Pisqa’ 2611
1
“Do not bring a whore’s hire . . . to the Abode of HASHEM your God” (Dt.23:19)—
I might infer only that
[the verse prohibits a sacrificial animal traded for]
a whore’s hire.
On what basis do I know that
[the verse also covers]
the hire of any near kin [for sexual favors]?
The Teaching states:
“Hire” (Dt.23:19)—
for anyone’s sexual favors
[including those who are not near kin].
2
What, exactly, is a whore’s hire?
One who says to a whore:
Take this lamb as your payment—
even if he gives her a hundred lambs,
they are all prohibited
[for any one of them may be the whore’s hire].
One who says to a companion:
take this lamb so that your slave-girl
might spend the night with my slave—
Rabbi says:
This is not an example of a whore’s hire
[for the slave-girl does not benefit from the exchange];
But sages say:
It is an example of a whore’s hire
[for the exchange involves a sexual favor].2
3
“Or a dog’s price” (Dt.23:19)—
What, exactly, is a dog’s price?
One who says to a companion:
Take this [consecrated] lamb,
in exchange for this dog—
[and offer it on the Altar]. 3
Is it possible to say that
even if he only walked [the lamb] through the Courtyard,
[but did not slaughter it,]
he should be held liable under this rule?
It is stated here:
“It is an abomination” (Dt.23:19),
and it is stated elsewhere
[regarding a blemished sacrifice]:
“It is an abomination” (Dt.17:1).
Now, just as elsewhere,
abomination refers to [an unfit animal offered as] an altar-sacrifice,
so, too, here as well,
abomination refers to [an unfit animal avowed] as an altar-sacrifice.
4
“To fulfill any sort of vow” (Dt.23:19)—
this excludes from the rule
an item that has already been avowed.4
When He states:
“Any sort of vow” (Dt.23:19)—
this includes under the rule
[vows offered at] a cultic shrine [outside of Jerusalem]. 5
“To the Abode of HASHEM your God” (Dt.23:19)—
this excludes from the rule
the heifer [whose ashes are mixed with water]
for purification (i.e. Nu.19:1ff),6
for it is not brought to the Abode
[but slaughtered and burned on the Mount of Olives]:
Words of R. Eliezer.
But sages say:
This includes within the rule vows of gold foil
[to refurbish the Sanctuary].7
“To fulfill any sort of vow” (Dt.23:19)—
this includes under the rule vows of a bird.
Now, we might have reasoned:
Just as consecrated animals
are disqualified by a blemish—
but the rules of a whore’s hire and a dog’s price
don’t apply to them [after their consecration]—
isn’t it reasonable that bird-offerings,
which are not disqualified by a blemish,
should not fall under the rule of
a whore’s hire and a dog’s price?
The Teaching states:
“To fulfill any sort of vow” (Dt.23:19)—
this includes under the rule
vows of a bird. 8
5
Is it possible to say that
even [if a husband pays his wife for a sexual act while she is unclean,]
compensation for her wasted time
should be prohibited under the rule? 9
The Teaching states:
“For indeed both of them are an abomination to HASHEM your God” (Dt.23:19)—
[i.e., a sacrificial animal purchased either
with a whore’s hire or in exchange for a dog.]
“Both of them” (Dt.23:19)—
this implies two [are abominable, i.e., a whore’s hire and a dog’s price],
but not four [i.e., addition of a whore’s price or a dog’s hire].
“Them” (Dt. 23:19)—
but not their offspring and not substitutes for them.10
- H:258-259;JN2:191-192.
- =M. Tem. 6:2; T. Tem. 4:6-7.
- =M. Tem. 6:3; cf. T. Tem. 4:4.
- // T. Tem. 4:9.
- Cf. T. Tem. 4:7.
- The “red heifer” of Nu.19:1ff.
- Cf. T. Tem. 4:7.
- =M. Tem. 6:4. Cf. T. Tem.4:9.
- Cf. T. Tem. 4:8. As H:259 and JN:192 point out, the topic of this passage is obscure. I render Sifre’s text in accord with the import of its Toseftan parallel, which is concerned with the status—under the rule of “a whore’s hire”—of sexual payments by a husband to a wife for otherwise prohibited relations.
- // M. Tem. 6:3.