Temurah 7:6 - Keritot 1:1
משנה תמורה ז:ו - כריתות א:א
Seder: Kodashim | Tractates: Temurah / Keritot
📖 Mishna
Temurah 7:6
משנה תמורה ז:ו
Hebrew:
כָּל הַקֳּדָשִׁים שֶׁנִּשְׁחֲטוּ חוּץ לִזְמַנָּן וְחוּץ לִמְקוֹמָן, הֲרֵי אֵלּוּ יִשָּׂרְפוּ. אָשָׁם תָּלוּי, יִשָּׂרֵף. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, יִקָּבֵר. חַטַּאת הָעוֹף הַבָּאָה עַל סָפֵק, תִּשָּׂרֵף. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, יְטִילֶנָּה לָאַמָּה. כָּל הַנִּשְׂרָפִין לֹא יִקָּבְרוּ, וְכָל הַנִּקְבָּרִים לֹא יִשָּׂרְפוּ. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, אִם רָצָה לְהַחֲמִיר עַל עַצְמוֹ לִשְׂרֹף אֶת הַנִּקְבָּרִים, רַשַּׁאי. אָמְרוּ לוֹ, אֵינוֹ מֻתָּר לְשַׁנּוֹת:
English:
And with regard to all sacrificial animals that were slaughtered with the intent to sacrifice or consume them beyond their designated time or outside their designated place, those animals shall be burned. With regard to a provisional guilt offering brought by one who is uncertain as to whether he committed a sin that renders him liable to bring a sin offering, if he discovers that he did not sin, the offering shall be burned, as its legal status is like that of an unfit offering. Rabbi Yehuda says: It shall be buried. A sin offering of the bird that comes due to an uncertainty, e.g., in the case of a woman who miscarried and she is uncertain whether it was a fetus, shall be burned, as it may not be eaten due to the uncertainty and because the nape of its neck was pinched and it was not slaughtered. Rabbi Yehuda says: One should cast it into the Temple courtyard drain, as the young bird will decompose and be drawn into the stream outside the Temple. The principle is: All items that are burned shall not be buried, and all items that are burned shall not be buried. Rabbi Yehuda says: If one wished to impose a stringency upon himself by burning items that are to be buried, he is permitted to burn them. The Rabbis said to Rabbi Yehuda: One is not permitted to change the method of destruction, as this could lead to a leniency, since it is permitted to derive benefit from the ashes of items that require burning, whereas it is not permitted to derive benefit from the ashes of items that require burial.
Claude on the Mishna:
This final mishna of Temurah addresses disqualified offerings and establishes a crucial principle about disposal methods.
Piggul and chutz limkomo offerings - Sacrifices slaughtered with improper intent (regarding time or place) must be burned. They have the form of offerings but are disqualified, so burning (like other disqualified offerings) is appropriate.
Asham talui (provisional guilt offering) - Brought when uncertain if one sinned. If later discovered that no sin occurred, the offering becomes unnecessary. The Sages say burn it (like disqualified offerings); Rabbi Yehuda says bury it (it was never a real offering).
Uncertain bird sin offering - Similar dispute. The Sages say burn; Rabbi Yehuda says cast it into the Temple drain (amah), where it decomposes and washes away.
The final principle and debate:
- Sages: Items requiring burning cannot be buried, and vice versa. The methods are distinct categories that cannot be interchanged.
- Rabbi Yehuda: One may be stringent and burn items that require burial.
- Sages’ response: This is actually a LENIENCY, not a stringency! Ashes of burned items may be used; ashes of buried items may not. By burning a burial-item, you create permissible ashes from something that should have remained forbidden.
This elegant argument - that apparent stringency can mask actual leniency - is a powerful methodological principle in halacha.
