הלכות בכורות

When a person possesses ten lambs and he separates one as the tithes or he possesses 100 and he separates ten as the tithes, these are not tithes. What, instead, should he do? He should gather all of the lambs or all of the calves born that year in a corral. He then makes a small entrance so that two cannot emerge at the same time. He positions their mothers outside the corral and they bleat so that the lambs will hear their voices and leave the corral to meet them. This is necessary, as implied by Leviticus 27:32 which states: "all that passes beneath the staff," i.e., they must pass on their own initiative; one should not remove them by hand.As they leave the corral one by one, the owner begins to count them with a staff: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. The tenth animal that departs, whether male or female, whether unblemished or blemished, should be painted with red paint, and the owner should say: "This is the tithe."If he did not paint the animals designated as the tithes with red paint, did not count them with a staff, or counted them while they are lying down or standing, the tithing takes effect. Since he counted them ten by ten and consecrated the tenth, it is considered a tithe.

It is not necessary to collect every animal born in a person's domain to one corral. Instead, the reckoning is made for every herd alone. If a person owned five lambs in Jerusalem and five in Acre, they are not combined into a single herd. Instead, they are all exempt from the tithes.What is the distance required to be between two herds for them to be combined? Sixteen mil.

If there are three herds and there are sixteen mil between each one, the three are combined. What is implied? There were nine on one side, nine on the other side, and one in the center, all three herds are brought into the corral together to be tithed.

Tithes are not taken from sheep for cattle, nor from cattle for sheep. One must, however, tithe sheep for goats and goats for sheep. This is derived from Leviticus 27:32: "All the tithes of your cattle and tzon." Implied is that all light, domesticated animals are included as one category, for they are both referred to with the term seh and they are like one species.

We do not tithe animals born in one year with animals born in another year just as we do not tithe the crops from the new year for the crops from the past year nor the crops from the past year for the crops of the new year, as Deuteronomy 14:22: "Which are produced by the field year for year."It appears to me that if one tithed animals from one year for animals of another year, the tithing is binding because of the severity of consecrated animals. For the Torah did not explicitly emphasize that the tithing of animals must be from the same year.

All of the offspring born from the first of Tishrei until the twenty-ninth of Elul are combined and are tithed for each other. If five lambs are born on the twenty-ninth of Elul and five on the first of Tishrei of the following year, they are not combined. If an animal gave birth to offspring in its first year of life, it and its daughter should be brought into the corral together to be tithed.

The lambs which are born are not like tevel from which one may not eat until one tithes as explained in its place. Instead, one may sell or slaughter all the offspring one desires until one tithes. Then animal designated as the tithe offering will be consecrated and must be eaten according to law, as explained above.

Our Sages established three fixed times for the tithing of one's animals.When one of these dates arrives, it is forbidden for a person to sell or slaughter the offspring of his animals until he tithes. If he slaughters, the meat is permitted.These are the three dates: the fifteenth day before the Paschal sacrifice, the fifteenth day before Shavuot, and the fifteenth day before Sukkot. Each of these times is called a "threshing floor" for the tithing of animals. Thus the "threshing floor" for the tithing of animals is on the last day of the month of Adar, on the thirty-fifth day of the Counting of the Omer, and on the last day of the month of Elul.Why were the "threshing floors" established on these dates? So that the animals would be available to the festive pilgrims. For even though it is permitted to sell animal offspring before they were tithed, as we explained, the people would refrain from selling them until they would tithe them and perform the mitzvah.

When a person brought all his sheep or cattle into a corral and began to sanctify the tenth animal that departs until there remained less than ten in the corral, those should be left for the next "threshing floor" and they are joined together with those born and tithed and all are collected in one "threshing floor." Even though one knows that some will remain in the corral, he is obligated to bring them all into the corral and the remainder will be left over.