For the source text click/tap here: Bechorot 26
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The Torah is clear with regard to the requirements of the parent of a male firstborn that must be redeemed. A month after birth, a payment of five shekel must be made to the kohen in order to redeem the child (see Num 18:16). The same detail does not exist regarding a firstborn kosher animal. How long does the owner of the animal have to care for the firstborn before transferring it to the kohen?
This question is dealt with in the first Mishna of the fourth perek of Massekhet Bekhorot, which begins on our daf, whose focus is on how the firstborn animal is transferred to the kohen and what his responsibilities are once he receives it.
There is something almost unbearably modern about the bekhor ba'al mum. A theme we explore in its modern Jewish writer’s iteration.
He is chosen and cannot fulfill his chosenness.
He belongs to the altar and cannot be brought to the altar. The mark of election remains upon him after the purpose of election has become impossible.
The Torah does not heal him. It does not explain the blemish. It does not suggest that what appears to be a defect is secretly a higher perfection.
It simply says that because of the mum he cannot be sacrificed.