Be Among the Pursued and the Turtledove on the Altar

(Leviticus 1:14-15) "And if his offering to the LORD is a burnt-offering of birds." Rabbi Abbahu said: Let a person always be among the pursued and not among the pursuers, for you have no bird more pursued than turtledoves and young pigeons, and Scripture declared them fit for the altar. A bird may be a burnt-offering, but a bird may not be a peace-offering. Is this not a logical argument? If the burnt-offering, which is not fit to be brought from females as from males, is fit to be brought from a bird, then peace-offerings, which are fit to be brought from females as from males, should all the more be fit to be brought from a bird. Scripture therefore teaches, "the bird" [a burnt-offering of birds]: a bird as a burnt-offering, but a bird is not for peace-offerings. These are the words of Rabbi Shimon. Rabbi Yehudah says: Just as the females among cattle, which are not fit to be brought as burnt-offerings, are fit to be brought as peace-offerings, so the females among birds, which are fit as burnt-offerings, should all the more be fit as peace-offerings. Scripture therefore teaches, "the bird": a bird as a burnt-offering, but a bird is not for peace-offerings. "From the bird" -- and not every bird. From the principle stated, "unblemished, a male of the cattle, of the sheep, or of the goats" (Leviticus 22:19), we learn that wholeness and maleness apply to cattle, but wholeness and maleness do not apply to birds. One might think a bird is fit even if its wing dried up, its eye was gouged, or its leg was severed; Scripture therefore teaches, "from the bird" -- and not every bird. Rabbi Shimon says: If consecrated animals, in which a blemish disqualifies, are not affected by the prohibition of a harlot's hire and the price of a dog, then a bird, in which a blemish does not disqualify, should all the more not be affected by the prohibition of a harlot's hire and the price of a dog. Scripture therefore teaches, "You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the price of a dog into the house of the LORD your God for any vow" (Deuteronomy 23:19) -- to include the bird. Rabbi Eleazar says: Wherever "male" and "female" are stated, an animal of doubtful or double sex disqualifies; a bird, in which "male" and "female" are not stated, is not disqualified by an animal of doubtful or double sex.