Study Bava Metzia folio 7A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אלא מאי אית לך למימר, עשירי ודאי אמר רחמנא ולא עשירי ספק. הכא נמי: עשירי ודאי אמר רחמנא ולא עשירי ספק.
Rather, what have you to say to explain why one is not required to tithe his flock in a case where a counted animal jumped back into the pen? God states: “And all the tithe of the herd or the flock, anyone that passes under the rod, the tenth should be sacred to YHWH” (Leviticus 27:32), from which it is derived that a certain tenth animal must be tithed, but not an uncertain tenth, i.e., an animal that is not certainly the tenth. Here too, the entire flock is exempt from tithe because God states that a certain tenth animal must be designated as tithe and not an uncertain tenth, i.e., an animal that is not certainly subject to tithe. Therefore, there is proof from the baraita that if a priest seizes an animal whose status as firstborn is uncertain, the court removes it from his possession.
אמר ליה רב אחא מדפתי לרבינא: מאי ספיקות? אילימא ספק בכורות, ״יהיה קדש״ אמר רחמנא, ולא שכבר קדוש.
Rav Aḥa of Difti said to Ravina: What are these animals of uncertain status that that are subject to tithe according to the Mishnah? If we say that the reference is to animals whose status as firstborns is uncertain, God states: “The tenth should be sacred to YHWH,” indicating that the tithe animal becomes sacred only when it is designated as tithe, from which it is inferred: But not an animal that is already sacred for a different reason. Therefore, since an animal whose status as firstborn is uncertain is already considered sacred due to the uncertainty, the sanctity of animal tithe would not apply to it.