Tous les animaux nés du premier Tichri jusqu'au 29 Elul se réunissent [pour la dîme]. Cinq d'avant Roch Hachana et cinq d'après Roch Hachana ne se réunissent pas. Cinq avant un goren et cinq après un goren se rejoignent. Si oui, pourquoi ont-ils dit qu'il y avait trois granots pour la dîme animale? Parce que jusqu'à ce que le goren soit arrivé, il est permis de vendre et d'abattre [sans dîme], une fois qu'il est arrivé, on ne peut pas abattre [sans dîme] mais s'il l'a fait, il est exempt [de punition].
Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
כל הנולדים – this anonymous [Mishnah] is according to Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Shimon.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Bekhorot
Introduction
Our mishnah continues to discuss in what situation animals born at different times of the year combine for matters of tithing.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
חמשה לפני ראש השנה – on account of that it (i.e., the Mishnah) has to teach five [days] before the threshing floor/harvest season and five days after the harvest season/threshing floor, they combine, he teaches also this.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Bekhorot
All those born from the first of Tishrei until the twenty-ninth of Elul combine [for matters of tithing]. Five lambs born before Rosh Hashanah and five born after Rosh Hashanah do not combine. The new year for tithing begins on Rosh Hashanah, the first of Tishrei and goes all the way to the 29th of Elul, the end of the year. Any animals born that year can and must be tithed together. This means that if ten sheep, for instance, are born that year, the owner must set aside one sheep as a tithe. However, as the mishnah illustrates, if five are born before Rosh Hashanah and five after, he need not set aside a tithe at all. To be even more extreme, if nine were born on the twenty-ninth of Elul and one was born on the first of Tishrei, no tithe must be given.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
לא ישחוט – for since according to the Rabbis, the threshing season established it for tithing.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Bekhorot
But five lambs born before the period [of tithing] and five after the period [of tithing] do combine [for tithing]. In mishnah five we learned about periods of the year in which one is liable to tithe. These three periods are not significant with regard to animals joining together to become liable for tithing. So if five are born before one of these periods, when the period comes he need not yet tithe. When another five are born, when the next period comes along he will have to tithe, as long as they were all born in the same calendar year.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Bekhorot
ואם שחט פטור – and the cattle are permitted for consumption. For we don’t find eatables forbidden pending the giving of sacred gifts of the tithing of cattle, neither a negative commandment nor death [for failure to comply].
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Bekhorot
If so, why did they speak of three periods for the tithe of cattle? Until the arrival of the [tithing] period it is permitted to sell and slaughter [the animals], but when the period has arrived he must not kill, but if he killed, he is exempt. The mishnah asks the logical question if the tithing periods do not effect the combining of animals, then what significance do they have? The answer is that when a tithing period comes, one must tithe one out of every ten animals that has been born from the time of the last tithing period. It is forbidden to slaughter or sell the animals until they are tithed, or at least counted for purposes of tithing. However, if he transgresses this and does slaughter the animal, there is no punishment, nor is the animal prohibited.
