For the source text click/tap here: Bechorot 14
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The second perek of Massekhet Bekhorot began on yesterday’s daf. With it the Gemara turns its attention to the laws of firstborn kosher animals that are ordinarily supposed to be brought as sacrifices in the Temple.
According to the Mishna on our daf if an animal that had a blemish that precluded it from being brought as a sacrifice was consecrated by its owner and then was redeemed, it becomes an ordinary animal. Examples of the practical effect of this include the obligation to set aside its firstborn as a bekhor and that when it is slaughtered, it is not considered kodashim ba-ḥutz – slaughtering a consecrated animal outside of the Temple courtyard.
We explore the mythical impetus behind rituals of the firstborn as well as Agnon’s Sippur Pashto as a modern day Midrash (and his influence on A.B Yehoshua).