Temurah 10 – Sacrificial Exchange of Limbs

One cannot make an exchange of unconsecrated limbs for consecrated fetuses, that is, he cannot say, “Let a leg of this regular animal be substituted for the consecrated fetus that is in the womb of this animal (later one we will discuss how the unborn fetus can become consecrated). Neither can one consecrate unconsecrated fetuses for limbs.

One cannot substitute unconsecrated fetuses or limbs for the whole peace offerings, nor unconsecrated whole animals for fetuses or limbs. Here Rabbi Yose disagrees and says that one can substitute limbs for sacrifices, and here is why: if one consecrates a limb of an animal to be a sacrifice, then the consecrations spreads throughout the animal and the complete animal becomes sacrifice, and our exchange is the same. What about the first teacher, why doesn't he agree to this? – While he may agree to the principle that the sanctification of a leg of a primary sacrifice spreads throughout its whole body, he does not agree that this also applies in the case of exchange.

Art: John Lawson - Feeding The Lamb