Thursday, February 18, 2021

Pesachim 88 - Half-slave

A slave of two masters is a common theme in the Talmud. On Passover, if both owners registered him to eat of their sacrifice, he cannot eat of either. Similarly, a half-slave cannot eat the sacrifice because it is assumed that the master only wanted to register his part of the slave, not the free part. (A half-slave is a hint to a person who is governed both by his good inclination and his even inclination.) If so, why did we learn in another source that the slave can eat the sacrifice? - That is talking about the case when the slave's two owners are at peace with each other.

If one sent his slave to slaughter a sacrifice for him but did not tell which we wanted, a young goat or a lamb, he can eat whichever animal the slave chose. We can presume that he relies on the choice of his slave.

If the slave slaughtered both a young goat and a lamb, the master eats what was slaughtered first. However, this rule is only for a king and queen who absolutely do not care what to eat because they have everything. Other people do have at least some preference, and since we cannot ascertain what it is, we cannot allow them to eat of any.

Art: Carcass of Beef by Chaim Soutine



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