Beitza 8 a, b

Are we allowed to slaughter an animal on the Festival?  If so, are we permitted to cover the blood?  What if we prepare the pile of earth in advance, with this purpose in mind?  What are the differences if we are in a home (with dirt floors, of course) or on a field?  Is an act of destruction, digging a hole, always prohibited on Shabbat and Festivals?  What if that act of destruction is done to allow the performance of a positive mitzvah of covering (blood)?  

Again we are faced with the difficult task of measuring intention against action.  One of the examples used by the rabbis is what we do when a baby's foreskin is leprous.  It is prohibited to remove leprous  skin; however, we must remove the foreskin regardless of its state, as that is a mitzvah.  We are not intending to remove the leprous skin; we are intending to circumsize the baby.  So this act should be permitted.  

The rabbis look to other examples, including whether or not ashes can be used for a number of purposes, including covering blood.  The intention of the person who prepares the ashes for use on the Festival or Shabbat is important.

One of the appeals of Jewish thought is its hesitancy to evaluate thought.  In many other religions, we must think certain things and believe specific precepts.  Judaism does not want us to judge our thoughts; we evaluate actions.  And so any time that the Talmud offers us our Sages' reflections on that unmeasurable, intention, I take notice.

We learn about this question of intention with a particularly informative example.  If we bring earth into the home to cover a baby's excrement, we can also use it to cover a bird's blood.  This is because the earth was prepared in advance from a place of uncertainty: we didn't know that the baby would have an accident in the home though we knew that the bird would be slaughtered.  If we prepared the earth only to cover the bird's blood, however, it cannot be used to cover the excrement.  

The rabbis look to the koi, a disputed animal, and its slaughter to further understand this point.  However, they are unclear as to whether or not the koi is in fact comparable to the example of excrement.  Intentions were different in these different cases.  The Gemara wonders about what impressions we might give regarding the koi as a domesticated or undomesticated animal if we cover its blood on a Festival.  We hear related concerns, including the importance of timing (what could be done at a later time), the number of thrusts taken to cover the blood, and the prohibition on covering a mixture of bloods on a Festival.

So much packed into one daf!  Learning about hermeneutics, new (to me) principles, halachot regarding Festivals in comparison with Shabbat, the importance of the appearance of consistency in practice, the management of baby digestive issues, housekeeping, the maintenance of yards and dungheaps, the slaughter of birds inside a home... and more.  My favourite (next to the baby excrement, of course), is a note that teaches that if the blood is located in a place that disturbs people, it can be covered.  This suggests that people were disturbed by these blood rites, even though they are presented in the Talmud as commonplace and uninteresting.  Perhaps people had similar, complex thoughts about the treatment of animals in ancient times, too.