Le rabbin Eliezer dit: Un veau [tel que mentionné dans la Torah] a un an et une vache a deux ans. Et les Sages disent: un veau a deux ans et une vache en a trois ou quatre. Le rabbin Meir dit: Même un enfant de cinq ans, âgé, est valable [pour être utilisé dans le rituel de purification de la génisse rouge] mais nous n'attendons pas qu'il [vieillisse] de peur qu'il ne développe des poils noirs, donc il ne le fait pas. devenir invalide. Rabbi Yehoshua dit: Je n'ai entendu parler que d'un Shelashit [c'est-à-dire âgé de trois ans]. Ils lui ont dit: Quelle est la signification du langage shelashit ? Il leur a dit: Alors je l'ai entendu, non élaboré. Ben Azzai a dit: Je vais expliquer. Si la langue était Shelishit [littéralement: troisième], alors [cela signifie] la troisième en nombre [c'est-à-dire le troisième veau né]; mais puisque la langue était Shelashit , alors [cela signifie] trois ans. Ils ont parlé de la même manière à propos d'un vignoble de Rivaii [un vignoble dans sa quatrième année dont les fruits sont sanctifiés]. Ils lui ont dit: Quelle est la langue de rivaii ? Il leur a dit: Alors je l'ai entendu, non élaboré. Ben Azzai a dit: Je vais expliquer. Si la langue était rivaii [littéralement: quatrième], alors [cela signifie] le quatrième par rapport aux autres en nombre [c'est-à-dire le quatrième vignoble qu'un homme possède]; mais puisque la langue est rivaii , alors [cela signifie] quatre ans. De même, ils ont dit: On [devient impur] s'il mange dans une maison détruite un demi-pain, quand il y a trois [pains] pour un kav [un certain volume de farine]. Ils lui ont dit: [Au lieu de cela] dites «quand il y a dix-huit [pains] pour une se'ah»! [note: six kavs sont égaux à une se'ah.] Il leur dit: Alors je l'ai entendu, non élaboré. Ben Azzai a dit: Je vais expliquer. Si vous dites «quand il y a trois [pains] pour un kav», c'est sans que sa challah [ait été séparée; challah est une portion de pâte qui doit être retirée des pains et donnée à un prêtre, mais une miche aussi petite ne serait pas obligée en challah]. Mais quand vous dites «quand il y a dix-huit [pains] pour une se'ah», c'est avec sa challah déduite.
Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
רבי אליעזר אומר עגלה בת שנתה – a heifer whose neck was broken needs to be one year old and no more/older.
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Introduction
Today's mishnah discusses how old a "heifer" can be before it becomes a cow. This is relevant to two laws. In Deuteronomy 21 we read that in order to expiate for an unsolved murder a ritual with a "heifer" must be performed. In order to perform the ritual correctly, we must determine how old a heifer is. And determining how old a "cow" is relevant to the issue of our tractate the red cow.
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ופרה – red [heifer].
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Rabbi Eliezer says: the heifer is no more than one year old and the cow no more than two years old. But the sages ruled: the heifer may be even two years old and the red cow even three or four years old. Rabbi Meir says: even five years old, though she is old. But they did not wait with it so long since it might in the meantime grow some black hairs and [thus] become invalid. According to Rabbi Eliezer the heifer whose neck is broken according to Deuteronomy 21 must be less than one year old. The cow must be less than 2 years old. The other sages add a year to both of these numbers. Rabbi Meir rules that a cow can even be 5 years old and still be valid to be used in the red cow ritual. However, if a red cow was born (a highly unusual event) they wouldn't wait five years to use it because if any of its hairs turn black, it becomes invalid.
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ופרה בת שתי שתים – that the language of פרה/heifer implies that it is older than a עלגה/heifer (i.e., calf)
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Rabbi Joshua said: I only heard of [a cow] that was three years old [shelashit]. They said to him: What does "shelashit" mean? He replied: thus have I heard it without any explanation. Ben Azzai said: I will explain: if you say "shelishit" the meaning is ‘the third’ in number to others, but when you say "shelashit" the meaning is one that is three years old. The mishnah now begins a series of discussion in which Rabbi Joshua and Ben Azzai participate and which hinge on the precise pronunciation of various words. The first of these discussions is pertinent to the issue of the red cow. Rabbi Joshua asserts that he heard that the cow must be "shelashit." This seems to be an unusual spelling of the Hebrew word for the ordinal number of three third. The other sages ask him why did you say "shelashit." Rabbi Joshua, interestingly, does not know why he pronounced the word in this unusual manner. He just heard "shelashit" and repeated what he was taught. Ben Azzai, the younger student, however, has an explanation. Had Rabbi Joshua said "shelishit," the typical pronunciation of the ordinal number, we would have thought that the cow would have to be the third born to its mother. Now that he pronounced the word "shelashit" we learn that the cow must be three years old.
