One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
אִסּוּרֵי מִזְבֵּחַ
Issurei Mizbeiach · Chapters 2–4
Sefer Avodah · The blemishes, identities, and histories that bar an animal from the altar
73
Blemishes that disqualify an animal
14
Types barred from the altar
1:10,000
One forbidden animal disqualifies the whole mixture
80 days
To prove an eye blemish permanent
Ch 2The catalog and its patience
- The full count. 50 blemishes shared by man and animal plus 23 unique to animals - 73 in all; a consecrated animal that contracts one is redeemed, except the old, sick, or foul-smelling, which are neither sacrificed nor redeemed. (2:1-6)
- Visible or nothing. A broken tail bone is a blemish (the groove shows); a broken rib is not - the break cannot be seen. Tail length is measured by the vertebra: one is a blemish for a kid, two for a lamb. (2:4)
- Missing within. A tereifah, or an animal lacking an internal organ (one kidney, no spleen), is not "blemished" - yet never offered: "They shall be perfect for you." An extra organ counts as a missing one. (2:10-11)
- The 80-day watch. Eye-water is proved permanent only after inspections on days 27, 54, and 80, plus a strict regimen - fresh grass Adar to mid-Nisan, dried grass in season, a fig-sized portion before the first meal, roaming free with a companion animal. One condition lacking leaves the animal in doubt. (2:12-15)
RememberA blemish must be seen - a broken rib does not disqualify; a missing kidney bars the animal under a different law entirely.
Ch 3Barred without a blemish
- Fowl are different. Blemishes do not disqualify a bird - but a dried wing, lost eye, or severed foot does (nothing lacking a limb is offered), and age does: doves only young, turtledoves only mature. (3:1-2)
- Identity flaws. The tumtum and androgynous (not definitely male or female), the hybrid, the Caesarean-born, the orphan, and the animal under 8 days old are all unacceptable though physically perfect. (3:3-4, 3:8)
- "No blemish greater than a change." A ewe that bore a goat-lookalike is barred like a permanently blemished animal - estrangement from one's own appearance is the deepest flaw. (3:5)
- Guilt has edges. One forbidden animal in 10,000 bars them all - yet offspring are acceptable unless the mother was pregnant during the sin, changed form releases (worshipped grain may be milled for meal offerings), and animals bought from gentiles are presumed fit. (3:12-15)
RememberAn animal can be flawless and still refused - the altar reads identity and story, not just the body.
Ch 4Sin, fee, and exchange
- Two witnesses vs one. An animal that killed or was sinned with is stoned on two witnesses' testimony; with one witness or the owner's word alone it stays permitted to people - but barred from the altar. (4:2)
- The goaded ox. An animal made sport of and trained to gore until it killed is acceptable - it was compelled. And sin-disqualification has age thresholds (a male of nine years, a female of three). (4:3)
- Words forbid nothing. Setting aside for idolatry takes a deed, not a sentence - and a person cannot forbid an animal that is not his. A worshipped animal is barred with everything on it. (4:4-6)
- Fee and exchange. A harlot's fee and a dog's exchange are barred (one set of lashes) - but only the actual substance: money she spends on a lamb, or grain milled to flour, is acceptable; a present to a dog and an exchange for a harlot are permitted. (4:8-18)
RememberThe compelled ox is accepted, the changed form is released, and no one can forbid what is not his.