This week we will learn about which animals are and are not obligated in bechor, the first born of a kosher animal, including animals born from cross-species unions, animals bought from non-Jews, and cases where the fetus emerged unusually, with the underlying principle that only an animal that truly “opens the womb” in the normal sense acquires kedushah, sanctity. We will also learn about cases of safek (doubt) in bechor status, when two animals give birth simultaneously and it is unclear which offspring is the firstborn, or when one of the mothers had previously given birth and the other had not.
