid] since he (i.e., the Kohen) made [the offering up] of a complete couple of bird-offerings above [the red line]. For since these couples of bird-offerings were for two women, they should bring another couple of bird-offerings in partnership and give them between them, if from the first is a burnt-offering for Leah, the let the last be a sin-offering for Leah, or its opposite. And specifically, he (i.e., the Kohen) made [the offering of] a complete couple of bird-offerings above [the red line], but if he split up/divided the couples of bird-offerings, one individual pigeon above [the red line] and one individual pigeon below [the red line] everything is Kosher, for I state that the burnt-offering is above [the red line] and the sin-offering is below [the red line], for the couples of bird-offerings are specified through the action of the Kohen.

When are these words said? When the priest asks advice. If birds get mixed up and the priest comes to ask advice as to what to do with them, he is taught the halakhot we learned in 1:2-3.

But in the case of a priest who does not seek advice, and one [pair] belongs to one [woman] and one to another, or two [pairs] to one and two to another, or three [pairs] to one and three to another, and he offered all of them above [the red line], then half are valid and half are invalid. [Similarly], if [he offered] all of them below, half are valid and half are invalid. If [he offered] half of them above and half of them below, then of those [offered] above, half are valid and half are invalid, and also of those [offered] below, half are valid and half are invalid. The mishnah how goes on to explain what happens if he does not seek advice and just offers all of the mixed up sacrifices. In today's mishnah the scenario is simple for the numbers of pairs belonging to each woman is equal. Tomorrow's mishnah will introduce much more complicated scenarios. If the number of pairs are even, then half will be valid and half will not be valid. Thus if he sprinkles all of the blood above the red line on the altar, as is done with the olah, then all of the olot are valid, and all of the hataot are invalid. If he offers all of the blood below the red line, as is done with the hatat, then all of the hataot are valid, and all of the olot are invalid. If he offers half above the line and half below the line, then half of each group are valid. It turns out that in all of these cases, each woman gets credit for half of the birds that she brought. As an aside, I think it is interesting that the mishnah deals with a case where the priest did not ask advice from sages before sacrificing the mixed-up birds. I think that we might read into this a bit and see that priests probably did not follow rabbinic halakhot as closely as the rabbis might have liked, and therefore the rabbis have to figure out how to proceed in such a situation.