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Thursday

י"ח אדר ב’ התשפ"ד

Thursday
י"ח אדר ב’ התשפ"ד

חיפוש בארכיון

Mitzvah 351-352) Not to transfer holiness of animals, and that if he did, then both animals are holy

Parshas Bechukosai

“He may not swap it, nor may he transfer it… And if he did transfer one animal to another, both it and its transferee will be holy!” (Vayikra 27:10)

It is a negative commandment that one may not transfer the sanctification of holy animals. This refers to an animal which has been sanctified as an offering, which may not have the holiness transferred from it to another animal. It itself must be offered on the altar. About this the verse says “He may not swap it, nor may he transfer it!” If he did try to transfer the sanctification by saying an expression such as “This one is instead of this one!” or “This is the swap of this!”, he receives lashes even though he has not performed an act.

The root of this commandment is that Hashem wanted to instill awe in a person’s heart when thinking about any holy matters. In order to fix this awe in our hearts, the verse commands us to make sure not to change anything, and that once something has been sanctified as an offering, it must forever remain with that sanctification, and we must not even consider removing that holiness and swapping this animal with another. The Rambam writes that the Torah understood the depths of a person’s heart and his evil inclination, for a person naturally wants to increase his possessions and be very careful about his money, and even if he has vowed and sanctified something, he will afterwards change his mind and swap it for a lesser animal, and even if the Torah would allow him to swap bad for good, in the end he will swap good for bad. It is for this reason that the Torah closed the door completely, and did not allow him to swap even bad for good.

This prohibition applies in all places and at all times, both to males and females. Even nowadays if a person would sanctify an animal and then swap it with another he would receive lashes.

It is likewise a positive commandment that if he did transfer the sanctification on to another animal, that both of them would become holy, as it says, “And if he did transfer one animal to another, both it and its transferee will be holy!”

The roots of this commandment are identical to the previous one.

It applies in all places and at all times, both to men and to women. One who does not treat both of these animals as holy, transgresses this commandment, as well as having desecrated a holy thing.