Talmud - Bekhorot 58b בכורות נ״ח ב׳

and he takes one of the animals born in Elul as the tithe, and the remainder are exempt, whichever way you look at it. Rava explains: If the new year for animal tithe is on the first of Elul, then the animals born in Elul and Tishrei combine to form a total of ten, and the animals born in Av are exempt, as they are from the previous year and there are less than ten of them. And if the new year is on the first of Tishrei, the animals born in Av and Elul combine to form a total of ten, whereas the animals born in Tishrei are exempt.

The Gemara raises a difficulty with regard to the opinion of Rava: What are you saying? Why are the five animals born in Tishrei exempt? Let them combine with animals at another time of gathering to form a total of ten. Rather, what is the reason one is not required to tithe these five animals born in Tishrei? It is because the Merciful One states: “And all the tithe of the herd or the flock, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be sacred to the Lord” (Leviticus 27:32), from which it is derived that a definite tenth must be tithed, and not an uncertain tenth, i.e., an animal that is not definitely the tenth. If the first of Elul is the new year, then the five born in Tishrei would have combined with the five of Elul and are exempt. Therefore, the obligation in this case is uncertain.

Rava said he takes one of the animals born in Elul as the tithe. The Gemara asks: Isn’t it obvious that he must take one of those animals, as those are the only ones concerning which the obligation is definite? The Gemara answers: It is necessary for Rava to specify this lest you say the Sages should decree that one should not even take one of the animals born in Elul as a tithe, as perhaps he might come to take from those that were born in Av or Tishrei by mistake. Therefore, Rava teaches us that the Sages are not concerned about this error.

MISHNA: In what manner does one tithe the animals? He gathers them in a pen and provides them with a small, i.e., narrow, opening, so that two animals will not be able to emerge together. And he counts the animals as they emerge: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine; and he paints the animal that emerges tenth with red paint and declares: This is tithe. Even if he did not paint it with red paint, or if he did not count the animals with a rod in accordance with the verse: “Whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be sacred to the Lord” (Leviticus 27:32), or if he counted the animals when they were prone or standing in place and did not make them pass through a narrow opening, these animals are tithed after the fact.

But if he had one hundred animals and he took ten as tithe, or if he had ten animals and he simply took one as tithe, that is not tithe, as he did not count them one by one until reaching ten. Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Yehuda, says: In that case too, it is tithe. If before the owner completed tithing his animals, one of those already counted jumped back into the pen among the animals that had not yet been counted, all those in the pen are exempt from being tithed, as each of them might be the animal that was already counted. If one of those animals that had been tithed, i.e., designated as the tenth, jumped back into the pen among the animals that had not yet been counted, creating uncertainty with regard to all the animals there which was the animal tithe, all the animals must graze until they become unfit for sacrifice, and each of them may be eaten in its blemished state by its owner once it develops a blemish.

GEMARA: The Sages taught in a baraita: In what manner does one tithe his animals? He gathers them in a pen and provides them with a small, i.e., narrow, opening so that two animals will not be able to emerge together. The mothers of those animals stand outside, and the newborn animals to be tithed are inside the pen. And the mothers bleat and the young ones emerge toward their mothers.

The Gemara asks: But why is it performed this way? Let the owner simply make them emerge from the pen by pushing them. The Gemara answers that it is written: “Whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be sacred to the Lord” (Leviticus 27:32). This means that the animal must pass under the rod of its own volition, and not that one will cause it to pass by pushing it out of the pen.

The Gemara asks: But why not simply throw the animals a vegetable outside the pen, and they will go out toward it to eat it? Rav Huna said: The use of the mothers is a rabbinic decree due to a purchased animal and due to an orphan, i.e., a baby animal whose mother died before it was born. Neither of these animals is subject to tithing. Since neither a purchased animal nor an orphaned animal will have its mother outside calling to it, these animals will remain in the pen and will not be tithed accidentally.

The Sages taught in a baraita: “Whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be sacred to the Lord” (Leviticus 27:32); this teaches that all animals may be sanctified as animal tithe, excluding a tereifa, as on account of its physical state it does not pass under the rod. The phrase “under the rod” teaches that it is a mitzva to count them with a rod. If one did not count them with a rod, or he counted them when they were prone or standing, from where is it derived that the tenth animal is nevertheless sanctified? The verse states: “The tenth shall be sacred,” indicating that the tenth animal is sacred in any case, even if it was not tithed correctly.

The baraita continues: And I have derived only that an animal that one explicitly called by the name of the tenth one is the animal tithe. From where do I derive that the tenth animal is sanctified even if one did not explicitly call it the tenth one? The verse states: “Shall be sacred.” This teaches that it shall be sacred in any case, even if it was not called the tenth. One might have thought with regard to one who had one hundred animals and simply took ten of them without counting them, or one who had ten animals and took one of them without counting, one might have thought that they should be considered tithed. Therefore, the verse states: “The tenth,” and this animal that he removed is not the tenth, as he did not count the animals. Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Yehuda, says: Even if he simply removed one animal from ten without counting, that animal is tithe.

The Gemara asks: What is the reason of Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Yehuda? The Gemara answers: He holds in accordance with the opinion of Abba Elazar ben Gomel. As it is taught in a baraita that Abba Elazar ben Gomel says with regard to the verse: “And your teruma shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor” (Numbers 18:27), that in using the plural form of the term “your,” the verse speaks about two terumot. One is standard teruma, i.e. the grain of the threshing floor, and the other one is teruma of the tithe. The verse equates these two terumot.

Abba Elazar ben Gomel explains: Just as standard teruma is taken by estimate, as there is no requirement for the amount separated to be measured precisely, and it can be taken by thought, as one is not required to physically separate it before consuming the remaining produce,

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Bechorot 58b explores Rava's ruling on animal tithe dates around Elul and Tishrei, addressing uncertain tenths and rabbinic concerns over tithing errors.