[Parah] perek 2

[magid]

This chapter deals with cow condition, whether it can be pregnant, or bought from a non-Jew (some of the discussion here was incredibly bothering, in the assumptions made about non-Jews, at least as the Kehati explains it), or have black hooves (/tongue/teeth), or have been born by C-section, and just how many non-red hairs per which unit area is still ok. And what if some hairs have red roots and are otherwise black? (There are arguments for what it looks like, or what the root is.) There are also discussions of what can constitute a yoke, since once it has been yoked, it is no longer kosher for being a red heifer. Some of the things they consider I'd not think of (tossing a talit over the cow), and it makes a difference whether it's done for the cow's convenience (keeping off flies), or the owner's.

On the whole, this chapter felt more like a battle with obscure vocabulary (well, obscure to me, which doesn't mean much) than true learning. Hopefully the next will be less so. (Or more so, depending on which half of the sentence :-).

Comments

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

I've not studied talmud, but
a battle with obscure vocabulary
sounds like everything I know about it...

[magid.livejournal.com]

Hee!

Really, some topics are much less obscure, like discussions of the seder, stuff like that. As soon as you hit sacrifices or levels of ritual (im)purity, though, I'm asea.