Commento su Zevahim 7:5
מָלַק בִּשְׂמֹאל, אוֹ בַלַּיְלָה, שָׁחַט חֻלִּין בִּפְנִים, וְקָדָשִׁים בַּחוּץ, אֵינָן מְטַמְּאִין בְּבֵית הַבְּלִיעָה. מָלַק בְּסַכִּין, מָלַק חֻלִּין בִּפְנִים, וְקָדָשִׁים בַּחוּץ, תּוֹרִין שֶׁלֹּא הִגִּיעַ זְמַנָּן, וּבְנֵי יוֹנָה שֶׁעָבַר זְמַנָּן, שֶׁיָּבַשׁ גַּפָּה, וְשֶׁנִּסְמֵת עֵינָהּ, וְשֶׁנִּקְטְעָה רַגְלָהּ, מְטַמֵּא בְבֵית הַבְּלִיעָה. זֶה הַכְּלָל, כֹּל שֶׁהָיָה פְסוּלָהּ בַּקֹּדֶשׁ, אֵינָהּ מְטַמְּאָה בְבֵית הַבְּלִיעָה. לֹא הָיָה פְסוּלָהּ בַּקֹּדֶשׁ, מְטַמְּאָה בְבֵית הַבְּלִיעָה. וְכָל הַפְּסוּלִים שֶׁמָּלְקוּ, מְלִיקָתָן פְּסוּלָה, וְאֵינָן מְטַמְּאוֹת בְּבֵית הַבְּלִיעָה:
Se uno ֹ trafisse [il collo di un uccello] con la mano sinistra, o [lo facesse] di notte, [o] se massacrava animali non consacrati all'interno del cortile del Tempio, [o] animali consacrati fuori dal cortile del Tempio - questi fanno non rendere una persona impura attraverso la deglutizione [come nel caso dell'ingestione di uccelli kosher impuri]. Se uno ha reciso [la testa] con un coltello, [o] se ha trafitto [il collo] di un [uccello] non consacrato all'interno del cortile del Tempio, [o quello di] un [uccello] consacrato fuori dal cortile del Tempio, [ o il collo di] tortore che non sono ancora abbastanza grandi [per essere sacrificati, o quelli di] piccioni che sono troppo vecchi [per essere sacrificati, o quello di un uccello] la cui ala si è seccata, o che ha un cieco occhio o la cui gamba è stata tagliata - questi rendono una persona impura attraverso la deglutizione. Questa è la regola generale: tutto ciò che è stato reso invalido all'interno del cortile del Tempio non rende una persona impura attraverso la deglutizione. Se non è stato reso invalido all'interno del cortile del Tempio [ma all'esterno], rende una persona impura attraverso la deglutizione. [In tutti i casi in cui] persone non ammissibili perforano [il collo degli uccelli], i loro piercing non sono validi, ma [gli uccelli] non rendono impuro una persona ingoiando.
Bartenura on Mishnah Zevachim
מלק בשמאל – that his pinching of the bird’s head is invalid. For every place where it states, “finger”/אצבע and “priesthood”/כהונה it is none other than the right [hand].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Zevachim
Introduction
This mishnah deals with the subject of when a sacrificial bird that was nipped (this is how sacrificial birds are slaughtered) causes impurity if its flesh is swallowed. We began to discuss this subject in mishnah three.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Zevachim
או בלילה – for there is pinching of the bird’s head at night, for the All-Merciful stated (Leviticus 7:38): “[with which the LORD charged Moses on Mount Sinai,] when He commanded [by day] (not included in the new Jewish Publication Society translation but found explicitly in the Hebrew ) /ביום צותו [that the Israelites present their offerings to the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai].”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Zevachim
If he nipped [the bird sacrifice] with his left [hand] or at night; if he slaughtered hullin within [the Temple courtyard] or a sacrifice outside [the Temple courtyard] they do not defile in the gullet. As I stated in the commentary to mishnah three, one who eats a pure bird that was not slaughtered properly becomes impure when the flesh of the bird reaches his gullet. Our mishnah lists cases where an action was done improperly with the slaughtering of a bird sacrifice. A bird sacrifice must be nipped with the right hand, during the day, so if he nips it with the left hand or at night, it is invalid. If one brings a non-sacred bird into the Temple and slaughters it (not nips but slaughters by cutting its neck), it may not be eaten, and a sacrifice that was slaughtered (not nipped) outside of the Temple is invalid. In all of these cases, the slaughtering or nipping was done properly, but it was done at the wrong time, with the wrong hand, or in the wrong place. Since the slaughtering/nipping itself was done correctly, the flesh of the bird doesn’t cause impurity.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Zevachim
אינן מטמאין – for since they are disqualified in Holy Things and even their pinching of the bird’s head that if they went up, but did not descend (see also, Tractate Zevakhim, Chapter 9, Mishnah 2, that the pinching of the bird’s head purifies them).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Zevachim
If he nipped with a knife; or if he nipped hullin within [or] sacrifices without; or [if he sacrificed] turtle-doves before their time or pigeons after their time; [or a bird] whose wing was withered, [or] blind in the eye [or] whose foot was cut off, [all these] defile in the gullet. In contrast, in some these cases the slaughtering itself was performed incorrectly. Nipping must be done with one’s fingernail and not with a knife. If the bird was hullin (non-sacred), then nipping it is an improper means to slaughter it (it must have its neck sliced). If he nips a bird sacrifice outside of the Temple it is invalid. In all of these cases, the bird is considered carrion and it does cause impurity if swallowed. The mishnah now lists other problems that will cause the bird to defile when its flesh is swallowed. When it comes to turtle-doves, they are valid as sacrifices only when they are older (about three months) whereas pigeons are valid as sacrifices when they are younger (before three months). So if he sacrificed a bird either before or after it reached majority, it causes impurity. Furthermore, if the bird was missing a limb it cannot be used as a sacrifice. So if he nipped a bird that couldn’t be used as a sacrifice, it is completely invalid and does cause impurity.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Zevachim
