May. 26th, 2011

cellio: (talmud)
When offerings of animals are accompanied by meal-offerings (typically in the form of bread), it is the act of slaughtering the animal that consecrates the bread. A mishna on today's daf teaches that if one slaughters the animal intending to eat it at the wrong time or place, which invalidates the animal portion of the offering, then the bread is still consecrated (and so you can't use it for something else). If, on the other hand, he slaughters the animal and it turns out to have a disqualifying blemish, then the bread is not consecrated (and I'm not sure what happens to it). The g'mara elucidates the following principle: if whatever disqualified the animal occurred before it was slaughtered, the bread brought with it is not consecrated; if the disqualifying condition occurs after the slaughter, then the bread remains consecrated. (78b)

Conclusion: wrong intentions, while wrong, do not have effects as widespread as wrong actions/conditions; the wrong intention doesn't count as something happening to the animal beforehand.

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