פירוש על תמורה 6:4

נתן לה כפים הרי אלו מותרים – [he gave the whore pieces of silver] – to purchase with them an animal for a sacrifice and fine flour for meal-offerings.

Introduction Today’s mishnah is the last mishnah to deal with the topic of “the price of a dog” and the “fee of a prostitute.”

יינות שמנים וסלתות אסורים – but wheat [as hire] and she made it into flour; olives and she made it into olive oil, grapes and she made it into wine, these are permitted, for we expound “both of them”/שניהם (Deuteronomy 23:19) but not their products and not their offspring (see Talmud Temurah 30b according to the School of Hillel).

If he gave her [a prostitute] money, it is permitted [for use for the altar.] [But if he gave her] wine, oil, flour and anything similar which is offered on the altar, it is forbidden for the altar. If one pays a prostitute with money (I think today that this is preferred over giving her a lamb), the money can later be used to buy a sacrifice. The only thing that becomes prohibited is something can be sacrifice, such as wine, oil and flour.

נתן לה מוקדשים – as for example, he separated a lamb for his Passover offering and after some time, said to the harlot: “Have sexual relations with me and I will transmit my share on my Passover offering with your hiring [of a harlot].” You might think I would say that since a person is permitted to appoint others over his Passover offering, he is appointed, but I would say that to cause upon her [a harlot] for hire, it comes to teach us that this is not the case, since Scripture states (Deuteronomy 23:19): “in fulfillment of any vow,” to exclude that which is already vowed.

If he gave her dedicated [animals] they are permitted [for the altar]. If he gives her an animal already dedicated to the Temple, it does not become prohibited. This is because an animal that is already dedicated is not his money any more, and one cannot prohibit something that does not belong to him.

עופות – of unconsecrated [fowl].

If he gave her birds [of hullin] they are disqualified. The mishnah includes birds as being prohibited if given to a prostitute for her fee.

הרי אלו – disqualified for offering as a sacrifice for the hire [of a whore] and the pay [of a dog] fall upon them.

For one might have reasoned [as follows]: if in the case of dedicated animals, where a blemish disqualifies them, [the law] of [the prostitute’s] fee and price [of a dog] does not apply to them, in the case of birds, where a blemish does not disqualify, is it not all the more reason that the law of [the prostitute’s] fee and the price [of a dog] should not apply? Scripture says, “For any vow,” (Deuteronomy 23:19) this includes a bird. The mishnah now explains why one might have even thought that these laws don’t apply to a bird. We have already learned in section two that the laws of the fee of a prostitute and the price of a dog don’t apply to dedicated animals. The laws concerning blemishes (that a blemished animal cannot be sacrificed) do, however, apply to dedicated animals. This makes the laws governing dedicated animals more stringent than the laws governing birds, which are not disqualified by defects. Therefore, if the laws of the fee of a prostitute and the price of a dog don’t apply to the more stringent case of dedicated animals, all the more so they should not apply to the more lenient case of the bird. Therefore, the Torah teaches “for any vow” to let us know that birds are included in the prohibition.

עופות שאין הום פוסל בהן – as Scripture states (Leviticus 22:19): “[it must, to be acceptable in your favor,] be a male without blemish [from cattle] or sheep [or goats],” but there are not pure or male with fowl.

לכל נדר – all, to include the fowl, for it too comes with a vow, for the fee [of a whore] or the pay [of a dog] occur upon it.