חולין 23:1 — Soncino English Talmud

The verse is required to exclude birds that have suffered an unnatural crime or that have been worshipped. For since it is written: For their corruption is in them, there is a blemish in them, and a Tanna of the school of R. Ishmael taught: Wherever ‘corruption’ is mentioned it means either sexual perversion or idolatry — sexual perversion: for it is written: For all flesh had corrupted his way upon earth; idolatry: for it is written: Lest ye corrupt yourselves and make you a graven image — it might well be argued that whatever is rendered unfit for sacrifice by reason of a blemish will similarly be rendered unfit by reason of sexual perversion or idolatry, and, on the other hand, whatever is not rendered unfit for sacrifice by reason of a blemish will not be rendered unfit by reason of sexual perversion or idolatry, with the result that birds, inasmuch as they are not rendered unfit for sacrifice by reason of a blemish — for a Master said: The unblemished state and the male sex are prerequisites only to sacrifices of cattle but not of birds — will likewise not be rendered unfit by reason of sexual perversion or idolatry! The verse therefore teaches us [that they are excluded]. R. Zera put the following question: What is the law if a man said: ‘Behold, I undertake to offer for a burnt-offering either a ram or a lamb’, and he brought a pallax? Of course according to R. Johanan the question does not arise, since he holds that it is a distinct species. For we have learnt: If a man [under an obligation to bring a lamb or a ram as a sacrifice] offered a pallax, he must bring for it libations as for a ram, but he does not thereby discharge the obligation of his sacrifice. And R. Johanan said that the verse. Or a ram, included a pallax. The question, however, does arise according to the view of Bar Padda,^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ

^ᵃnote:These birds may not be offered as sacrifices. The suggestion, therefore, that the verse Purports to exclude such birds whose neck feathers begin to glisten, is now abandoned.
^ᵇnote:Lev. XXII, 25. From which is derived the rule that animals ‘corrupt’ or blemished are not acceptable for sacrifice.
^ᶜnote:Gen. VI, 12. This verse refers to the sexual perversion of the generation.
^ᵈnote:Deut. IV, 16.
^ᵉnote:Minor blemishes do not disqualify a bird for sacrifice though a major blemish e.g., the loss of a limb, does.
^ᶠnote:V. Kid. 24b.
^ᵍnote:A sheep in its first twelve months is called a ‘lamb’, after thirteen months it is termed a ‘ram’, in its thirteenth month it is known as a pallax. Heb. xdkp, from Greek **, specifically a youth not yet arrived at adolescence, below the age of eighteen years.
^ʰnote:Consequently he will not have discharged his obligation.
^ⁱnote:Par. I, 3; Men. 91b.
^ʲnote:The wine libations and offerings of meal which were brought with the sacrifice varied in quantity according to the animal offered. For a bullock it was necessary to bring three tenths of an ephah meal and one half of a hin wine; for a ram two tenths meal and one third of a hin wine; for a lamb one tenth meal and one quarter of a hin wine.
^ᵏnote:Num. XV, 6 which prescribes the libations for a ram. The word ‘or’, Heb. ut, being superfluous, is employed to extend the rule contained in this verse so as to include the pallax. Now it is evident that R. Johanan, by his interpretation that the verse purports to include the pallax, holds that it is a distinct species; for were it indeed a case of doubt he surely would not have explained the verse as purporting to include a condition of doubt! Cf. supra. p. 113, n. 3.