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The final chapter of Tractate Bekhorot deals with the laws of animal tithing. Many laws are shared by the firstborn animal and the animal tithe, but there are also notable differences between them. One such difference appears in our sugya:
“If the verse does not apply to the firstborn, which is not subject to human designation, since it becomes sanctified upon emerging from the womb, apply it instead to the animal tithe.”
The Gemara emphasizes that the firstborn becomes holy automatically at the moment it emerges from its mother's womb. By contrast, animal tithing is something that involves human action. The owner passes the animals beneath the rod, and it is through this process that the tenth animal becomes consecrated.
Drawing upon Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Prof Avidu Schvartz argues that the firstborn represents the sanctification of beginnings, while the animal tithe represents the sanctification of completion. This distinction raises a deeper question about the relationship between divine initiative, human action, and the experience of providence.
We explore this them in a more paradoxical approach whereby the deepest meaning of ma'aser behemah: the acknowledgment that the world becomes sacred not only when something is given to God, but when the human being discovers that even what is counted as one's own has never been entirely one's possession.