Masechet Menachot, Perek Yud Gimel, Mishnah Vav. Animal korbanot (offerings) that are brought voluntarily are olot (burnt offerings) and shelamim (peace offerings). An olah is brought from male cattle, sheep, and goats. Each of these animals has a young type and an old type. An olah could be brought from either category: calves and bulls, lambs and rams, kids and he-goats. An olah could also be brought from certain types of birds.
Here, the Mishnah is going to talk about somebody who made a swear to bring an olah without specifying the type of animal, but who specified a type and forgot what they specified. The Mishnah will also talk about a swear to bring a shelamim and the todah (thanksgiving) offerings, which are a form of shelamim.
The Mishnah says, “Hare alay olah.” Somebody says, “I accept upon myself to bring in olah offering,” but they did not specify which type. “Yavi keves”—he should bring a lamb, which is the smallest animal fit for an olah. Of all the animals that could be offered as an olah, a male lamb, a young sheep, is the smallest. As we learned in the previous Mishnah, when you make an unspecified vow, you could fulfill it with the minimum requirement. Therefore, you can fulfill it here by bringing a lamb.
Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria omer, “o tor o ben yonah”—Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria says he could bring a dove or a young pigeon, which are types of birds that are allowed to be offered as an olah. There is no real Machloket (disagreement) between the Tanna Kamma (first tanna) and Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria. Each one was teaching the law as it applied in his own town. Tanna Kamma lived in a place where, whenever they used the word olah, they were talking about an animal olah. When they were talking about a bird olah, they would specify that it was a bird olah. So, when someone used the word olah, they would specify that it was a bird olah. In his place, it was understood that they were talking about an animal, which is a lamb. In Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria’s town, whenever they used the word olah, they were talking about a bird. So, when the person said olah, they could fulfill their obligation simply by bringing a bird.
If someone says, “I made a vow to bring an olah, and I specified what I was going to bring, but I don’t remember which category I specified,” he brings both a bull and a male calf, which are the two categories of cattle. It fits both categories. So all types of cattle are brought—these two: a par and an egel, a bull and a male calf. He specified that he would bring one of them, but he does not know which one. Therefore, we say he has to bring both of them.
Somebody says, “I know I made a swear to bring a type of animal as an olah, but I don’t remember which type of animal I specified.” We said he has to bring every possible animal that fits within the category that could be an olah: a bull, a calf, a ram, a young goat, which we call a kid, and a male lamb. In addition, he would have to bring an adult goat, which is a se'ir, even though it is not listed in the Mishnah. It is listed in the Bartenura’s version of the Mishnah. So he has to bring all the possibilities, all six animals, that would fit within the category of an olah.
He says, “I know I specified my vow to bring a certain type of an olah, but I don’t know what I specified. I don’t know if I said it was going to be an animal or a bird.” He has to add a dove and a pigeon to what we listed above. The two types of birds could also be fit for an olah. So he would have to bring all those animals that we mentioned before, plus these two birds, for a total of eight birds plus olah. So he would have to bring all those animals.