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וחכמים אומרים עלגה ערופה כשרה אפילו בת שתים – and all the more so, when it is one year old, but even if it is two years old, it is a עגלה /calf, and even though that we hold that every place where it states עגל, it is one year old, the Rabbis hold that the heifer whose neck is broken is different, as it is written regarding it (Deuteronomy 21:3): “[The elders of the town nearest to the corpse] shall then take a heifer/עגלת בקר, [which has never been worked, which has never pulled in a yoke],” but it is not written a mere/plain עגלה/heifer.
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Similarly they said a vineyard that is "revai." They said to him: what does "revai" mean? He replied: thus have I heard it without any explanation. Ben Azzai said: I will explain: if you say "revii" the meaning is the fourth in number to others, but when you say "revai" the meaning is one that is four years old. The same argument now occurs with regard to a vineyard in its fourth year. This topic is covered in Maaser Sheni 5:1-5. The produce of such a vineyard must be brought to Jerusalem and consumed there. The word for fourth year as pronounced by Rabbi Joshua is "revai" instead of the more typical "revii." Again, the other sages ask Rabbi Joshua why he pronounces it this way and he doesn't know how to respond. Ben Azzai explains that had he pronounced it "revii" we might have thought that it was fourth in number. This could mean that it is the fourth vineyard owned by the owners or that it is the fourth vineyard planted in this field. Now that it is pronounced "revai" we learn that the these laws refer to a vineyard planted in its fourth year.
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שמא תשחיר שלא תפסל (lest a hair turn black and it should [not] otherwise become unfit) – for if two black hairs would grow in it, it would be unfit, as it written (Numbers 19:2): “[Instruct the Israelite people to bring you] a red [cow] without blemish, that its being without blemish/its purity, is in its reddishness and it went away, for a red cow which is three years old or four [years old] and old is fit/proper, but we don’t wait for it, lest a hair turn black and it should [not] otherwise become unfit.
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Similarly it was ruled: if a man ate in an afflicted house half a loaf, three of which can be made from a kav, he becomes unclean. They said to him: say rather "eighteen of which are made of a se'ah." He replied: thus have I heard it without any explanation. Ben Azzai said: I will explain: when you say, three of which are made of a kav it would not contain hallah, but if you say, eighteen of which are made of a se'ah, it has been reduced by its hallah. The final issue has to deal with a halakhah that came up in the last tractate we learned Negaim. If a person goes into a house afflicted with some sort of scaly plague and stays there long enough to eat half of a loaf of bread, when three loaves are made of a kav of flour, becomes impure. The rabbis ask why he expresses the amount as "three loaves in a kav" instead of "eighteen loaves in a seah." A seah is 6 kavs, so the ratio stays the same. Ben Azzai explains that had one made 18 loaves he would actually have to give some as "hallah," dough offering, to the priest. This would reduce (by a small amount) the size of each loaf. But three loaves of bread is too small of an amount to be liable for hallah. Therefore, the amount of the loaf is precise.
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לא שמעתי אלא שלשית (I heard only “Shelasheet”) – I heard that a red cow is not kosher/fit other than one which is “Shelasheet” (i.e., in its third year).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
כך שמעתי סתם (such I heard plain) – and I have nothing to explain.
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שלישית – implies, third to the others in sequence, that two other cows were born before her and this is the third to them.
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שלשית- implies that she is three years old.
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רביעי לאחרים – when there are four vineyards, it belongs to say about the last that it is the fourth to the others, but [the term] רבעי/that which is in the fourth year implies a vineyard that is four years old.
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האוכל בבית המנוגע פרס – he who tarries in a leprous house in order to eat a piece of bread, defiles that clothing that is upon him. [The word] פרס is half of a loaf, from three loaves to a KAB.
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אמרו לו אמור משמונה עשר לסאה – meaning to say, you should have said from eighteen to a Seah, that the Seah is six KABIM, and three loaves to a KAB are eighteen to a Seah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
כך שמעתי – from my Rabbis/teachers, and it is not in my hands to explain why they didn’t say from eighteen to a Seah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
אני אפרש – what the practical difference is between this and that [and why they didn’t say eighteen to a Seah].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
משלש לקב אין בו חלה – for five fourths flour and more, are liable for separating Hallah, and a person who kneads only one KAB separates Hallah from it. Therefore, when you say, from three loaves to a KAB, it implies that Hallah had not been separated from them, but when you say “from eighteen to a Seah,” it is found that each loaf is less that what we reduced for Hallah and a person who kneads a Seah must separate Hallah from it.