Key Terms:
- חוּץ לִזְמַנָּן (chutz lizmanam) = Beyond their time - piggul intent
- חוּץ לִמְקוֹמָן (chutz limkomam) = Outside their place - improper location intent
- אָשָׁם תָּלוּי (asham talui) = Provisional guilt offering - for uncertain sin
- חַטַּאת הָעוֹף (chatat ha’of) = Bird sin offering
- אַמָּה (amah) = Temple courtyard drain/channel
- לֹא יִקָּבְרוּ / לֹא יִשָּׂרְפוּ = Cannot be buried / cannot be burned - fixed categories
- אֵינוֹ מֻתָּר לְשַׁנּוֹת = “One is not permitted to change” - the methods are fixed
Keritot 1:1
משנה כריתות א:א
Hebrew:
שְׁלשִׁים וָשֵׁשׁ כְּרֵתוֹת בַּתּוֹרָה. הַבָּא עַל הָאֵם, וְעַל אֵשֶׁת הָאָב, וְעַל הַכַּלָּה, הַבָּא עַל הַזְּכוּר, וְעַל הַבְּהֵמָה, וְהָאִשָּׁה הַמְבִיאָה אֶת הַבְּהֵמָה עָלֶיהָ, הַבָּא עַל אִשָּׁה וּבִתָּהּ, וְעַל אֵשֶׁת אִישׁ, הַבָּא עַל אֲחוֹתוֹ, וְעַל אֲחוֹת אָבִיו, וְעַל אֲחוֹת אִמּוֹ, וְעַל אֲחוֹת אִשְׁתּוֹ, וְעַל אֵשֶׁת אָחִיו, וְעַל אֵשֶׁת אֲחִי אָבִיו, וְעַל הַנִּדָּה, הַמְגַדֵּף, וְהָעוֹבֵד עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה, וְהַנּוֹתֵן מִזַּרְעוֹ לַמֹּלֶךְ, וּבַעַל אוֹב, הַמְחַלֵּל אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת, וְטָמֵא שֶׁאָכַל אֶת הַקֹּדֶשׁ, וְהַבָּא לַמִּקְדָּשׁ טָמֵא, הָאוֹכֵל חֵלֶב, וְדָם, נוֹתָר, וּפִגּוּל, הַשּׁוֹחֵט וְהַמַּעֲלֶה בַּחוּץ, הָאוֹכֵל חָמֵץ בְּפֶסַח, וְהָאוֹכֵל וְהָעוֹשֶׂה מְלָאכָה בְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים, הַמְפַטֵּם אֶת הַשֶּׁמֶן, וְהַמְפַטֵּם אֶת הַקְּטֹרֶת, וְהַסָּךְ בְּשֶׁמֶן הַמִּשְׁחָה. הַפֶּסַח וְהַמִּילָה בְּמִצְוֹת עֲשֵׂה:
English:
There are thirty-six cases in the Torah with regard to which one who performs a prohibited action intentionally is liable to receive excision from the World-to-Come (karet). They are: One who engages in relations with his mother; or with the wife of his father, even if she is not his mother; or with his daughter-in-law. The same punishment is imposed on a man who engages in relations with another male, or who copulates with an animal; and a woman who brings an animal upon her to engage in bestiality. The same punishment is imposed on one who engages in relations with a woman and her daughter, or with a married woman. The same punishment is imposed on one who engages in relations with his sister, or with his father’s sister, or with his mother’s sister, or with his wife’s sister, or with his brother’s wife, or with the wife of his father’s brother, or with a menstruating woman. And these too are liable to receive karet: One who blasphemes the name of Heaven, and one who worships an idol, and one who gives of his children to Molekh, and a necromancer, and one who desecrates Shabbat. And the same is the punishment of one who is ritually impure who ate sacrificial food; and one who enters the Temple while ritually impure; and one who eats forbidden fat, or consumes blood, or eats notar (leftover offering), or eats piggul (offering with improper intent); and one who slaughters and offers up offerings outside the Temple. And these too are liable to receive karet: One who eats leavened bread on Passover, and one who eats or performs prohibited labor on Yom Kippur. And the same is the punishment of one who blends the anointing oil according to the Temple specifications; and one who blends the incense according to the Temple specifications; and one who applies the anointing oil to his skin. And one is liable to receive karet for failure to fulfill the mitzva of bringing the Paschal offering and the mitzva of circumcision, which unlike the prohibitions enumerated, are positive mitzvot.
Claude on the Mishna:
We now begin Masechet Keritot, which deals with the punishment of karet (spiritual excision). This opening mishna catalogues all 36 transgressions punishable by karet.
The list falls into several categories:
Forbidden Relations (Arayot): Mother, father’s wife, daughter-in-law, male, animal, woman and daughter, married woman, sister, father’s sister, mother’s sister, wife’s sister, brother’s wife, father’s brother’s wife, menstruating woman (niddah)
Idolatry and Related: Blasphemy, idol worship, Molekh worship, necromancy (ov)
Shabbat and Holy Times: Desecrating Shabbat, eating/working on Yom Kippur, eating chametz on Pesach
Temple and Sacrificial: Impure person eating kodesh, entering Temple while impure, eating forbidden fat (chelev), blood, notar, piggul, slaughtering/offering outside Temple
Sacred Items: Making anointing oil, making incense, applying anointing oil
Positive Commandments: Failing to bring Pesach offering, failing to circumcise
This last category is remarkable - karet usually applies to prohibitions, but two positive commandments also carry this penalty.
Key Terms:
- כָּרֵת (karet) = Excision - spiritual cutting off, death at God’s hand
- אֵשֶׁת אִישׁ (eshet ish) = Married woman
- נִדָּה (niddah) = Menstruating woman
- מְגַדֵּף (megadef) = Blasphemer
- מֹלֶךְ (Molekh) = Pagan deity involving child sacrifice
- בַּעַל אוֹב (ba’al ov) = Necromancer - one who consults the dead
- חֵלֶב (chelev) = Forbidden fat from sacrificial animals
- מְפַטֵּם (mefatem) = One who blends/compounds (the sacred oil or incense)
- מִצְוֹת עֲשֵׂה (mitzvot aseh) = Positive commandments (Pesach and circumcision)
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