Study Temurah folio 29B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
שקדמה והקריבתו. היכי דמי? אי נימא דאקניה ניהליה לאלתר — פשיטא דמותר, דעד כאן לא בא עליה!
This is referring to a case where the prostitute first sacrificed the lamb as an offering, before she had sex with the man who gave it her. In this case, the lamb is not considered payment to a prostitute. The Talmud asks: What are the circumstances? If we say that the man transferred ownership of the lamb to her immediately, and only afterward had sex with her, it is obvious that this lamb is permitted to be sacrificed on the altar, as it belongs to her and up to that point the man had not yet had sex with her. Therefore, the lamb is not considered payment at all.
ואלא, דאמר לה: ״לא ניקני ליך עד שעת ביאה״, מי מציא מקרבה ליה? ״איש כי יקדיש את ביתו קדש לה׳״ אמר רחמנא, מה ביתו ברשותו, אף כל ברשותו!
But rather, this must be referring to a case where he said to her: The lamb should be acquired by you only at the time of sex, and yet she went ahead and sacrificed it beforehand. But in this case, can she legally sacrifice the lamb? God states: “And when a man should sanctify his house to be holy to YHWH” (Leviticus 27:14), which teaches that just as his house is in his possession, so too any item that a person wishes to sanctify must be in his possession. In this case, by contrast, the lamb does not belong to her until they have sex.
לא צריכא, דאמר לה: ״לא (מקניה) [ניקני] לך עד שעת ביאה, ואי מצטריך לך ניקני לך מעכשיו״.
The Talmud responds: No, it is necessary in a case where he said to her: The lamb should be acquired by you only at the time of sex, but if you need it in the meantime, acquire it for yourself from now. The baraita teaches that in such a case the lamb is permitted to be sacrificed on the altar.