Which of the following does NOT disqualify a fowl as a sacrifice?
Halachah 1 rules that small blemishes do not disqualify a fowl, unlike animals. However, major limb loss — dried wing, cut foot, or lost eye — does disqualify, since an animal lacking a limb is never offered.
Question 2
When is a turtle-dove considered fit for sacrifice?
Halachah 2 states that turtle-doves are acceptable for sacrifice when their feathers are all of a golden hue, indicating full maturity. The blood-filling-when-plucked test applies to young ordinary doves, not turtle-doves.
Question 3
Why does the Rambam disqualify a tumtum or androgynus animal from the altar?
Halachah 3 explains that despite having no physical blemish, these animals are disqualified not because of blemish but because of unresolved gender — the Torah requires a 'perfect male' or 'perfect female,' meaning definitively one or the other. This even disqualifies fowl, for which gender normally does not matter.
Question 4
If someone consecrates an animal that was sodomized or set aside for pagan worship, what is the legal status of that consecration?
Halachah 10 rules that animals tainted by immorality or idolatry are treated like a temporary blemish: they are left to graze until they contract a permanent blemish, at which point they can be redeemed. This contrasts with inherently unfit animals (tumtum, hybrid, etc.) whose consecration has no effect at all.
Question 5
An animal was sodomized while it was pregnant. What is the status of its offspring?
Halachah 13 rules that if the transgression occurred while the animal was already pregnant, the offspring is disqualified — because a fetus is considered like the mother's thigh (part of her body) and was present when she became forbidden. If she became pregnant after the transgression, however, the offspring is acceptable.