בכורות · Bechoros

About Masechta Bechoros · מסכת בכורות

Bechoros learns the firstborn - of a person and of an animal - and what makes an animal blemished. It opens with the firstborn of a donkey, redeemed with a lamb, and goes on to the firstborn of a kosher animal, holy from birth and given to the kohen, and an animal partly owned by a non-Jew.

The middle perakim learn how long a firstborn must be kept, who may examine its blemish and allow it to be shechted outside the Beis HaMikdash, and the long list of blemishes of the ear, the eye, the mouth and the body that disqualify an animal as a korban - and, in the seventh perek, those that disqualify a kohen from the avodah.

The eighth perek learns the firstborn son: which child is a bechor for inheritance and which for the kohen, pidyon haben with five sela'im, and the double portion. The ninth and last perek learns ma'aser beheimah - every tenth animal that passes under the rod is holy. Bechoros also brings the contest of riddles between Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananyah and the elders of Athens.

From the pages of Bechoros

The firstborn of Israel became holy on the night Hashem struck the firstborn of Mitzrayim and spared theirs, and when the Levi'im were counted in their place in the desert, the firstborn beyond the Levi'im's number were redeemed with five shekalim each - the five sela'im of pidyon haben a father gives the kohen to this day. A kohen may not take payment to examine a firstborn, and the Mishnah rules that whoever takes payment to judge, his judgments are void - 'as I taught you for free', Moshe said, 'so you teach for free'. The masechta also learns that a kohen with a blemish may not serve but still eats from the korbanos with his brothers, and whose word may permit a firstborn - an expert of the beis din - and what one who was no expert must pay when he examined a firstborn and erred. Of all the impure animals, only the donkey's firstborn is redeemed, because the donkeys carried the silver and gold of Mitzrayim out with Israel. And the elders of Athens asked Rabbi Yehoshua how salt that has gone bad can be salted; he answered, with the afterbirth of a mule - for neither one exists.

This page holds 123 shiurim on Masechta Bechoros from 7 maggidei shiur; the most come from Rabbi Eli Stefansky (112), Rabbi Shmuel Silber (5) and Rabbi Daniel Glatstein (2). 63 of them learn the whole daf and 60 are short reviews. 58 dafim have their own shiurim here, each in its own row above, and “Learn in the Daf Room” opens that daf with its text and its shiurim side by side.

Masechta Bechoros in the Daf Yomi

Daf Yomi is learning Masechta Bechoros now: the 14th cycle began it on September 20, 2026, today, November 6, 2026, the daf is Bechoros 49, and the masechta is finished on November 18, 2026, 60 days, from daf 2 to daf 61. Masechta Bechoros is in Seder Kodashim, the fifth of the six orders of the Mishnah, and in the order of the Daf Yomi it comes after Masechta Chullin and before Masechta Arachin. On each of those days the Daf Room opens the day's daf with its text and every shiur on it, and the rows above keep the shiurim of every daf of the masechta for anyone who learns at his own pace.

The perakim of Bechoros

Masechta Bechoros has nine perakim, from daf 2a to daf 61a. Each perek below opens its first daf in the Daf Room, where the Gemara’s text and every shiur on that daf sit together.

1. Perek 1 הלוקח עובר חמורו 2a – 13a
2. Perek 2 הלוקח עובר פרתו 13a – 19b
3. Perek 3 הלוקח בהמה 19b – 26b
4. Perek 4 עד כמה 26b – 31a
5. Perek 5 כל פסולי המוקדשין 31a – 37a
6. Perek 6 על אלו מומין 37a – 43a
7. Perek 7 מומין אלו 43a – 46a
8. Perek 8 יש בכור 46a – 52b
9. Perek 9 מעשר בהמה 53a – 61a