Avodah Zara 24: Cows, Gentiles, Sacrifice & Song

For much of today's daf, the rabbis continue to discuss challenges between Gentiles and Jews when it comes to buying animals to be consecrated and sacrificed.  Must a Jew have guarded an animal belonging to a Gentile from the day the animals was born to ensure that it had not endured bestiality?  And what about before the animal was born - what if its mother was violated?  Wouldn't this hinder the baby animal's ability to be consecrated?  The rabbis suggest that a Jew must guard the mother of an animal to be consecrated from the time the mother was born.  But what about the mother's mother?  That, say the rabbis, is taking things too far.

How would anyone know that one particular mother would birth a red heifer?  Rav Kahana says that a red cup was passed in front of the mother during mating.  The child would then be red.  But if it is that easy to produce a very expensive red heifer, why wouldn't we all do that?  Because, we learn, even two non-red hairs disqualify a potential red heifer.  And why would we try to create red heifers from Gentile and not Jewish livestock?   The Gemara asserts that Dama's cows in fact were bred to become red heifers through this method.

Perhaps in the future everyone will understand that idolatry is forbidden, the Gemara argues.  In that case will we be able to accept animals that were raised by Gentiles?  Well, just because they have given up idolatry, how would we know that they have given up bestiality?  And perhaps bestiality did not disqualify animals from being consecrated before we were given the Torah.  The rabbis discuss how this might have worked in practical terms.

Our discussion ends with commentary about the age of a potential red heifer when it is bought.  Three years the magical age between infant and child, baby and adult, sapling and plant - depending on the species. When an animal turns three, it is able to have its first child.  That child's gender determines whether or not it is eligible to be used for different purposes - the firstborn, unblemished male is sacrificed in a particular way, for example.  

We learn a fun interpretation of the words, va'yisharna haparos baderech, the cows went straight down the road (carrying the arc back to the Jewish people).  The rabbis use the word va'yisharna's connection with the word shira, song, to posit that the cows actually sang as they carried the arc.  What did they sing? Ask the rabbis.   A number of verses are listed, suggesting songs that the cows might have sung.