Study Avodah Zarah folio 23B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
only with regard to the red heifer, as its price is exorbitant, and the Rabbis maintain that the non-Jew would not risk forfeiting the profit for a temporary benefit. But with regard to the rest of the offerings, which are not exceptionally valuable, they concede to R' Eliezer that animals purchas
The Talmud rejects this possibility: But what about that which is taught in the Tosefta, cited earlier: One may purchase an animal from non-Jews for use as an offering; in accordance with whose opinion was this taught? It is not the opinion of R' Eliezer nor that of the Rabbis.
And furthermore, it is explicitly taught in a baraita: What did R' Eliezer’s colleagues respond to him with regard to his ruling that an animal purchased from non-Jews may not be used as an offering? They quoted a verse: “All flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto you, the rams of Nebaioth
§ The Talmud continues to discuss the halakhot of the red heifer. R' Eliezer and the Rabbis disagree only with regard to a case where there is merely a concern that a person engaged in bestiality with the animal. But in a situation where the non-Jew certainly engaged in bestiality with it, all agre
The Talmud rejects this conclusion: Although it is classified as consecrated for Temple maintenance, the purification offering of the red heifer is different, as God labels it with the term for a sin-offering. Accordingly, the red heifer is subject to the same halakhot as a sin-offering, which mean