For the source text click/tap here: Bava Kamma 77
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The shortest amud in the Shas, Bava Kamma 77a, has just nine words.
It continues Rabbi Shimon's argument that animals that are redeemed are as if they had always been redeemed. He argues that the Red Heifer can impart ritual impurity of food because there was a time before it was named as the Red Heifer when it was "fit for consumption”.
We are prohibited from deriving benefit from its meat, but its original status was that of 'potential food’.
Was Rabbi Shimon referring to one redeeming the Parah Adumah through its sale after it was on the pyre? Reish Lakish tries to defend Rabbi Shimon's opinion, but Rabbi Yochanan wonders about other similar situations, like unblemished sacrificial animals.
We explore the mystery of the Parah Adumah.