Bechorot 40: Many Blemishes; Blemishes as Differences

At the start of our daf, the rabbis comment on the eastern wall leading to the Temple Mount, the wall of Shushan that includes a map of Shushan.  The rabbis discuss why that gate might have been different from other gates.  One reason includes the notion of two different sizes of cubits, one slightly smaller than the other, to avoid the possibility of using sanctified materials or payment in a way that is not permitted.

There are seven Mishnayot on today's daf.  They question whether or not different conditions on firstborn animals are blemishes and whether or not they disqualify the priests from sacrificing or consuming those animals.  These include:

• any differences in the animal's testicles or scrotal sac, including a testicle that has not yet emerged 
• an animal with five legs, three legs, closed hooves, thigh imbalances or other thigh problems 
• any broken bones in the legs, whether or not they are conspicuous; Ila, the expert in this area, adds that animals with the eyes round like those of people, mouths like pigs (front lips over lower), or tongues missing the parts that allow humans to speak
• when the lower jaw protrudes beyond the upper jaw
• a kid that has an ear that is doubled including two sets of cartilage; a kid with a tail like a pig or  with anything other that three joints
• According to Rabbi Chanina ben Antigonus, one with a wart in its eye, damaged bones in its leg, a dislocated jaw, an animal with different sized eyes; Rabbi Yehuda said that an animal is blemished if one testicle was as large as two of the other, but the rabbis disagreed
• the tail of a calf that does not reach its leg joint, which the rabbis determine is half way down its thigh

What is clear here is that the rabbis idea of a blemish is something different from the norm.  Sanctity  is not necessarily granted because of a state of "perfection", but because the animal is not different from most other animals.  This is an interesting notion when taken in the context of dis/ability.  Without the judgement that comes with the word mum, blemish, there is simply differences between "most of us" when it comes to the ways that our bodies, minds, emotions, etc. function.  However, because we are reading this in the context of sanctity, the rabbis are clearly saying that being "different" from most is a negative thing.

Again, the rabbis find it critical to create distinctions between this and that.  They work to create clear lines to separate us from each other in the name of creating a cohesive whole.