Pesachim 61B

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Text Excerpt

שחטו למולין, על מנת שיתכפרו בו ערלים בזריקה. רב חסדא אמר: פסול. רבה אמר: כשר. רב חסדא אמר פסול ⁠— יש מחשבת ערלים בזריקה. רבה אמר כשר ⁠— אין מחשבת ערלים בזריקה.

If one slaughtered the Paschal lamb for people who are circumcised on condition that uncircumcised people achieve atonement through the sprinkling of its blood, i.e., although the uncircumcised people are prohibited from eating the Paschal lamb, it was his intention that they achieve atonement through the blood of the offering, Rav Ḥisda said: The offering is disqualified. Rabba said: It is valid. The Talmud explains: Rav Ḥisda said it is disqualified because intent that the offering should be for uncircumcised people has sufficient force to disqualify the offering at the time of the sprinkling. Rabba said that it is valid because intent that the offering should be for uncircumcised people can only disqualify the offering during the slaughter and not during the sprinkling.

אמר רבה: מנא אמינא לה? דתניא: יכול יפסול בני חבורה הבאין עמו? ודין הוא: הואיל וערלה פוסלת וטומאה פוסלת, מה טומאה לא עשה בה מקצת טומאה ככל טומאה ⁠— אף ערלה לא עשה בה מקצת ערלה ככל ערלה.

Rabba said: From where do I derive to say this halakha? As it was taught in a baraita: I might have thought that an uncircumcised person would disqualify the other fit members of the group who come with him. And it may be inferred logically to the contrary that he does not disqualify the others: Since lack of circumcision disqualifies a Paschal lamb slaughtered for that person, and similarly, ritual impurity disqualifies it, the following can be said: Just as with ritual impurity, partial impurity was not made to be like full impurity, meaning that if one member of the group for which the offering is slaughtered is ritually impure, the offering is not disqualified for the entire group, so too, with lack of circumcision; partial lack of circumcision was not made to be like full lack of circumcision, meaning that if one member of the group is uncircumcised, the offering is not disqualified as it would be if all members of the group were uncircumcised.

Text data via Sefaria: William Davidson Edition - English and William Davidson Edition - Vocalized Aramaic, CC-BY-NC; edition provenance: Koren. Display terminology has been modernized for readability.