Pesachim

You have [thus] safeguarded his master,1 but you have not safeguarded him! He is unable to marry a [Canaanitish] bondmaid, because he is already half free; he is unable to marry a free woman, because he is still half slave. Shall he be made as nought,2 — but surely the world was not created for aught but procreation as it is said, He created it not a waste, He formed it to be inhabited.3 Hence in the public interest we compel his master, and he makes him a free man, and he indites a bond for half his value.4 Then Beth Hillel reverted to rule as Beth Shammai.5 MISHNAH.IF A MAN SAYS TO HIS SLAVE, ‘GO FORTH AND SLAUGHTER THE PASSOVER-OFFERING ON MY BEHALF’: IF HE SLAUGHTERED A KID, HE EATS [THEREOF]. IF HE SLAUGHTERED A LAMB, HE EATS [THEREOF]. IF HE SLAUGHTERED A KID AND A LAMB, HE MUST EAT OF THE FIRST.6 IF HE FORGOT WHAT HIS MASTER TOLD HIM, HOW SHALL HE ACT? HE SLAUGHTERS A LAMB AND A KID AND DECLARES, ‘IF MY MASTER TOLD ME [TO SLAUGHTER] A KID, THE KID IS HIS [FOR HIS PASSOVER-OFFERING] AND THE LAMB IS MINE; WHILE IF MY MASTER TOLD ME [TO SLAUGHTER] A LAMB, THE LAMB IS HIS AND THE KID IS MINE. IF HIS MASTER [ALSO] FORGOT WHAT HE TOLD HIM, BOTH GO FORTH TO THE PLACE OF BURNING,7 YET THEY ARE EXEMPT FROM SACRIFICING THE SECOND PASSOVER.8 GEMARA. It is obvious that if he slaughtered a kid, he [the master] may eat [thereof] even though he is accustomed to lamb;9 if he slaughtered a lamb, he may eat [thereof] even though he is accustomed to a kid. But how is it stated, IF HE SLAUGHTERED A KID AND A LAMB, HE MUST EAT OF THE FIRST; surely it was taught, One cannot register for two Passover-offerings simultaneously?10 — Our Mishnah refers to a king and a queen.11 And it was taught even so: One may not register for two Passover offerings simultaneously. Yet it once happened that the king and queen instructed their servants, ‘Go forth and slaughter the Passover-offering on our behalf,’ but they went and killed two Passover-offerings for them. [Then] they went and asked the king [which he desired and] he answered then, ‘Go and ask the queen.’ [When] they went and asked the queen she said to them, ‘Go and ask R. Gamaliel.’ They went and asked R. Gamaliel who said to them: The king and queen, who have no particular desires,12 must eat of the first; but we [in a similar case] might not eat either of the first or of the second. On another occasion a lizard was found in the [Temple] abattoir,13 and they wished to declare the entire repast unclean. They went and asked the king, who answered them, ‘Go and ask the queen.’ When they went to ask the queen she said to them, ‘Go and ask it. Gamaliel.’ [So] they went and asked him. Said he to then, ‘Was the abattoir hot or cold?’14 ‘It was hot,’ replied they. ‘Then go and pour a glass of cold water over it,’ he told them. They went and poured a glass of cold water over it, and it moved,15 whereupon R. Gamaliel declared the entire repast clean. Thus the king was dependent on the queen and the queen was dependent on R. Gamaliel: hence the whole repast was dependent on R. Gamaliel.16 IF HE FORGOT WHAT HIS MASTER HAD TOLD HIM etc. MINE? Whatever a slave owns his master owns!17 — Said Abaye: He repairs to a shepherd with whom his master generally has dealings,18 who is therefore pleased to make things right for his master, and he gives him possession of one of them on condition that his master shall have no rights therein.19 IF HIS MASTER FORGOT WHAT HE HAD TOLD HIM etc. Abaye said: They learned this only where he forgot after the sprinkling, so that when the blood was sprinkled it was fit for eating. But if he [the master] forgot before the sprinkling, so that when the blood was sprinkled it was not fit for eating, they are bound to observe the Second Passover. Others recite this in reference to the [following] Baraitha: If the hides of five [companies’] Passover-offerings became mixed up with each other, and a wart20 was found on one of them, they all21 go out to the place of burning, and they [their owners] are exempt for observing the Second Passover. Said Abaye: This was taught only where they were mixed up after the sprinkling, so that at least when the blood was sprinkled it was fit for eating; but if they were mixed up before the sprinkling, they are bound to observe the Second Passover. He who recites [this] in reference to our Mishnah, [holds that] all the more [does it apply] to the Baraitha.22 But he who recites it in reference to the Baraitha [holds] that [it does] not [apply] to our Mishnah: since [the sacrifices themselves] are valid, for if he reminds himself [of what the Master had told him],it would be fit for eating, it is [indeed] revealed23 before Heaven. The Master said: ‘And [their owners] are exempt from observing the Second Passover.’ But one has [definitely] not discharged [his duty]?24 — [The reason is] because it is impossible [to do otherwise]. What should be done? Should each bring a [second] Passover-offering, — then they bring hullin to the Temple Court, since four of them have [already] sacrificed.25 If all of them bring one Passover-offering, the result is that the Passover-offering is eaten by those who have not registered for it.26 How so? Let each of them bring his Passover-offering and stipulate and declare: ‘If mine was blemished, let this one which I am bringing now be a Passover-offering; while if mine was unblemished, let this one which I am bringing now be a peace-offering’? — That is impossible, Beth Shammai's ruling. Now the law is always as Beth Hillel. Before they retracted, he could not eat of his own, because the half in him that is free is sharply differentiated from the half that is not. But when they retracted they would regard him as entirely free, even before he is actually so, since we compel his master to free him; hence he could eat of his own. it. same applies here. question of retrospective validity does not arise. Buchler (Synedrion p. 129 n. 1) with Agrippa II and his sister Berenice. On either view it is to R. Gamaliel I that reference is here made.] them, and yet if the doubt arose before the sprinkling they are bound to observe the Second Passover. How much the more then in the Baraitha, where the fitness of the sacrifices themselves is in question! consecrates an animal as such, the consecration is invalid and the animal remains hullin (q.v. Glos.), which may not be brought into the Temple Court for slaughtering. Here four have actually discharged their duty already, though we do not know who they are, so that four of the animals must remain unconsecrated.