Julian Ungar-Sargon

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Daf Ditty

A wide-ranging commentary on the daily page of Talmud.

Bechorot 39: כָּאן — כְּשֶׁנִּבְרְאָה בְּאַחַת מֵעִיקָּרָא

Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon October 27, 2026

For the source text click/tap here: Bechorot 39

To download, click/tap here: PDF

When it states with regard to the burning of the sacrificial portions of a peace offering:

“And the two kidneys” (Leviticus 3:4), this teaches that one sacrifices only an animal that has two kidneys, but not an animal that has one kidney, nor one that has three kidneys. And it is taught in another baraita that when that verse states: “And the two kidneys…he shall take it away,” the singular form serves to include an animal that has one kidney,which may be sacrificed. Evidently, these tanna’im disagree as to whether an animal lacking a kidney is fit to be sacrificed.

We explore at what point does the sacrificial animal cease to be an animal whose anatomical perfection matters and become instead the material of a ritual process whose validity depends upon the prescribed sequence of actions?

The difficulty arises because shechitah is simultaneously an ending and a beginning.

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Julian Ungar-Sargon

This is Julian Ungar-Sargon's personal website. It contains poems, essays, and podcasts for the spiritual seeker and interdisciplinary aficionado.​