שחט חולין בפנים וקדשים בחוץ אין מטמאין בבית הבליעה – and even though they are forbidden to be consumed.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Zevachim
This is the general rule: all whose unfitness [arose] in sanctity do not defile in the gullet; if their unfitness did not arise in sanctity, they defile in the gullet. The mishnah now provides the general rule. If a bird was valid as a sacrifice and it was nipped in the Temple, using the correct method for nipping, but then became disqualified for some reason, the bird does not cause impurity when its flesh is swallowed. However, if the bird was disqualified before it arrived at the Temple courtyard, or was disqualified because its nipping was not performed correctly, the bird is considered carrion and one who eats it becomes impure when its flesh is swallowed.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Zevachim
מלק בסכין – it is not the [proper] pinching of the bird’s head (i.e., neck), and it is not [proper] ritual slaughter, for the pinching of the bird’s neck is with the fingernail by the Kohen himself.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Zevachim
And anyone who is unfit who nips, their nipping is invalid, and they [the birds] do not defile in the gullet. If someone performs the nipping who is not allowed to do so (see mishnah 2:1), for instance a non-priest, or an impure priest, the nipping is invalid and the bird cannot be used as a sacrifice. However, it does not place the bird into the category of carrion because this is a case of unfitness that arose in sanctity.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Zevachim
מלק חולין בפנים – for the pinching of the bird’s head (i.e., neck) does not belong with unconsecrated [birds] but rather with [birds] that are sanctified inside [at the altar], and the person who pinches the bird’s neck with the fingernail for a profane purpose in any place, or Holy Things outside [the altar], it is as if he perforates (i.e., kills by stabbing) or mutilates it, and this pinching of the bird’s head does not remove it from being a carrion (i.e., an animal that has died a natural death, not slaughtered according to the ritual rules).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Zevachim
תורין שלא הגיעו זמנן – large turtle doves, which are kosher/fit, small ones are invalid. Pigeons – small ones are kosher/fit, large ones are invalid.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Zevachim
ושיבש גפה – that it is missing a limb, it is invalid, even with birds. For we hold that there is no unblemished condition or male sex with regard to birds, these words, as for example regarding a withered spot in the eye/cataract that their blemishes are not recognized, but that which is missing a limb, (Malachi 1:8): “Just offer it to your governor.”
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Bartenura on Mishnah Zevachim
מטמא בבית הבליעה – that their pinching of the head has no effect at all, for even if they went up, they descended.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Zevachim
כל שאין פסולן בקודש – that it became invalid before they came to the Temple courtyard. And everything where its becoming invalid did not happen in the Holy area, we state further on in the Chapter [Nine], “The altar sanctifies that which is appropriate to it”/"המזבח מקדש" (see Mishnah 5), “And what are those things which, if they have gone up, should go down.” But those things that were invalidated in the Holy Areas, as for example, the Holy Things that were appropriate but they were invalidated in their Divine Service, they don’t defile, for the pinching of the bird’s head was beneficial to them for if they went up, they would not come down (see Mishnah 2 of that chapter).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Zevachim
כל הפסולים – as for example, a “foreigner,” (i.e., non-Kohen), and someone prior to the burial of a kinsman, a person who immersed himself on that day and someone lacking atonement (i.e., a woman after childbirth, a person suffering a flux, a healed leper, etc.) – all of those that are taught at the beginning of chapter 2 [of Tractate Zevakhim].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Zevachim
ואינן מטמאות בבית הבליעה – for even though their pinching of the bird’s neck does not permit Holy Things to be eaten, nevertheless, it removes them from being considered an un-slaughtered animal carcass.
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