If you don't redeem it. To marry his widow and have children. The Torah tells us that all firstborn donkeys should be redeemed with a sheep. If you don't redeem it, you have to decapitate it. That is the halacha (Jewish law). The Mishnah will talk about the decapitation. The Mishnah says that if a person does not want to do the Peter Chamor (first born donkeys), does not want to redeem it, then he should decapitate it from the back of the neck with a cleaver. That is the halacha. That's the normal way to do it. He has to use this meat cleaver, a certain type of butcher knife that is usually used in this type of situation. Oref means decapitation from the back of the neck. After he decapitates the donkey, he has to bury it because he's not allowed to benefit from it whatsoever. The mitzvah (commandment) of redeeming the Peter Chamor for a seh (sheep) takes precedence over the mitzvah of decapitating it. The redemption should preferably be done, and we learn this from the Pasuk (verse), as it says, “Then you should decapitate it.” It's showing us that the ideal way is to redeem the Peter Chamor, and only if you don't do it is there a mitzvah to decapitate it.
The Torah tells us, when dealing with, which is a father selling off his minor daughter as a maidservant for a period of six years or until she reaches twelve and hits puberty. At that point in time, her service to her master would end, but it also ends if her master takes her as a wife. This is called Yi'ud (marrying her). Lastly, she also has an option to redeem herself by repaying the master the outstanding amount for the years she worked. That amount is subtracted from the total, and then she could pay off the rest. The Torah tells us about both the mitzvah of Yi'ud and the mitzvah to allow her to go free by accepting the pidyon money, the redemption money. So what we're saying here is that the mitzvah of Yi'ud is preceded by the mitzvah of pidyon. The mitzvah of Yi'ud, of marrying her, takes precedence over the mitzvah of allowing her to redeem herself. As the passage tells us, “If she wasn't loved by her master and he didn't do Yi'ud with her, then he should allow her to be redeemed.” What we're learning from here is that Yi'ud is the preferred choice, and if he doesn't do Yi'ud, then he's obligated to allow her to redeem herself.
So if she doesn't do Yibum (marrying their brother's widow), the mitzvah of Yibum is preceded by the mitzvah of Chalitzah. The mitzvah of Yibum takes precedence over the mitzvah of Chalitzah. If a man died and left his wife as a widow, then his brother is not allowed to marry the widow. But if he dies without any children, then the Torah doesn't only lift this Isur (prohibition), but there's a requirement for the brother of this man who passed away children with her. This is known as Yibum. But if there was no Yibum, then the woman is not allowed to get married to anybody else at that point in time. But the brother who's living could also figure out a way to do a procedure called Chalitzah, where the woman removes his shoe and releases him from the bond of Yibum and allows her to get married to other people. The Mishnah here is saying that Mitzvat Yibum, the mitzvah of Yibum, is Kodem, it takes precedence over the mitzvah of Chalitzah. It's trying to say that a person should try to do Yibum. If he doesn't want to do Yibum, or if it's not an option, then they could do Chalitzah. That was only the case where Yibum was the preferred option over Chalitzah. In earlier times, when people were marrying their brother's widow for the sake of the mitzvah, they were doing it with no ulterior motive. They weren't doing it for the sake of being with another woman or to take her wealth; they were doing it for the sake of the mitzvah, of keeping their brother's name alive. But nowadays, when they have no intention for the mitzvah and are really motivated by other considerations, Hachamim (Sages) told us that the mitzvah of Chalitzah takes precedence over the mitzvah of Yibum. Yibum is not a preferred option anymore because pure intention to do the mitzvah is not really found, and people who are doing it for the wrong intention are entering a forbidden relationship. The halacha does not follow this opinion. In the Mishnah, Hachamim say that Yibum, no matter what the situation is, no matter what happens, no matter what a person's mindset is, is the preferred option. Once the brother dies childless, there's no Isur whatsoever between his widow and his brother.
If a person dedicates or donates something to the Bedek HaBayit, which takes care of the Beit HaMikdash, and it's something that isn't useful and can't be used in any way for the Mishkan or the Beit HaMikdash, then the treasurer would sell off the item and the funds would be used in the Beit HaMikdash, or it would be redeemed by the owner, the person who dedicated it. He would redeem it for money, and that money would go directly to the Beit HaMikdash for the upkeep of the building. Here the Mishnah will tell us that if we have both of these options, where the item could be redeemed by its owner or given to the treasury of the Beit HaMikdash to be sold to somebody else, with the funds taken by the treasury, we say that the mitzvah of redeeming the dedicated item is to be performed by the original owner. “Hu kodem l'chol adam.” He comes before any person who wishes to buy it; that means he should redeem it. He should take the item back and give the funds in its place. The Pasuk tells us that when a person, for example, donated a non-kosher animal that can't be used in the Mishkan, if it's not redeemed by the owner, then it should be sold for its valuation. This tells us that it's sold only when the owner doesn't redeem it, which shows that redemption by the owner is the preferred option.